5. Very unpredictable…like a woman’s heart!

Thursday, 27 December 2018

Punta Arenas, Chile

Finally. A day of doing nothing. No flights. No travelling. Today is for boot fitting, safety briefings and meet fellow travellers.

I have a technical problem with my website and blog so decide to contact a web designer in Nottingham for help. You may see an improvement in style over the coming week, though not necessarily content.

When booking this trip, I was trying to get a departure towards the end of January, which would then bump arrival into Alaska into June and thus more favourable weather at that end of the trip. However, that’s peak season and none of the fly-cruise departures had any availability. Apart from this 27 December 2018 itinerary. I was advised at the time of booking that I would be the only European guest as all the other travellers were Chinese, though assured it’s an English language cruise.

First activity is boot fitting. We’re to wear thermally insulated wellington boots as all the landings onto Antarctica are ‘wet landings’. You transfer from ship to shore in Zodiacs but have to disembark in the shallow water. There’s lots of boots in the boot room. It’s obvious which are for the Chinese. They’ve got the small sized boots. My boots, on the other hand, are the large ones at one end of the table. Size UK12/EUR47 for me. Boot room opens at 10am. Make sure I’m there pronto as I can see a lot of Chinese congregating in the hotel lobby just waiting to go en masse to boot room. Don’t do queueing.

Ask the lad in the boot room what the weather will be like in Antarctica. Always good to get local knowledge. He replies, “Always unpredictable…just like a woman’s heart!” So. There you have it. Today’s weather forecast for Antarctica.

By the time I’ve tried my boots on there’s a long queue of Chinese snaking around the boot room entrance. Glad I got in first.

An old friend (YKW) emailed a few days ago to say that I should visit the cemetery in Punta Arenas as it’s like Recoletta in Buenos Aires. It’s Punta Arenas’ 2^nd most popular tourist attraction, which gives you an indication of what there is to see and do in Punta Arenas. Short walk from the city centre and I soon see ornate towering mausoleums above the white walled enclosure. There are rows and rows of lesser structures, family graves and smaller mausoleums. At one end is a high wall with glass fronted rectangular openings. Yet more enclosures housing the dead. It’s all rather impressive. The largest plot is set aside for the Braun Family, 19^th century Russian immigrants who settled here and created wealth in the area. Find another area of the cemetery which is lower down such that I can see over the tops. It’s a bizarre site. Looks like lots of apartment blocks but each block houses hundreds of rectangular openings for housing the dead. Not only that, but to access the upper blocks, there are steps on rails (as you would find in an old fashioned library to reach the books on the upper shelves) which you can roll along to your plot then climb up to replenish flowers etc. They’re all glass fronted and see plenty of trinkets and photos in the recess before the blocked up coffin section.

A coffee shop across the road beckons. Ask the lad if they have Coca-Cola, in a very slow and precise manner so that he can understand that very well known international brand. He repeats what I say in a Spanish accent and says no and gives me drinks card. As he walks away, he’s obviously been thinking and turns and says to me in a Spanish accent, ‘Ah…Coca-Cola?’. Yes. We have. OK. Deary me.

I’m pacing myself in Punta Arenas. I have a further two days here when I return from Antarctica. So I don’t want to exhaust all the points of interest today. A bit of shopping for snacks turns into a 20 minute wait at the check-out. There’s a lot of faffing. The background music is playing British music and Dexy’s Midnight Runners comes on. I find myself singing ‘Come on Eileen’ a bit too loudly and a local woman looks up at me. She obviously thinks I’ve been let out for the day judging by her looks.

Walk up the hill to the panoramic view point over Punta Arenas. Fantastic views across the Strait of Magellan and facing south towards Antarctica. Chat with a young Kiwi lad who is teaching English in Chile. He’s spent two years teaching around Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and Chile.

Return to the city centre and main square to touch the foot of Magellan’s statue in the Plaza de Armas. Legend has it that if you touch the foot you will return one day to Punta Arenas. I know this to be true. I touched it back in 2005. And here I am again.

Tomorrow will be a 2hr flight to Antarctica. I’m guessing there won’t be any internet connection so no blog for a week. What’s that? Can I hear the sighs of delight from you all?? Surely not!