Hello hello everyone!
If you didn´t already know, I am writing to you from the ¨end of the world.¨ Yes, that´s right, Punta Arenas, Chile - latitude of 53 degrees south and approximately 6600 miles away from Burlington, Iowa. I think I can safely say this is the furthest I have ever been from home. With that said, I have so much to tell you all and describe to you that I think it might be easiest (and most fun) to hash it out in list format. Ready?
Punta Arenas is...
1. one of the southernmost cities in the world
Yup, that´s right. Like I mentioned previously, Punta Arenas sits on, or around, the 53rd latitude line south of the equator (or at least I think that´s how that works... it´s been awhile since my last lesson in geography). The capital city of Chile´s southernmost region also sits on the edge of the Strait of Magellan, named after the explorer Ferdinand and also the most easily navigable passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean but also quite difficult to navigate due to unpredictable winds, currents, and narrows. (All of this courtesy of Wikipedia, por supuesto.) Anyway, whatever you like to call it - Punta Arenas, the end of the world, Tierra del Fuego - this is as far south as this girl is gettin´ ... this time, at least.
2. cold, windy, and full of coffee shops
So what have I been doing these past three days at the end of the world? Well, not sunbathing that´s for sure. Right now it´s about forty-eight degrees fahrenheit outside but last night it dropped to around thirty-three. Thus, for the first time in months, weather in Iowa might be a bit more agreeable than where I am. Shocking, I know. And the wind... almost rivals the Windy City... almost. Anyway, since it´s a bit chilly outside and since I am at the end of my month-long trip and am a bit burnt out on seeing stuff, I decided to play a game while giving myself a walking tour of the city. The Game: Every time I ran across a coffee shop I had to go in, sit down, and have a coffee. Result: Eight coffee shops in two days and a caffeine high like no other. However, my favorite was definitely the jazzy, vintage, bohemian coffee shop called Tapiz where I had one of the best macchiatos. I could have stayed there forever (in fact, I think my waitress thought I might and was relieved when I finally asked for la cuenta.)
3. duty-free, or at least the Zona Franca
Sooo besides drinking entirely too much caffeine in Punta Arenas, I also visited the Zona Franca, which is the area of the city that is duty-free and thus the place to go to buy electronics, cars, and imported alcohol and chocolate. Before I went, I really didn´t know quite what to expect. I thought maybe it would be just one big store where they sold a bunch of random stuff. To my surprise, it is much, much more than that. In fact, it was quite overwhelming. Store after store, aisle after aisle of stuff. Materialism on steroids perhaps. Halfway through the Zona Franca I had to sit down and have a Coca-Cola Light because I was just so overwhelmed. Finally, after a few hours of going down practically every aisle and going in almost every store, I left. My only purchase - peanut butter.
4. a small world
I never would have imagined the end of the world to be such a small world but indeed it is. Why so? Well, here are two stories to prove that as large as this world is it is also quite small. The first occurred while I was riding the ferry back from the penguin colony, which I will describe later. As I am sitting there, two gringas walk by and I was struck by one of the girls´ faces, which was unmistakeably familiar. Since I knew it would bother me not to know how I recognized her, I got up, tapped her on the shoulder, and asked them both where they went to school. Somehow I don´t think I was as surprised as I should have been when they said Loyola University in Chicago. Small world indeed. As it turns out, they arrived to Chile a little over a month ago through a different study abroad program that Loyola offers and will begin their classes in March. Crazy, eh? The second unbelieveable store happened while I was wandering through the aisles of a huge warehouse store in the Zona Franca. As I am in a daze walking down aisle after aisle, out of the corner of my eye, I see this chica invade my personal space. A little taken aback, I snap out of my daze and realize that it is KAREN, a woman I studied abroad with in Santiago. What?! For the past month, Karen had been taking a mountain climbing course in Patagonia and is now travelling with a friend doing treks etc. in the area. I still could not believe I ran into her. I mean, out of all the places, out of all the places in Punta Arenas, out of all the stores at the Zona Franca, out of all the aisles in this huge store... we literally ran into one another. It is a small world afterall...
And last but not least...
Punta Arenas is...
5. full of penguins
Although being able to say I have been to the end of the world is pretty cool, the real reason I came all the way down to Punta Arenas was to see the penguins. So on day one down here, I took a two-hour ferry to Isla Magdalena, home of thousands of Magellanic penguins that come down every summer to this island in order to breed. Definitely the highlight of my time spent in Punta Arenas, walking amongst a few thousand adorable penguins waddling around and flapping their wings. It was such a surreal experience. I mean, come on, penguins are just so darn cute!!! (Pictures to come, of course!)
Anyway, that really is a pretty good overview of what I have been doing down here. Tomorrow I will take a plane back to Santiago and honestly I can´t say I´m that sad to be done with my trip down South. Don´t get me wrong, it has been a blast and I have enjoyed every second of it. I have done some amazing things, seen some spectacular sights, eaten some delicious food, and met some incredible people, but after a month of living out of a backpack, I´m ready to unpack, take a real shower, and have some variety in my wardrobe. As for the photos, I should have the Best Of´s uploaded by Saturday. So once again, stay tuned...
¡Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment