Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas is on the Straits of Magallan and in the 1900's was a wealthy maritime port. Originally established in 1848 as a penal colony and the remains of the original fort and colony can be found north of town.

In its hay-day, wealthy citizens from Europe, escaping WW I, came to make their fortunes in sheep framing, coal, gold and shipping. The wealthiest families built mansions around the central square, Plaza Munoz Gamero. The most opulent of these was built for Sara Braun by her husband, Fernando Menendez. It is not open to the public as it has been taken over for use by an exclusive club.

The Braun-Menendez family were the Vanderbilts of their time and place. Having made a huge fortune, she sponsored the town cemetery (amongst other civic projects). The cemetery is ranked as one of the Top Ten in the world by CNN, so of course, we had to go see it. I do not know if it deserves to be in the top ten but it was a lovely cemetery with some pretty impressive tombs.

Just south of the cemetery, is the statue to the sheep herders who helped to settle the land, driving out the indigenous people as they went. The native people were nomadic so the Europeans saw huge swaths of land that looked unclaimed, only to have the native peoples wonder back in after they had established ranches and herds. The Catholic church contributed to the decline of the native people by placing the children into schools and spreading contagious diseases. A "plus ca change..."

A eye-opening stop for our group was the Nao Magellan, an open air museum of famous ships. The park has a full scale replica of The Beagle (Charles Darwin's ship), the cutter used by Ernest Shackleton when he fled the Endurance on the arctic ice, and Ferdinand's ship. Our unanimous conclusion was that we could not be paid enough to sail these ships away from Europe and into the unknown. Truly awe-inspiring!

We also went to two museums: 1) Museo Regional Salesiano Maggiorino Borgatello (established by the Silesian missionaries as a record of the flora, fauna and cultural history of the Magellans) and the Museo Regional Braun Menendez (a Braun-Menendez house converted to a museum of how the family lived - think gold gilt, silk, and crystal chandaliers).

We will also remember the weather. The wind was pretty relentless and the temperature hovered around 46 F or 6 C. But in the 5 hours we were in town (mostly walking), the sun came out 2-3 times, it snowed twice, it hailed once or twice, it rained once and it snowed. Thanks heavens for down jackets and toques!

As we gained a day bypassing Ushuaia, we have another day in Ponte Arenas tomorrow.Read more