Punta Arenas/Tierra del Fuego (Patagonia)
So, even after all of the failures that I have experienced with Uber, I scheduled an Uber to take me from my hostel to the airport in the morning. Why? I do not know. I guess I refused to believe that Uber was that inept in Chile. When I scheduled, the Uber driver was one minute away, and he actually pulled up in 30 seconds. I was elated. But while I started to get into his car, he proceeded to tell me that he could not take me to the airport, because Uber drivers are banned from the airport. I asked him in Spanglish if he could drop me off in the parking lot near the airport (like a previous Uber driver had done), and he said no way. I asked him why he accepted my Uber request, knowing that he couldn't take me to the airport. No answer. Uber in Chile remains a complete mystery to me.
So again, I ended up taking a yellow cab to the airport for a few more bucks. I flew from Santiago to Punta Arenas--about a three and a half hour flight. This is how long Chile is. Santiago is a bit north of center in Chile, and it still took three and a half hours to fly to the southern end of it, which was still a 200 hundred miles north of the southern tip.
I took a shuttle to my hostel from the airport (no Uber drivers in the area), and yes, I would have scheduled an Uber if they were available, only to satisfy my morbid curiosity. I got there early evening, but since it did not get dark until after 10pm down there, I was able to explore the area. Being in quite a remote area, it was a small town, which was expected.
But right away I noticed that the sky was a bit different from any sky that I have seen before. It kind of had this mystically ominous feeling about it. The sky looked so three-dimensional.
Even though it was the middle of Summer down there, everybody was bundled up, while I attempted to wear as little as possible without freezing. Because of the local weather patterns there, Patagonia is forever cold at night even though it is at sea level. I was told later by a Swede that Sweden is actually more north than Patagonia is south, but actually does feel like Summer during Summer there. It was a bit odd, because I have never seen Spanish speaking people in a cold climate, and I was half-way expecting to hear a Scandinavian language. It was just funny to hear Spanish in freezing cold temperatures.
The next day I toured the town, and walked to the highest point where I could get a panoramic view. It almost did feel like I was in Scandinavia even though I have never been there, but I imagine it does look something like this in some of the remote towns.
One thing that a lot of people do not know about me is that I love visiting cemeteries, not because I am morbid, but because I can instantly see history in the presence of the head stones and monuments, and sometimes the pictures of the dearly departed. So when I happened upon a cemetery, I did not hesitate to enter.
This last picture is particularly interesting, and does somewhat tell a story about the history of Chile in the 1970s, when it was ruled by the dictator Pinochet who made tens of thousands of political adversaries "disappear." As I had learned, and I need to learn more, Pinochet was backed by a conservative military that was attempting to suppress the communist movement, and that it did, by killing off high profile communists. Pinochet did some other crazy things, and nobody dare mention his name even today, because there is so much hatred for this man who had placed such a black mark on Chile's history. Pretty much, he is Chile's version of Hitler. When he is mentioned, it is done in a hushed tone. It is hard to believe that a country in such turmoil just a few decades ago has evolved into the safest country in Latin America.
Later that day (I love the summer days down here as they are so long), I rented a bike from the hostel to explore the coastline of the fjord around Punta Arenas.
A half mile out, I realized that this was a very unsafe bike. The front rim was bent, the gears were stripping when I peddled, and worst of all, it barely had brakes. Now, I have a high threshold for what is safe, and usually just deal with it, and I hate backtracking. But this bike was so unsafe that I actually pedaled back to the hostel to get another bike. However, this bike was made for a little kid, and although much safer, the crank badly needed a lube job. But I had no choice as that was the only other bike, so I peddled down the road, looking like a circus clown on a tiny bike. I traveled down the coast of the Fjord for probably ten or so miles to take in some of the sights.
. . . and when I got tired of riding a very undersized and barely operational bike against the wind (probably about 30mph headwind), I pedaled back with the wind, which was a real treat.
The next day I went on the only excursion that I would go on from Punta Arenas--and that was Tierra del Fuego, which is a triangular region at the very tip of Patagonia that is split into into a Chilean side and an Argentinian side.
I was not sure what to expect from Tierra del Fuego. I was somewhat expecting to see a mountainous region. But really, I could only describe it as a barren wasteland with perpetually tumultuous weather.
But Tierra del Fuego is apparently not about scenery, but more about penguins, and particularly, King Penguins, which are the second largest penguins right behind the Emperor Penguins, which only live in Antarctica. I am really not much of bird person, but this was the first time I saw a bona fide penguin colony outside of a zoo.
I also saw a pretty cool shipwreck, which seemed to fit right in with the unforgiving feel of Tierra del Fuego.
I learned quite a bit of history from the tour guide. Nobody knows for sure the origin of the word "Patagonia," but the prevailing theory is that it came from the large footprints left behind by the native population (which appear very Polynesian)--"pata," meaning "foot," so basically, land of the "foot people." The native men were actually larger than the European men at the time, many reaching well over six-feet tall.
Tierra del Fuego, which is part of Patagonia, has had somewhat of a sad history, and if hearing about the genocide of an entire people will ruin your day, you should not read any further.
