Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 PUNTA ARENAS Wednesday, 16 December. The ship reached Punta Arenas (pop. 146,000) about 7:20 a.m. We were now on the Strait of Magellan, and we could see the difference at once. It was so wide compared to the Beagle Channel. The weather was partly cloudy and mild (50s).
We had breakfast in our room, then went ashore for an
8:20 bus tour of the city. The Veendam was moored some distance from the
city center. We drove close to the center and stopped at a viewpoint on
a hill just off Avenida Espana. The city wasn't much to look at, but
there was a nice view of the Strait of Magellan.
Next we went to the Municipal Cemetery. Although very different from U.S. cemeteries (except for some in New Orleans), it was fairly typical of those in Latin America. There were many Patagonia cypress trees, though, and we hadn't seen those before.
From the cemetery we went to the Silesian Museum with interesting exhibits focusing on the indigenous people of the region (the Yaganes, Onas and Alacalufes). It's built around a collection of the Silesian missionaries. The bus then took us downtown to the Plaza Munoz Gamera. (Our guide called it the Plaza de Armas.) The central feature of this square is a large monument to Ferdinand Magellan, who in 1520 discovered the strait that bears his name. Some of the city's finest buildings are located around the square. These include the Sagrado Corazon (Sacred Heart) Cathedral, the Palacio de la Moneda (Government House), and the Sara Braun House (1905), built by a wealthy widow as her home, but now a hotel.
Half a block off the square is the Braun Menendez House (1905 - built by Sara Braun's brother), now a museum. Our group walked over there and spent about half an hour inside. Some of the rooms have been preserved as they were when the building was Sara's home, including the original furniture. Both of the "Braun" houses were designed by French architects and built and furnished with materials shipped in from Europe.
The guide led us back to the square and gave us 15
minutes to look around. There were many tables set up by vendors of local
souvenirs. I nearly got on the wrong bus when I went to the side of the
square where we had been dropped off, not realizing our bus had gone
around the corner. We were back at the ship at noon.
Jane and I had lunch on the Lido deck, then decided
to see a movie at 2:00. That was a mistake. It was terrible. Jane also
joined me for dinner in the dining room, but she felt sick
again soon after. The ship sailed at 8:00, heading south down the Strait
of Magellan, then following it west toward the Pacific. The sun was still
shining brightly at 9:30. I was surprised to find that, although the sun
rose more than 20 minutes later here (5:12 a.m.) than it had in Ushuaia
(4:50 a.m.), there was almost no difference in the time of sunset (10:10
p.m.). Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
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