JimBlog - Chile

This year’s summer vacation took us to Chile’s southernmost province; Los Magallanes (the “ll” is pronounced “y”) named after Ferdinand Magellan who, in 1520, was first European to round South America and reach the Pacific.

We flew into Punta Arenas on the Straits of Magellan 1360 miles south of Santiago, and took a taxi to our hostel, Tragaluz Patogonia, named after the skylight (tragaluz) over the door. The owners, Chilena Lorena Castex and American Dan Elsberg, have turned this 100 year old building into a comfortable and attractive place to stay.

Having subsisted on LAN’s in-flight “snacks” since breakfast were ready for dinner, and ate at La Marmita where Alejandra had scallop lasagna and I had a great estofado de liebre (hare stew) of wild European hare, introduced into Patagonia in the 19^th century.

I had a glass of wine too.

Punta Arenas is more of a tourist destination now than when I was there 8 years ago (see that trip journal, parts 3 and 4), with a mix of attractive restaurants and hostels appealing to international tourists; merchants supplying local residents, fishermen and ranchers; and historic buildings from the city’s 19^th century heyday. Before the Panama Canal, it was a major coaling station for ships going to and from the Pacific coast of N and S America, and from the 1880s to the 1940s it was headquarters for Patagonian sheep estancias that produced much of the world’s lamb and wool.

Wealthy estancia owners built mansions, like the one at right, around the Plaza de Armas.

The plaza now holds booths selling Patagonian handcrafts, mainly of wool and sheep skins, with lots of penguin dolls, sweaters, caps and gee-gahs.

And there is a statue of a Patagonian Indian. “Patagon” means “big foot” and if you kiss his foot you are sure to return.

The Costanera, a broad avenue fronting the Strait, is the site of Punta Arenas’ major tourist hotel and casino.

In spite of the wind, which reached over 100 km/hr in gusts, we enjoyed Punta Arenas. The air was incredibly clear with bright sun and clouds rushing by overhead. Temperatures were in the 50s with occasional sprinkles.

We went sightseeing. We took a tour to the penguin colony in the Seno Otway, visited the Fuerte Bulnes, the first fort established on the Straits, and went up to Cerro Mirador (viewpoint hill), all shown on the map.

The penguin colony, where Magellanic Penguins breed in summer, is on an open, wind swept beach on the Seno Otway, a sound or inlet linked to the sea. We were there in the late afternoon when the penguins were returning to their mates and nest holes in the dunes.

From the beach they followed penguin paths to their nests.

There were rabbits (left) and hares too, both introduced.

The next day we went to Fuerte Bulnes, established in 1843, but abandoned after 1849 when Punta Arenas was established.

The forts’ hill-top location was ideal for defense, but was too cold and windy to attract a civilian population. It was pretty cold for us too. We arrived in a driving rain, chilling us through our parkas and fleece sweaters

… and then the sun came out.

After the rain the air and sea were clear and beautiful. Would be great snorkeling. :-)

Another day we went up the Cerro Mirador and rode the chairlift to the top.

The view was great, but distant.

It was better further down.

We also visited the cemetery, one of Punta Arenas’ most interesting sights. The rich evidently thought they could take it with them.

Many names on head stones were of Ukrainian, German, or English immigrants who came in the 19^th and early 20^th century.

“Here lies Pepe Tafra.

Against his will.”

After four days in Punta Arenas, we took the bus across the Patagonian steppe to Puerto Natales, seeing lots of sheep and ñañdu (ostriches) on the way. Established in 1911 as a port for the sheep industry with two large "frigorificos" (freezer plants), its population of 20,000 is now supported mainly by tourism.

The view coming into Puerto Natales by bus.

Our so-so hostel was the Hostel Milodon, named after Patagonia’s best known fossil, an extinct genus of giant ground sloth that lived there until about 5,000 years ago.

Church and municipal building on the town square.

A typical street, with tourists and one of the many street dogs.

The waterfront from the town pier. This was one of the first sights I saw in 2005 when I came to Puerto Natales via the Navimag ferry.

The fishing for róbalo (AKA Falkland mullet) was pretty good.

The statue honors Alberto de Agostini, an Italian Salesian missionary, mountaineer, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, photographer and cinematographer and his friend Pacheco, a Selknam Indian.

On the waterfront we found a nice mom and pop restaurant where we ate twice. I had róbalo for one meal.

In the background are Puerto Natales’ flying statues.

Here they are again.

The morning after arriving in Puerto Natales we set out on a tour that took us along the Seno de Ultima Esperansa to the Cave of the Milodón and then through Cero Castilo to Torres del Piane National Park.

Click on this link for a larger image

The first stop was the Cave of the Milodón, a huge cave discovered in 1895 by German explorer Hermann Eberhard who found a large piece of apparently fresh skin with fur attached; skin that was later found to be from a Milodon that had died there between 10,000 and 13,500 years ago. Other Pleistocene fossil fossils including saber tooth cats, dwarf horses and human remains were found there.

But the day we went there was only the Milodon and assorted tourists.

Next stop, Cerro Castillo (Castle Mountain), once the headquarters of the largest sheep estancia in Patagonia and now a convenient pit stop for tourists heading to Torres del Piane.

And then, the first view of the Cordillera del Piane, the Blue (from the Mauche language) Mountians. The torres (towers) are the three near vertical spires to the east (right) of the central peak. The peak is at 9,462 ft and the towers are from a little less than 7,000 to 8,200 ft.

