Sunday, February 25, 2018- Cruise Day 33; Punta Arenas Chile

Sunday, February 25, 2018- Cruise Day 33; Punta Arenas Chile

The landscape and seascape changed overnight to more sloping hills and calm seas as we approached Punta Arenas Chile.  The ship set anchor as we had a quick breakfast in the buffet.  The tender transfers to shore went pretty quickly as the ship anchored just outside the harbor.

Our tour started with a drive through the city along some wide boulevards lined with trees and sculptures to an overlook on a hillside with a nice sweeping view of the harbor and city below.  Our guide said we were very fortunate because we had blue skies with scattered clouds, little wind, and a temperature in the mid to upper 50’s.  It was actually quite comfortable for us Northwest natives.  The city below appears colorful because of the mixture of building materials and architectural styles.  As a city, it seems a bit more substantial and consistent that Ushuaia, as far as building construction goes.  There was a small vendor stall below the viewpoint where diminutive Chilean native women were selling their wares.  There also seems to be a lot of friendly lazy dogs laying around the place.  

Our next stop was to an outdoor museum of “Stuff” ranging from old construction and farm equipment, logging and mining equipment, and numerous buildings housing a variety of static exhibits.  There was a pharmacy, dentist office, and even a room with old movie projectors and cool old movie posters.  There were garages with cool old cars and horse drawn carriages.  Most of the equipment was scattered about in a large mowed field.  Ben was drawn to an old small steam shovel in the center of the yard that looked like one from an old children’s book.  

Then we visited the city cemetery, which is a walled structure containing tombs, crypts and memorials.  There are a few very wealthy and influential families that have dominated the history of Punta Arenas, and their tombs were quite impressive affairs.  Interestingly, there is a tomb for an unknown native that the people of Punta Arenas have credited with bringing good luck and good fortune to those who pray at the the tomb.  There is a lifesize bronze statue of the native, and if you kiss the left foot, it is said to bring you good fortune.  Consequently the foot is highly polished.  There are innumerable plaques surrounding the tomb giving thanks to the unknown native for granting their wishes.  Interestingly, there are a bunch of friendly dogs that seem to enjoy visiting all the people who visit the cemetery, running about with tails wagging and in and amongst the throngs of tourists.  They seem to be well cared for but most don’t have collars.  

We then visited a large indoor museum containing a large collection of artifacts and exhibits on the native animals and indigenous peoples of southern Chile.  There were several creepy rooms filled with stuffed animals and creatures in jars of alcohol.  You had to feel sorry for the aboriginal peoples who were largely exterminated over time by diseases and a short lived gold rush.  

Our last stop was at the central town square, where we happened to catch the tail end of some sort of parade.  There is a large statue of Magellan in the center of the square and around the base of the statue is a large bronze native holding a bow.  His toe is highly polished as it is within easy reach, and it seemed that every tourist in the square had to have a picture taken touching this foot.  We passed on that.  We imagined both feet, as well as the Blarney stone, and many other tourist touch items, are vectors for norovirus, MRSA and all sorts of other diseases.  There wasn’t much else to do around the city because it was Sunday and most of the shops and other businesses were all closed.  There was a choir that put on a concert at the base of the Magellan statue.  They appeared to be raising money to go to France.  

We got back to the cruise ship terminal.  Janet managed to log into a Wifi signal that allowed her to download some email, but she couldn’t send anything.  Ben wasn’t able to log in at all.  We returned to the ship via tenders, and the tender operations seemed to go much more smoothly today than in Stanley (Falkland Islands).  

We grabbed a bit to eat and then hit the afternoon trivia.  None of our usual team were back on the boat so we joined a few other random people, who didn’t really seem to be able to contribute much to the answers Janet and Ben came up with.  We didn’t even come close to winning that trivia.  

We had short naps and then an early dinner, followed by a new comedian David Copperfield (not that David Copperfield), who was called an unusualist, not an illusionist.  He did some really funny ventriloquism using audience members as involuntary dummies as he did faux-interviews walking around in the audience, and substituting his ventroquist voice for any actual audience member responses.  He could also do embarassing sounds as people stepped up or bent over on stage.  He also did some guitar and singing along with stand-up comedy.  

We then played “Passenger Feud”, which was supposed to be like Family Feud, but Robbie didn’t know how to run the game so it got pretty messed up on the first round.  They drew names from a hat to pick contestants, and we both ended up on the same team for the first round.  We ended up getting prizes of Princess notepads because Robbie messed the round up.  Ruby took over for the second round and she knew how Family Feud was supposed to be played. Roger (Santa) had his name pulled on the second round and his team won Princess Notepads and gold/jade bracelet kits.  For the third round, Kathy and John both got called up to the same team, and they also won Princess notepads and bracelet kits.  So it turned out that our entire trivia team ended up going home with prizes.  

Tomorrow we arrive late at Amalia Glacier, supposedly the largest tidal glacier in the world.  The ship will do a few spins on site and the destination expert will narrate the passage through the Glacier for us.