Out and about in Punta Arenas, southern Chile

Like many of the great polar expeditions (for example Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition), we visited Punta Arenas both on our way down to deepest southern Patagonia, and also on our return journey north. For tourists, Punta Arenas is often a transitory stop on the way to another destination, but we found that it has something to offer in itself for a day or two.

The Magellan Strait provides the backdrop to all of life in Punta Arenas. Unsurprisingly first navigated by Ferdinand Magellan, the strait is one of the three links between the Pacific and Atlantic in these parts, with the Beagle Channel and open water Drake Passage to the south. From Punta Arenas on a clear day one can see across the strait to the Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego. If you were to go there and keep going long enough you would arrive at the Argentinian border and their Tierra del Fuego national park.

There are a couple of penguin viewing options by boat from Punta Arenas, one trip takes you to the king penguin colony on the aforementioned Chilean side of the island of Tierra del Fuega, while the other goes to the large magellanic penguin colony at Isla Magdalena.

Parque María Behety

We stumbled across this large park as it was directly opposite the hostel we stayed at, but were very pleased we had. In one corner of the park is a collection of life size models of creatures who previously roamed Patagonia, from dinosaurs to the megafauna who went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene ice age. A few of the models have fallen into disrepair, but we were excited to see life size replicas of a hadrosaur, the enormous Titanosaur, Plesiosaur, Ichthyosaur, Patagonian Bear, American Horse and the perennial favourite, the odd looking Macrauchenia, a relative of present day llamas.

There is also a large collection of wooden play equipment in the park, with the added risk factor of potential death as the whole construction falls down around you.

Just outside the park is the Lord Lonsdale, one of the many ship wrecks which litter the coast around the town, testament to how treacherous the waters here are. This particular ship dates from 1899. On a voyage from Hamburg to the West coast of Mexico in 1909, the ship caught fire in Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. It was sold to a wreckage company who had plans to transport it to Puerto Natales, but seemingly gave up and abandoned the ship here. It has a plaque by it now reading ‘A tribute to seafarers of all nationalities who crossed the Magellanic sea.’

Around town

We let Rafe and his geocaching habit guide us around town one morning. People like to leave geocaches in interesting spots, so this worked well to take us on a tour of the town. Cerro de La Cruz is a popular viewpoint across the city and to the Magellan Strait beyond, only a short walk out of town. As is the custom in such places, there was a multitude of padlocks adorning the fence. Rafe spent quite some time working on several of the combination locks trying to crack them but to no avail. There is also a fun signpost pointing to various locations across the world.

The centre of the town has some impressive public spaces such as Plaza Muñoz Gamero, a leafy square dominated by a large statue to Magellan and his achievements. The neoclassical buildings around the square were built by the town’s wealthiest residents between 1890 & 1895. We spent a pleasant if chilly morning exploring the centre of the town and sampling a couple of excellent hot chocolates at La Chocolatta before embarking on the geocache hunt.

Down at the waterfront the naval focus of the town both today and in the past heritage is on display, with the centrepiece being the Monumento A Tripulantes Goleta Ancud. This is a striking monument to the Schooner Ancud which carried the first Chilean settlers here to claim Punta Arenas for the homeland. We enjoyed hunting here for the nearby geocache. The promenade along the seafront is a very pleasant stroll, with pieces of public art, the obligatory town name sign in bit letters for visitors to photograph and places to sit and watch the sea and scenery.

Just a little back from the waterfront in town, Cafe Tapiz served us very well for lunch, with epic toasted sandwiches and huge cakes. Nearby, for dinner we were recommended to try La Luna which was a fantastic little spot. The restaurant has an eclectic decor, with visitors encouraged to add to the different currencies pinned up on the walls. It was busy with both visitors and locals and had both a serenading violinist and excellent local food. We had a huge sharing platter of different seafood dishes and Odessa ate the largest salchipapa in memory from the kid’s menu. All washed down with some pisco calafates and local beers, the whole experience was a delight.

How we did it

Alongside the nature and wilderness, for us Patagonia has been characterised by bus journeys. Plenty of them, and most over five hours long. There have been a lot of audiobooks. We took seven Patagonian buses in total – Puerto Natales – Punta Arenas – Rio Grande – Ushuaia – Punta Arenas – Puerto Natales – El Calafate and Bariloche – Puerto Montt. We flew from El Calafate to Bariloche after finding that the bus would have been an epic 27 hours on Argentina’s famous Ruta 40 which Odessa point blank refused to consider. Rafe said he thought it sounded like a lot of fun, but mostly just to annoy his sister. In the end, the cost of the bus was over $100 per person and it wasn’t much more to fly. We considered Ushuaia to El Calafate via Rio Gallegos, but the only bus left at 3am, had some terrible reviews and seemed almost impossible to book, so we retraced our steps back through Chile. Chilean bus operator Bus Sur served us very well for the majority of these trips with clean, modern buses with fun livery and friendly staff who helped everyone across the various border controls, with us crossing several of those borders more than once. Depending on the length of journey, there was usually some sort of refreshment provided. Our favourite was when the bus attendant provided sandwiches and hot teas and coffees made at an urn at the back of the bus whilst in motion, adding a little jeopardy to the journey. Another time, we had to quickly devour a few apples and empanadas when we reached Chile sooner than expected, which has strict controls on the import of fresh produce.