Punta Arenas

I posted a few pictures of Punta Arenas while I was there, four months ago now, and I'm finally getting back to it.

Here's a look at the Strait of Magellan in the evening, as the sun prepared to sink behind the islands of Tierra del Fuego. I had walked -- briefly -- along the beach that afternoon, but it was too windy to be enjoyable.

And when I say it was windy in Punta Arenas, I mean the sort of wind that accompanies a really bad nor'easter or mild hurricane in New York, or a sail through the Lemaire Channel in Antarctica, not wind so much as a full body punch that can literally knock you over if you're not careful. I read somewhere that in the winter there are ropes along the city streets so people have something to hold on to against the winds.

I can testify that they'd be useful in the summer as well.

Sunday bird blogging

No, not penguins, despite the abundance of black and white. Just some assorted sea birds hanging out on the beach in Punta Arenas. If you look closely you can see that there are hundreds more on the pier behind them.

The ends of the earth

This may not seem like the most exciting picture I've ever posted, although those clouds are pretty impressive.

But this is the view from my hotel room in Punta Arenas, looking out at the Straits of Magellan, where the Atlantic meets the Pacific. This is the end of mainland South America, although the islands of Tierra del Fuego -- you can see them on the other side of the water -- extend south for a couple hundred miles to Cape Horn. This is not a part of the world I ever expected to see, and maybe that's why just the names -- Straits of Magellan, Tierra del Fuego -- make me feel like I'm in a history book come to life.

It's not a comfortable location to walk around in. It's sunny and warm but very, very windy, and I kept taking off my jacket because I was too hot, only to have the winds start up again and cut me to the bone. Fortunately I've already seen most of what there is to see here, so now I can stay inside until we leave for the Falklands and then Antarctica early tomorrow.

After today I have no internet until I'm back here at the end of the month, though I may queue up a few pictures to run while I'm offline if I have time.