Chile: Patagonia

Updated 16 August 2001
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Campo de Hielo Sur


Flying south along the Andean spine, chains of volcanoes give way to the distinctive furrows plowed into the landscape by glaciers past.


Then the living glaciers begin to appear! For closer shots of some of these glaciers, see here, here, and here.


We pass by countless spectacular vistas, many of which doubtless remain unexplored. Campo de Hielo Sur Grande is the largest ice field outside the poles.


Punta Arenas


1st-4th: Arrival in Punta Arenas, nearly the "end of the world".
5th: View of Punta Arenas. In the background is Tierra del Fuego, across the Strait of Magellan.


1st: Enjoy those rays while they last, because the sun doesn't smile on this part of the world so often.
2nd: Club de la Unión (originally the Sara Braun mansion) on Plaza Muñoz Gamero.
3rd-4th: Military parade around Plaza Muñoz Gamero.
5th: Street scene by the Plaza.


1st-2nd: Statue of Ferdinand Magellan.
3rd: Statue of a Selknam, original inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego.
4th: Mural commemorating Gabriela Mistral, one of Chile's two Nobel prize-winning poets.
5th-7th: Attractive church building on Av Colón.
8th-9th: The native araucaria, or monkey-puzzle tree (so called because a monkey would have a real puzzle trying to climb it). The leaves are spiky and sharp. Very slow growing, but can attain a height of 50m/150ft.


Otway


Magellanic Penguin colony at Seno Otway. They come back to the same southern quarters every summer, each lifelong mated pair with its own burrow in which to raise brood. For the winter they head northwards to live and feed in the open ocean -- no one knows where.


Puerto Natales


Puerto Natales and Seno Última Esperanza (Sound of Last Hope).


Countryside







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