Our next stop was a Laguna Amarga (Bitter Lake) to watch a herd of guanacos pass by.

Then we drove between lakes Sarmiento and Nordenskjol where we had this view of the cordillera. (Move the pan bar at the botton of the page to see it all.)

We stopped again at the “Big Falls” where the Rio Piane pours through a narrow canyon into Lake Pehoé.

It was pretty windy, but the view was spectacular with the torres to the North and Lake Pehoé and the Rio Piane (below) to the South.

Our final stop was at Lago Grey, where we had lunch, crossed a hanging bridge and walked a half mile or so to the end of the lake where windblown ice burgs from the glacier at the head of the lake run aground.

There was mist and a light rain.

The drive back along Lago Toro gave us another stunning view of the Cordillera de Piane.

And the next day we went for a boat ride.

The all day trip took us up the Seno Ultima Esperansa to the Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers. It was cold, windy and occasionally rainy outside but cozy inside. Here Alejandra sits with new friends, sisters from Santiago.

There were rainbows.

After several hours we reached the Balmaceda glacier at the head of the sound.

And turned into an inlet leading to the Serrano Glacier which descends from the east of the mountain. There we got off the boat and walked a half mile or so to the glacier.

The icebergs were from snow that fell thousands of years ago.

Had to taste it of course.

On our way back we stopped at an estancia for lunch. Ishihara Hirohisa, who we met on the boat, is in the foreground.

Lunch was a parriada (mixed grill) of lamb, chicken and sausages and salad.

And from there it was back to Puetro Natales, and the next day by bus to the Punta Arenas airport and back to Santiago.

This weekend we went down to the coast to a group of costal towns between San Antonio and Valparaiso. It’s a bit like the stretch from Newport Beach to San Clemente; a more or less continuous development of beach communities, shops, hotels, restaurants, etc,. The idea was to have a little vacation and to look at houses. One option for when A sells the house here is to buy one on the coast and maintain an apartment in Santiago for visiting family.

We stayed at an interesting 1930s era hostal, Residencia Vera, in Algorrobo.

Not much to look at on the outside, but inside are two rows of rooms with a patio in-between, a pleasant breakfast room and an ocean-front terrace at the end.

One of the best reasons for visiting the coast is to eat seafood and we were not disappointed. For our first meal on Saturday I had the Chilean classic, congrio frito. Congrio is an eel like, succulent, white fleshed fish; clearly the best fish in Chilean waters, wonderful fried and firm enough for stews or chowders. Alejandra had grilled renetta and we shared ensalada chilena y papas fritas. The restaurant was very crowded and the service was poor, but from then on the crowds thinned out (March is the very end of the tourist season) and things improved greatly.

On Sunday we drove around the area looking at houses. We want something with an ocean view, preferably within a block or so of the coast, but high enough that tsunamis are not a constant worry. Algorrobo turned out not to be promising with only houses adjacent to beaches that are crowded in summer or houses on the hills above with only a distant and partial ocean view. And, of course, Algorrobo is home to hideous apartment towers with the world’s largest swimming pool.

But El Quisco was better. We saw several houses of interest in the $115,000 to 180,000 US range. On the map below, #1 is a fishermen’s wharf and #2 is the only house we actually got to tour. It is high enough to be out of immediate danger from minor tsunamis, has a pretty good view of the wharf area, the beach to the north, and the open sea. But it is likely to have a lot of tourist traffic in summer.

#2 house – 4 bdrm, 2 bath, $160K US

Summer en El Quisco

#3 is immediately on the coast, overlooking a street and rocky beach (below). The penguin murals would have to go and the deck is probably only 20-25 feet above the high tide level…. not great in case of tsunamis. (The Japanese quake caused tsunamis of around 2 m on parts of the Chilean coast, the Chilean tsunami wave height was up to 10 meters, and the Japanese one was up to almost 40 meters…. no where on the coast is actually safe.) But a tremendous view an only about $115K US.

#4 is on the same street as #3 and almost as close to the sea with the same view. Alejandra liked it much better than #3, but it is still in tsunami range.

View from 3 & 4

#5 is at the top of the hill and generally out of tsunami range… unless there’s one like they had in Japan. Good view of the wharf area and bay, not much tourist traffic. $160k.

And finally, Alejandra likes this vacant lot in Mirasol, north of Algorrobo on the cliff above the sea with a good view and only one row of houses in front, on the cliff edge. The lot, at $120k US, is large enough for two houses and building a house of about 1300 sq feet would cost around $65-70K US, for a total of around $200k US. The other half lot might be sold later.

Here’s where it is… beach access to the little beach at the north is via a steep 300 m trail.

On Sunday we went to Pablo Neruda’s beach house-museum in Isla Negra. He had extravagantly romantic taste and filled the house (and his others as well) with ship’s figure heads, statues, and collections of everything from butterflies to whiskey bottles.

No photos are allowed inside (but here’s one through a window) and there are more at the Pablo Neruda foundation web site.

There is now an attached restaurant, which turned out to be very good and not excessively expensive. We had machas (razor clams) a la parmesana followed by caldillo de congrio, perhaps the best dish in the Chilean cuisine, and the subject of one of Neruda’s poems. You can read it here, and it’s also on the wall behind us. It was delicious. (Celina, nice shirt, eh?)

And on Monday we visited Las Cruces, south of Isla Negra, where we found this great old hotel where we’ll stay next time, and had lunch… shrimp and cheese empanadas followed by paila marina (Chilean seafood soup/stew) for me and roast chicken for A.

Hotel Villa Trouville