After checking out in Puerto Natales, we hopped on a bus for a 3.5 hour ride to Punta Arenas, the southernmost settlement on mainland South America. We were surprised by the size and overall feel of the city. Originally a penal colony used by Chile to establish a territorial claim to the Magellan Straight, the city grew in size and wealth from due to the wool trade and its strategic position for traffic circumnavigating South America. The city center had a European feel, and Tori said it reminder her of Barcelona.
We were staying in a La Yegua Loca, a classic boutique hotel that had the best-rated restaurant in the city. The hotel was built into the side of the hill and, since it pre-dated elevators, the staff used a series of winches and pulleys to get our luggage up to our third-floor room.
Hiking in the Magellanic Forest
After checking in and getting a quick lunch we were picked up for our first excursion, a shared hike through the nearby Magellanic forest. The hike was on a multi-use trail network at the local Ski/MTB park and we started off by dodging a very brave group of toddlers bombing down the trail on a mix of tiny mountain bikes and balance bikes.
Recent rains and ongoing drizzle left the steeper parts of the trail fairly slick, and since we had some retirees in our group the guides cut the hike slightly short out of an abundance of caution. The hike was a good glimpse into a unique ecosystem and the short duration was probably for the best, considering the state of our legs after Base Torres and horseback riding.
Kayaking in the Straight of Magellan
For our last morning, we booked a kayak tour of in the straight. Somehow our luck with the weather was holding, and we had a sunny day with perfectly calm water (and 50 degree temperatures) for the paddling. The was our first time using a tandem kayak, and since there was a very small group (just us, a local tourism student, and two guides), we were able to set our own pace and enjoy the water. One of the guides was super experienced and alternated his time between Antarctica, leading multi-day kayak excursions deeper into the archipelago, and running a snowboard school in the winters — this felt pretty below his pay grade, but it was cool to hear his stories and see his pictures.
We got to see a ton of sea birds and even caught glimpses of a pod of dolphins playing on our way back, but sadly they were camera shy and perfectly timed their jumps for exactly when my camera was least accessible.
Magdalena Island Penguin Colony
The last excursion, and potentially Tori’s most anticipated, was our afternoon boat ride to Magdalena Island to visit the massive colony of Magellan Penguins. The island is about 1.5 hours north of Punta Arenas in the straight, and our weather luck from the morning continued with sunny skies and mostly calm seas. Access to the island is tightly controlled, and they kept the group together with park rangers and tour guides ensuring that the penguins were safe and people stayed on the path. The walk around the island took about an hour before they herded us back to the boat for the return journey.
The juvenile penguins had apparently just left the island and the adults were molting for the winter, which limited their activity. Some were still complete fuzzballs, a few couples were walking around, and most were somewhere in between. After we returned to Punta Arenas, we had our last dinner in South America and prepped our bags for the 48 hours of travel to get home.
