Chileans claim that Punta Arenas is the southernmost city in the world. Others dispute that claim. Whatever the facts may be, Punta Arenas is a developed port city located on the sandy shores of the Magellan Strait and serves as a launching point for many expeditions to Antarctica.
Flying into Punta Arenas marked the beginning of the second half of our trip. This half would require much more of us physically. The weather this far south of the equator is constantly changing and unpredictable. Even though it was the middle of summer, a gust of arctic wind was enough to chill us to the bones. It rained off and on throughout the day.
Scouting out good seafood was a priority that first evening. We stumbled into a decent looking restaurant not too far from our hotel. Not too fancy. Didn’t seem like it catered to tourists. Lyle of course had to try out the seafood stew again. It was delicious. But when the king crab arrived, I was in heaven. The crab were already shelled and heaped on top of each other in a giant pile decorated with some lettuce, tomatoes, and lemon wedges…and to top it off, a large scoop of mayonnaise. (Did I tell you that Chileans love mayonnaise? They smear it on everything possible, hot dogs, hamburgers, and even empanadas!) I am not sure if it was because I was so hungry or if it was because I had been anticipating this moment since Santiago, but the king crab tasted so sweet, and juicy, and fresh to me. We found out the next day that restaurants get deliveries of fresh catches daily. If you come too early or too late, you would be out of luck because the product had not been delivered or they had run out. So we were lucky that first day.
Our hotel faced the city square. In the middle of the square is a monument to Ferdinand Magellan, the first European to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean (and around the world…although he himself was killed during the expedition and never made it back to Portugal) going from West to East. There is also a sculpture of a Patagonian whose toe is now golden and shiny. A superstition tells that if you were to rub this guy’s toe, destiny will bring you back to Punta Arenas again. And so I did, like all those other tourists, rub the guy’s toe. We will see if the superstition holds true.
Penguins! Penguins! And more Penguins! They’re everywhere. More than 10,000 mommies and daddies and fluffy, little, baby penguins that just hatched in every direction! Singing and waddling and twitching their flexible little heads. Some were digging burrows in the brown dirt with their little clawed, webbed feet. Did you know penguins lived in burrows? I didn’t. Such a happy, loud, noisy cacophony they made. It was music…to their ears.
The Magellanic penguin colony on Magdalena Island is very well protected by government regulations. Visitors have to stay on the roped pathway. We lingered at the back of the pack, hoping that with less people around the penguins would cross the pathway to get to the water or back to their burrows. They did, waddling by right in front of us. Another restriction is that only a certain number of boats are allowed to dock each day, and each group can remain on the island for 45 minutes. That was not nearly enough for us. We didn’t even get halfway up to the lighthouse before it was time to head back to the boat.
Penguins are such curious creatures. If you stay still long enough, sooner or later one of them would waddle up to you. A brave cutie ventured toward Lyle, looked straight into the lens and posed for the camera. Then he crooked his head to one side as if to say, “Hey, what are you? And what is this black round thing that keeps making those clicking noises?” They were so close to us. I had to control the urge to hug them and squeeze them to death. They’d probably peck my hands and face raw before that happens. But, oh, they were within centimeters of us. Lyle got lucky; one little guy nipped at his fingers.
You know what these little guys can do that’s really fascinating? They can get back up from a face-plant real fast. They just curve their chest in a wave-like motion, crank their head backwards, and in a split-second, they’re back up on their short little legs. If you blink, you might miss it. They’re that fast…for so much chubbiness! They’re so cute; I can’t stand it
It was so much fun to watch their interactions. Penguins seem to be very social and caring beings. They like to travel in pairs or groups. They like to do the same things at the same time; it’s like having a shadow or a bunch of shadows. They caress and prune each other, taking care of one another’s needs. They stand around in circles and groups engaged in conversations. Their actions are a bit jerky and sudden. They would remain in one position for a long time. Then all of a sudden they’d move around only to stop again for no apparent reason…to us, that is. Sometimes they would be walking on a trail, stop for a while, and then turn around and walk back the way they came from. For so many penguins living together under extremely harsh conditions and on such barren landscape, they seem like a harmonious and content population.
