Saturday in Punta Arenas

Today wasn't quite what I'd planned, but then the entire trip hasn't started quite the way I'd planned. I had fantasies of having become far more fluent in Spanish, of having been reading the local news websites (in Spanish, of course), and being far more fit. But, while I hate to paraphrase Rumsfeld, you go on vacation as you are, and it all works out.

Today was a full day on my own in Punta Arenas. I had found a number of websites of local tour companies that offered day trips in the area, and thought that my biggest challenge would be deciding what to do (kayaking, visiting the island with more than 100,000 penguins, going to a national park with different terrain and history than we'll be seeing in Torres Del Paine, and a host of other options.) Most places require a minimum of two people, but I assumed I'd be able to tag along with SOME other group. When I checked earlier this week, there were no groups running. But I thought the public ferry to the penguin island would be a perfectly wonderful fall back option. Unfortunately, they canceled today's ferry trip to the island because it was too windy.

So I spent the day wandering around Punta Arenas. This is a city of about 116,000 on the Strait of Magellen, about 53 or 54 degrees south latitude. It relies on fishing, petroleum, shipping, duty free retail, and tourism. It was founded in the first half of the 19th century, in time to serve as a major shipping point during the California gold rush (as was Valparaiso, which I hope to visit when I'm in Santiago.)

One of the things I've noticed about the city is the dogs. A small thing, perhaps, but the dogs here are extremely self possessed. At home, a dog is on a leash, or in a yard, or, in rare cases, has escaped and seems to be aware of the short duration of his or her grand adventure. The dogs here seem to be full fledged citizens. They go where they wish and hang out where they wish, and to them, we're just another passerby.

I'm also finding myself very aware of what I'm eating and drinking. The travel clinic said "Drink only bottled water!" Active South America and the travel book I have both said that tap water was safe, so I decided to believe them, but it's a little nerve wracking. Getting sick in the mountains isn't appealing. But so far so good.

I met one of the people on the trip this evening. A woman from Boston named Margaret. She seemed to know all the people on the trip -- asked "Are you from Minnesota?" She said there were two other women and a man, for a total of 5 people. We join up tomorrow at 12:30. At that point we head off to a different penguin colony (only 15,000 penquins) and then to Puerto Natales, and Monday morning we start our 4 day hut to hut hike in Torres del Paine national park.