Sunday, November 24, 2019

February 13, 2019 - Punta Arenas, Chile - Partly Cloudy - 60s

The weather improved as we made our to our next stop, Punta Arenas, Chile. Punta Arenas, which means "Sandy Point" is considered to be the Southernmost City in the World (Ushuaia is not in the "city" category).  Today, this city has a population of about 128,000 people. I thought we had been here several times but after checking, we were only here during our first trip to South America before I started journaling the trips.

We are not quite there as I am having my breakfast.  The seas are a bit choppy but not an issue.


You can get a pretty good look at the city from Symphony's open deck.


We were not successful in getting excursions today but the ship is providing a shuttle to the city center.  From there, we can walk just about anywhere including the beach.

The bus ride was short and dropped us off at Plaza de Armas in the middle of the downtown area.  The plaza is a nice park with lush trees abundant vendors (situated on the perimeter of the park) and a very impressive statue of Ferdinand Magellan. 





We used the park as a reference point and started our walk.  The sidewalks are in good shape, which makes walking easy.  We passed a lot of restaurants and shops, which decreased in number as we moved away from the park. 

We crossed Avenida de Colon - a bit of a surprise here in Chile,

 
We were, as always, looking for a nice spa.  We actually found one right away and the woman at the desk said that their therapists were arriving shortly and would be able to see us both in just a few minute.  Well, the minutes went by and no one showed - after checking a few times with the desk, we gave us on this place and continued to explore. 

We actually came across several nice spas but they were either too pricey or had no openings.  

We were walking parallel to the beach so we turned toward the water.  The neighborhood adjacent to the beach was not as nice as the city center - the shops mostly thinned out and were replaced by bars.  We knew we were both at the beach and in the right city when we spotted the city sign.


From the beach area, I wasn't sure but I thought I spotted Symphony docked.


Not a great beach - not pristine sands or anything like that - but a nice malecon to walk on.  We went a few blocks along the beach. There were very few people walking the malecon but the water was nice and blue and the beach sported a few disintegrating wharves.




One of the more intact wharves was populated with cormorants.



From the beach, we found our way back to the Plaza de Armas.  We checked out the many vendors in search of a Punta Arenas magnet.  We didn't find one and went to the rendezvous point - we waited just a short time for our bus and a few minutes later, we were back on Symphony.

We grabbed another late lunch at the Trident Grill - pizza - and rested up the rest of the day.

I hopped out on Deck 7 to get a shot of the sail away.  The waves were choppy and the clouds dramatic. Good weather and a nice day in at the "bottom of the world".







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