Starting in the 16th Century, Europeans had attempted to settle this land, with many succumbing to starvation as nothing really grows down here. But that is not the sad part. This region was named "Tierra del Fuego" ("land of fire") by the Europeans, because when they first arrived, they saw fires lit by the native population (Selk'nam). Much like other regions of the world, there was a gold rush in the 1800s in Tierra del Fuego, and as a result, there was a lot of conflict between the Selk'nam and the Europeans. The large companies that were operating in Tierra del Fuego paid a bounty in gold to the sheepherders for each Selk'nam killed, paying more for the killing of a woman than a man. This occurred as late as the early 20th century. Trials were held, but of course, nobody was found guilty. On top of that, the missionaries did attempt to help the Selk'nam out by clothing and feeding them. However, the clothes that they gave them often were infected with Small Pox, so most actually died from disease. The last remaining Selk'nam died in the 1970s. Genocide complete. The same men responsible for the orchestrated genocide of the Selk-nam remain memorialized with statues and plaques prominently displayed in the town square of Punta Arenas. They do get credit for establishing Punta Arenas when others have failed, but at the cost of the Selk'nam. As is the same old story around the world, there is both good and bad in creating a "civilized" society in an otherwise uncivilized place.
So again, I ended up taking a yellow cab to the airport for a few more bucks. I flew from Santiago to Punta Arenas--about a three and a half hour flight. This is how long Chile is. Santiago is a bit north of center in Chile, and it still took three and a half hours to fly to the southern end of it, which was still a 200 hundred miles north of the southern tip.
But right away I noticed that the sky was a bit different from any sky that I have seen before. It kind of had this mystically ominous feeling about it. The sky looked so three-dimensional.
The next day I toured the town, and walked to the highest point where I could get a panoramic view. It almost did feel like I was in Scandinavia even though I have never been there, but I imagine it does look something like this in some of the remote towns.
One thing that a lot of people do not know about me is that I love visiting cemeteries, not because I am morbid, but because I can instantly see history in the presence of the head stones and monuments, and sometimes the pictures of the dearly departed. So when I happened upon a cemetery, I did not hesitate to enter.
This last picture is particularly interesting, and does somewhat tell a story about the history of Chile in the 1970s, when it was ruled by the dictator Pinochet who made tens of thousands of political adversaries "disappear." As I had learned, and I need to learn more, Pinochet was backed by a conservative military that was attempting to suppress the communist movement, and that it did, by killing off high profile communists. Pinochet did some other crazy things, and nobody dare mention his name even today, because there is so much hatred for this man who had placed such a black mark on Chile's history. Pretty much, he is Chile's version of Hitler. When he is mentioned, it is done in a hushed tone. It is hard to believe that a country in such turmoil just a few decades ago has evolved into the safest country in Latin America.
Later that day (I love the summer days down here as they are so long), I rented a bike from the hostel to explore the coastline of the fjord around Punta Arenas.
A half mile out, I realized that this was a very unsafe bike. The front rim was bent, the gears were stripping when I peddled, and worst of all, it barely had brakes. Now, I have a high threshold for what is safe, and usually just deal with it, and I hate backtracking. But this bike was so unsafe that I actually pedaled back to the hostel to get another bike. However, this bike was made for a little kid, and although much safer, the crank badly needed a lube job. But I had no choice as that was the only other bike, so I peddled down the road, looking like a circus clown on a tiny bike. I traveled down the coast of the Fjord for probably ten or so miles to take in some of the sights.
. . . and when I got tired of riding a very undersized and barely operational bike against the wind (probably about 30mph headwind), I pedaled back with the wind, which was a real treat.
The next day I went on the only excursion that I would go on from Punta Arenas--and that was Tierra del Fuego, which is a triangular region at the very tip of Patagonia that is split into into a Chilean side and an Argentinian side.
I was not sure what to expect from Tierra del Fuego. I was somewhat expecting to see a mountainous region. But really, I could only describe it as a barren wasteland with perpetually tumultuous weather.
But Tierra del Fuego is apparently not about scenery, but more about penguins, and particularly, King Penguins, which are the second largest penguins right behind the Emperor Penguins, which only live in Antarctica. I am really not much of bird person, but this was the first time I saw a bona fide penguin colony outside of a zoo.
I also saw a pretty cool shipwreck, which seemed to fit right in with the unforgiving feel of Tierra del Fuego.
I learned quite a bit of history from the tour guide. Nobody knows for sure the origin of the word "Patagonia," but the prevailing theory is that it came from the large footprints left behind by the native population (which appear very Polynesian)--"pata," meaning "foot," so basically, land of the "foot people." The native men were actually larger than the European men at the time, many reaching well over six-feet tall.
Tierra del Fuego, which is part of Patagonia, has had somewhat of a sad history, and if hearing about the genocide of an entire people will ruin your day, you should not read any further.
Starting in the 16th Century, Europeans had attempted to settle this land, with many succumbing to starvation as nothing really grows down here. But that is not the sad part. This region was named "Tierra del Fuego" ("land of fire") by the Europeans, because when they first arrived, they saw fires lit by the native population (Selk'nam). Much like other regions of the world, there was a gold rush in the 1800s in Tierra del Fuego, and as a result, there was a lot of conflict between the Selk'nam and the Europeans. The large companies that were operating in Tierra del Fuego paid a bounty in gold to the sheepherders for each Selk'nam killed, paying more for the killing of a woman than a man. This occurred as late as the early 20th century. Trials were held, but of course, nobody was found guilty. On top of that, the missionaries did attempt to help the Selk'nam out by clothing and feeding them. However, the clothes that they gave them often were infected with Small Pox, so most actually died from disease. The last remaining Selk'nam died in the 1970s. Genocide complete. The same men responsible for the orchestrated genocide of the Selk-nam remain memorialized with statues and plaques prominently displayed in the town square of Punta Arenas. They do get credit for establishing Punta Arenas when others have failed, but at the cost of the Selk'nam. As is the same old story around the world, there is both good and bad in creating a "civilized" society in an otherwise uncivilized place.
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