Day 34,  Punta Arenas

After a smooth night at sea, we arrived in Punta Arenas early this morning.  There are two places that cruise ships moor here, either downtown, which is preferable, or about 5 miles out of town in the commercial port.  Today we will be moored in the commercial port which requires a 20-minute shuttle ride to cover the 5 miles to downtown. 

Punta Arenas offers another opportunity to see penguins.  HAL had two excursions to Magdalena Island (about 25 miles from Punta Arenas) where there are quite a few penguins.  There were two ways to get to the island, either by speedboat or by ferry.  They both went to the same place, but the speedboat takes about 45 minutes each way as compared to 90 minutes for the ferry. 

Magdalena Island & Penguin Reserve by Covered Speedboat – $350

Off the Beaten Track: Magdalena Penguin Reserve $200

We visited this island a few years ago and decided to stay in town on this visit and explore local museums and yarn shops. 

This was a resupply port for the ship.  We observed pallets of fresh fruit and vegetables on the pier waiting to be brought aboard as we headed ashore. 

As we didn’t have a tour, we slept in a bit not leaving the ship until around 11 AM.  We caught the shuttle arriving at the downtown Plaza around 11:45 AM.  The pier is so narrow that the large shuttle buses can’t turn around.  They must back down the pier’s extension to get close to the ship. 

When the shuttle bus arrived at Plaza de Armas our unloading spot was occupied by another bus.  Our bus had to circle the block twice waiting for the unloading spot open. 

The Plaza has a tourist information center with local maps and English-speaking staff who are able to answer questions.  A large statue of Magellan dominates the center of the Plaza.  There are typically performers entertaining the crowds.  Today there was a solo woman dancing to music from a boombox, a small group dancing to the rhythms of their drums while a man played a keyboard a few feet away.  There doesn’t appear to be any coordination as the three groups were not in any way complimentary towards each other. 

We headed off to the east to visit a few yarn shops that were closed when we were here in 2018.  It was a beautiful day with mild temperatures in the 50s and bright sunshine making for a pleasant walk. 

After a short walk we arrived at the first shop, Kenavic, (653 A Capitan Ignacio Carrera Pinto), which featured a small but nice selection of yarn including some thicker handspun yarns and some acrylic blend commercial yarn.  Judy found some acrylic/wool blend yarn called Aurora Gold by the Turkish company ALIZE.  She was pleased that she bought sweater quantities of two different colors for $45.86. 

A block and a half away was a second yarn shop called La Nona, (726 Mejicana).  We browsed there for a few minutes but left without making any purchases. The selection included heavier acrylic yarns and notions for sewing. 

Our next stop was Museum Nao Victoria, which was about 5 miles away, quite close to where the ship was moored.  It would’ve been easier to come here first, but the shuttle bus only went downtown, not making a stop outside the port gate. 

Uber is available here in Punta Arenas.  It cost about $4.00 US to go the five miles from the yarn shop to the Museum.  As we arrived at the Museum, a guard at the entrance of the driveway collected the admission fee of seven US dollars per person before we were allowed in.  There was a large sign which cautioned people that the admission must be paid prior to taking pictures.  The replica ships are visible from the street and we gathered they don’t want people taking pictures without paying the admission fee. 

Once inside, we climbed the stairs to the second floor of a building that was a combination small gift shop, a very small coffee shop and had props for some photos.  It was also the entrance to the ship.  The attendant inside was totally disinterested in us and spent the entire time while we were there staring at his phone.  We took a few pictures of me wearing a conqueror’s helmet and brandishing an antique pistol before we left to look at the ships. 

The main attraction is a replica of Magellan’s ship the Nao Victoria.  We climbed aboard and spent a few minutes walking around the open decks.  The below deck area is open for visiting but there isn’t much to see.  

Soon after we had climbed aboard, we saw a large tour bus drive up with about 30 people.  Knowing that the exhibits would become crowded, we moved on to a replica of the HMS Beagle which brought the geologist, Charles Darwin, to the area for a 5 year expedition. 

A large sign with the words Estrecho de Magallanes (Strait of Magellan) is situated on the Museum grounds with the Strait in the background which makes for a nice photograph.  We spent about 45 minutes here before heading out to the street and requesting another Uber.  Although we were quite close to the ship, we would have to take an Uber back to the central plaza to catch the shuttle bus back to the ship. 

About four blocks west of the central square is a viewpoint called Mount of the Cross.  We took an Uber here during our visit in 2018 and took a few pictures.  There is a nice view from here and it is worth the walk if you’re in the mood for a little exercise. 

We headed off towards the city market about half a mile away on the waterfront.  First, we stopped at a bank to get some local money.  I always like to have some local currency even in ports where they take US dollars because it occasionally comes in handy.  Usually getting money at an ATM machine inside a bank will have the best rate.  Not today.  The price at the ATM for Chilean Pesos worked out to be $661 Pesos per dollar.  The ship was selling them for $719 Pesos per dollar, and the official exchange rate was $783 Pesos per dollar.  There wasn’t any way to know what the exchange rate was on the ATM machine prior to completing the transaction, at least that I could tell.  Based on this I’ll probably buy foreign currency on the ship since the quantities will be small and not worth the hassle of finding an ATM, or this case even paying more after finding one. 

As we walked towards the market, we came across another yarn shop: Artesanlas de la Patagonia (1145 Lautaro Navarro) .  This one had an interesting combination of services as it was also an Internet Café and sold some hand knitted and crocheted hats and scarves.  This shop used to have a copy machine, but there were prominent signs saying no copies were available now.  Judy browsed for a few minutes and picked up some fingering weight acrylic yarn that is usually used for machine washable baby sweaters – Gran Bebe by Lanas Nahum.  She plans to knit some scarves as gifts for friends who are allergic to wool. 

We continued on to the market and came across the pier where two other cruise ships that were visiting today were moored.  They were much smaller than our ship and I’m not sure what determines which ship gets which berth. 

Getting closer to the market, yellow footsteps were painted on the sidewalk to mark the way. 

Inside the market is a collection of stalls with local vendors selling handicrafts on the main floor, a number of the stalls sold a few balls of yarn that were hand spun.  One section of the second floor had more handicrafts and the other section had several small restaurants.  We spent about 20 minutes browsing here before starting to walk back towards the shuttle bus stop.  

On the way back we came across another shop that sold yarn in addition to souvenirs and T-shirts.  (1393 – 21 de Mayo)  The selection of yarn was small and it was all a heavier weight than Judy likes to knit.  She did find a T-shirt that she liked.

Outside the shop we ran into Tom and Mary from Oklahoma City.  We enjoyed dinner with them earlier in the cruise.  Tom mentioned that several of his friends are following The Inside Cabin blog.  Here’s a shout out to all the Cowboy fans in Oklahoma City! 

The shuttle bus was at the designated spot as we arrived back at the Plaza.  It left the Plaza after about a 10-minute wait.  On the way back to the ship, we passed Henk and Christel Mensick as they were riding their tandem along the main street. 

As we found in Ushuaia, there is a large sign with the letters “Punta Arenas” along the waterfront that makes for nice photographs.  (See map above for location.)

With a departure time of 8 PM, the Main Stage screened a movie in lieu of a live show.  The movie was “The 33” which was about the miners that were trapped underground in Chile in 2010 for 69 days.

We celebrated Susan’s birthday this evening in the main dining room.  Sandy and Rich joined us for the celebration. The chefs prepared a tasty cake and the assembled waiters sang the traditional Indonesian birthday song.  Here is a link to the lyrics along with the English translation.  They sing the first verse twice.  I have never heard them sing the second verse.