Around Punta Arenas (Chile)

On January 8, 2006 we flew to Punta Arenas (the southern most city in Chile). We flew there with Casey & Tanis (Shari & Eamon are on a different travel circuit). The four of us rented a car and started driving Northward. The first thing we saw out of the airport was the Strait of Magellan.


Here is a picture of the Strait of Magellan.






More exciting is this picture of the Penguin Colony. We spent about an hour here (70 kms past the airport) watching the Magellan Penguins. They were pretty cute to watch making their way from the water to their burrows in the muddy grasslands. Their chicks were losing their fluffy coats and just had little tufts of fluff left. They were still relying on Mom & Dad to catch squid from the ocean and bring them the leftovers.

After this we drove onto Puerto Natales. This was about a 4 hour drive ( a majority of it on gravel roads). Ended up cracking a hubcap on the car.