Punta Arenas, Chile - March 7, 2008
Located on the Strait of Magellan, Chile's Punta Arenas was once one of the
most important supply stops for mariners of the day, until the Panama Canal
opened for business in 1914.
Wow!! What a great day.  I took so many pictures of the
historic sites and the mountains along the Straits of
Magellan that it's going to be hard to pick the ones I want
on the web site.  This is an amazing area and the
mountain and glacier views are just spectacular.
We went to Fort Bulnes one of the first
settlements in this area.  It was very interesting
since most of the buildings were built of sod
and timber.
The drive from the pier through the town of Punta
Arenas and then into the countryside for our first
visit was very interesting.  The architecture is quite
different and since this is a fishing town there are a
lot of fishing boats. The larger trees in the center of
town were all trimmed like the one pictured above
I asked Kathy to pose in front of the
window for a picture and she did the
best she could!
Note on the floor boards you can still see where the
axes were used to flatten the boards.  I also took some
pictures of the local flora and fauna. Pictured above is
the "Monkey Puzzle" tree.
The fort was built on a high hill overlooking
the bay and the views from it are very scenic.
After visiting the fort and another historic site we
went to Rio Los Ciervos. This is a local residence
that has a lot of history being one of the first
buildings in the area.  The had a local dance
demonstration for us and showed us many of the
historical artifacts in the hacienda.
As we left Punta Arenas and sailed down the Strait of
Magellan towards our next port the scenery was just
spectacular.
The sunset was a perfect ending to a
perfect day!!