…when I left Houston, and when I arrived in Punta Arenas! I’ve decided this was a good thing- perhaps now the skies will be favorable for the rest of our journey!!
**Storms roll over the city! **
Night time view of city in clouds.
The flight was very long (about 28 hours from start to finish), with several connections along the way. Sadly, most of it was at night, so there was nothing to see ☺ However during the afternoon flight between Santiago and Punta Arenas I caught a few beautiful glimpses of the Andes Mountains through the clouds. As high up as we were in the plane, they seemed almost touchable! The people closest to the windows were all asleep, so I was unable to get a close enough view for a picture. But the images of this incredible example of uplift and plate tectonics at work will be ingrained in my memory for keeps.
View of Punta Arenas from the Oden
*View of the city with the bay
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Punta Arenas (Sandy Point) was discovered by J. Byron in the 17th century. It is also locally called "Fines del Mundo” (the ends of the world). It’s a small town nestled between the mountains and the sea on the Brunswick Peninsula along the Straits of Magellan. The people are very friendly and I have enjoyed conversing with them about life here. We converse in Spanish mostly, working our way through the differences in dialect spoken here and in Texas. Two things stand out the most here- the first is the incredible wind that blows! Yesterday the winds were about 60 knots; the second is the large number of stray dogs everywhere! Most of them go about their business, but if there is a group of them, you do well to stay out of there space!
On the advice of everyone, I made a point to go to the central plaza to the statute of Hernando de Magallanes (Ferdinand Magellan). I was told that I should rub the toes of one of the bronzed Indians on the statute for good luck on the seas. I didn’t rub or touch; I caressed the entire foot as I explained our journey and asked for good seas. I hope he was listening!!
**A quiet moment of reflection at the statute **
A picture of statute with my back side.
Tomorrow we move onboard the ship!
Math Break: How many miles per hour was the wind blowing at 60 knots??