Punta Arenas, Chile

The trip to this charming town, our first stop in Chile, was a 12 hour bus ride from Ushuaia. Historically significant in the exploration of this part of the world, the town has been visited by Magellan, Darwin and Shackleton, to name a few.
The weather was wet and windy as we drove through some very desolate and beautiful farmland that looked much like Southern New Zealand - except for an occasional llama. During our ferry crossing (on the bus), we saw some very cute white and black dolphins - which we first mistook for penguins.
In Punta Arenas we’ve spent our time walking through the very sweet downtown packed with grand, somewhat crumbling buildings. Finally we stumbled across some choripan – bread with chorizo – which we were hoping to try. Delicious!
We also visited the Braun Palace Museum -set in a beautiful old mansion - and the quirky and wonderful Nao Victoria museum. The Nao museum was out of town overlooking the Strait of Magellan and had 3 full-size replicas of famous ships including: Shackleton’s James Caird (the lifeboat that miraculously made it from Elephant Island to South Georgia), Darwin’s HMS Beagle and Magellan’s ship. It’s crazy to see how small and basic these boats were that accomplished such incredible journeys.Read more