Punta Arenas, a fable for most people.

Punta Arenas, when we read cruising stories, or those tales from the round the world yacht races, or old Joshua Slocums book it seems a place of mystery and  dreams.  But now we're here, its very real. What a place.  The people here have been unfailingly friendly and helpful, that means that we’ve solutions to most of the logistical issues that we came to sort out, will be seeing the Regional Commander of the Armada De Chile tomorrow, and when we’re back in Santiago have contacts within the Chilean Tourism beaureau to go and see. 

So we’re able to take a few hours to see the scenery, talk to people, explore a little and relax.

Avenas Costanera Del Estrecho De Magellanes, the Straights of Magellan.  A place steeped in sailing ship history,  here's the sign indicating the coast road past the city just to prove we're really here.

I’m doing a lot of filming with the video camera, remember that part of the reason for the trip is to get background material for the full scale video that will be made of Howards adventure.  Don’t forget that this will take more than a few bucks to produce this, so please consider supporting this, it’s a way of ensuring that you can both be a part of the experience. Heres the website link.
www.below 40south. com

Chile is big on memorials and statuary, this, as far as I can tell, is a memorial to the first settlers. Huge, elaborate and interesting.  The water behind is the straights between the mainland and Tierra del Fuego, the land of fires.  

This pic was taken from the doorway of the warehouse for the Antarctic supply ships, thats a real live dogsled up there. 

The city is full of wonderful old buildings, this one has a historical rating. But consider how far south we are, and how the building has been adapted to the conditions here. Big and designed as a mass to conserve heat but the big conservatory there to gather sunlight and direct the warmth back into the building.  Solar gain is not a new thing, its been well understood for many generations.

The Boot brothers have been doing a lot of walking, I go along with them of course, they have a real tendency to get into trouble if I don’t. But Lacey, ( he’s the lefty of the twins) told me yesterday that his brothers name was really “Toe”. When I asked why he said it was because their mother didn’t want people to think that he was a “heel”.  “Toe” told his brother to “hold your tongue”!