Punta Arenas, Chile 2-22-09

Punta Arenas is the last city on the South American Continent proper. The other cities we have been to further south, were on islands. The name Punta Arenas, comes from the Spanish term Punta Arenosa, which literal translation is, Sandy Point. It has been called the city of red roofs because at one time all the roofs here were red. Now there are a few other colors.
The statue in the middle of the square is one most people frequent when they come here. Why? Beacause they say if you rub the toes on the feet of the statue you will return here. Everyone that I spoke with that has done it has made a trip back here. Did we rub the toes? Did we buy 10 Alpaca scarves? Did we step over dogs on every corner? The answers to these questions might be found in the photos.
We did visit a village where they have preserved the way of life from many years ago. The Model-T's were a real surprise. The movie theatre was too. The "yard" was full of old tractors, and the like. The statue of the sheep, the farmer and the dog, is the one they are most proud. The farmer is fighting the wind as he moves his sheep further south in Patagonia. Sheep are all the rage here. The trees. Those trees are all cyprus. Just beautiful. They shape them and they look like pieces of art. The really tall ones shaped like bells were in the cemetary. Those trees line all the "streets" within the cemetary and make the cemetary more like an art museum. The weather was cool and it started to rain later in the day but we had already gotten all of our treasures and headed back to the ship by then. A fun place for lunch was La Luna. We tried some of all they had. Chilean Sea Bass was no where to be found. Don't know why we have so much of that on menus in Alabama! The hat. We have seen leather hats from Fortaleza, Brazil all the way around the continent. If there was an outbreak of lice, Kathleen would have a bad case by now! Luckily, no lice and she finally found "the" hat. She looks like a local! This country has beautiful, friendly, talented people. We have less than a week before we leave South America and we will miss it.