We visited Antarctica in March of 2024. I’ve completed a journey to all seven continents now. Whoopie! Our visit was at the end of the southern hemisphere summer cruise season, with only one excursion later than ours. Ours was a cruise full of penguins, leopard seals, more penguins and best of all, singing whales. But first, we have to get there…. Our Antarctic quest would begin by flying from Atlanta to Punta Arenas at the southern tip of Chile, then flying on to Antarctica, then cruising back to Ushuaia, Argentina.
Getting to Antarctica
Despite taking advantage of every possible luxury Delta Airlines has to offer, the trip to the southern tip of Chile in preparation to fly to Antarctica is no easy trek. As many of you who have followed these blogs for a while know, we traveled for about 9 years, no home base no RV. We rented everywhere we traveled, generally a VRBO. Only on our very last big Pacific rim trip in 2018 did we take airline flights, 19 of them. Yikes! For years we drove across the U.S. to take a transatlantic a cruise to spend 6 months in Europe. We would then cruise back to the U.S. on another repositioning cruise. Transatlantic cruises were great as they offered relaxation, exercise gym and room and board for a few weeks.
Airline travel is nothing but worry and irritation in cramped conditions, even in the best seats. Announcements are most often in a foreign language over a terrible intercom system. Will the plane leave on time? Will we make the connections? Will they lose my luggage? My Apple Tags says our luggage did not make it on the plane. Customs wishes to see my ticket to leave Chile, hummm it is a charter flight to Antarctica and I have no flight number. Will the airline strike in Buenos Aires affect our travel?
We even saw a lady passed out, riding on the airport luggage carousel. Don’t worry, she soon came around…
There was, however, a highlight on this Delta flight from Atlanta to our Santiago, Chile connection. Sitting one row behind us was Phil LeBeau of CNBC business fame. The only TV show I watch with any regularity is Squawk Box, the CNBC early morning business show. Phil is the transportation reporter, covering the likes of Tesla and Boeing. He was most congenial and friendly. Throughout the flight I kept looking back at him, I guess to make sure he was still with us…
Phil LaBeau, the transportation correspondent from CNBC. I actually never invest in transportation companies so I sometimes fast forward through his segments. Don’t tell him, please…
Punta Arenas, Chile
Near the wilderness of Patigonia and a jumping off spot for Antarctica is Punta Arenas. This town is hopping with avid hikers and adventure seekers. Everyone seems to be trim and fit with a large percentage having huge trekking backpacks strapped to their backs. Even in the hotel lobby there seemed to be more giant backpacks than suitcases.
Those not hiking are still quite adventurous. One motorcyclist had driven down from Alaska. He said he got a ferry ride across the infamous Darién Gap of Central America. Here is a motor home which drove from Alaska to the southern tip of Chile.
My travels and adventures are meager in comparison.
This mini RV was a family traveling the Americas. They had a sign on the back requesting funds, allowing them to drive additional kilometers.
What to do in Punta Arenas?
Many storefronts advertising locally guided tours are spotted in town. We could go on a tour that leaves at 5AM to go see some penguins. Humm, I think we will see enough of that on our Antarctica trip. Another offers an 8 hour trip to go see some whales. That would be great, but I hope to see that on our cruise as well.
Restaurants are a huge part of visiting a new locale. As you may know, I ate haggis three times in Scotland, here is a link to that adventure: Scottish Cuisine. I ate guinea pig in Peru. Eating Guinea Pigs Last night I got a great seafood stew in Punta Arenas and tonight I got to eat guanaco. Those are the cute defenseless creatures that look like little llamas. Well, it turns out you should just take photos of them. It was tough as shoe leather. I’ve been told to chomp on my food 40 times before swallowing. One-hundred and forty did not do the trick for this cut of meat.
Shoe leather?
Yep, tough as shoe leather from running up and down those steep hills I guess.
A Walk Around Punta Arenas
Throughout Europe, Thailand, South and Central America, I am always amazed at the quantity of wires strung up on utility poles. I’ve never received a good explanation for this. Maybe the U.S. is the odd country in this tangled web of wires saga.
Notice how the boy on the left blends into the tree and makes him difficult to see. One small step to my left made the boy more of the subject as he should be.
Now the boy clearly stands out from the tree. Separation of objects in photos is a good thing. Just like many other Spanish settled towns, there is a large plaza in the middle.
This painting in our hotel greatly interested me. There were similar statues in the gift shops. They resembled the kachina dolls of the Southwest Indians where I grew up. Turns out they are depicting the Selk’nam, or native people of Patagonia. Similar to the Southwestern Native American Indians, they would dress up like these characters for special occasions. Also like the Native Americans, each had their own powers and characteristics.
This head ornament is also seen in the above artwork. Cutouts of the various Selk’nam ritual costumes were available for crazy tourists to get their photo taken in. Hummm. I’m surprised this photo was allowed in the blog.
Next stop, Antarctica.
A group of whales feeding deep could be seen from the ship. The whale tail goes up in the air only when the whale is going deep to feed on the plankton. Many more whale sightings lie ahead.
Your blogs are always interesting. Kelly knew about Phil LeBeau. Seeing you in the costume is fun. Love animal photos and looking forward to seeing more about this trip.