Punta Arenas

Before flying out, I spent a day kicking about Punta Arenas. Part of the reason for coming down a day early was to check on some prices for lenga wood flooring and to see about getting another quote for building the new house. And then there was the inevitable walk among the old houses of Punta Arenas, and the miradores with their views across the Straits of Magellan to the island of Tierra del Fuego.

By Whale Mountain

The geographical feature across the Sound from the house is called Cerro Ballena --- Whale Mountain. A rocky summit piece helps the imagination by suggesting the dorsal fin of a whale. And supposedly there are condor nest in that rocky area. But in any event the scenery along the Sound is almost always intriguing. Behind the house is the Dorotea range and behind it, Argentina is not so many km away.

I went for a walk in early May as the sun angles were low and the high-latitude effects were becoming more and more evident. Along the way I found an old bone-yard, and a dumping ground for some materials from the old freezer-plant and perhaps the houses nearby. There was part of an old ox-wagon in the dump and perhaps more interesting discoveries to be made later.

Soon the days will be reduced to just a few hours of sunlight. Winter is full of long shadows in this part of southern Patagonia. But even so, those hours tend to be more sunny than the common overcast of summer, with its canopy of lenticular clouds and the tendency to be very windy so much of the time. There are birds all year round, even if their cantos are not heard often enough. In winter the flamingos come to stay in the Sound. This year, their early arrival is a harbinger of a harsh winter.

Torres del Paine, condors and whatnot

Went back and added a few things to this earlier post.

It had been snowing as I drove into the park (Torres del Paine). Just did a one-day visit, a bit of a lark, knowing it had been overcast and cold in the region, with little hope of any grand views. And no riding the KLR into the park, given the cold, though in earlier years I might have tried.

These images are out of order. Someday I will learn to do this properly.

There is a shot of a gaucho here somewhere, bundled up against the cold. This was the first of May, a sort of workingman's holiday in Chile, while the US has turned the significance of May Day on its head in the most Orwellian of ways.



Near the playas at the park entrance - image of a guanaco.

More fotos of the condors seen on the way to the park.

Now, the condors were not on their way to the park, so far as I know.

The asado

With Juan Luis and Jillian up Punta Arenas, it was time for an asado. So a pig was sacrified and roasted in the back yard. It took about 4 hours to roast the thing, but when it was done, the feast was worth the wait and the effort.

Patagonia 2007

Much has changed since I last updated this blog, and I am a bit slow in getting this going again. The first images here are a quick selection from recent days, which show the events when I was not hard at work with house planning or ditch digging.

The first is a view of the Balmaceda glacier from the local tourist boat, which is not very busy this time of year. But one advantage of visiting in April is that the boats are not full and the winds tend to be less dramatic. Those who follow my andanzas down here (or who have participated in them) may recall that the last time we took this boat (the 21 de Mayo) it nearly pitchpoled while trying to beat into the wind while approaching the Balmaceda glacier at the end of the Sound. This time it was colder, but with much less wind.

Anyway, the second foto shows one of about ten condors I came across on the way to Torres del Paine yesterday, the first of May. If I have time I will load some other images. These were taken with the Nikon D80 digicam.

The last foto in this series is at the Perales estancia up the Sound from my place. A stop there is now part of the tour given on the 21 de Mayo. You might have thought you were in Norway, rather than Chile.