Sunday--February 20-Santiago to Punta Arenas

Sunday--February 20--Santiago--Punta Arenas

Gate 24

I had asked one of the doormen yesterday to arrange for a taxi at 8:15 a.m. so I could get to the airport for my 10:20 a.m. flight to Punta Arenas.  Bernadetta had told me that they would do that and would call me when the taxi arrived.  Ha.

I didn’t trust this and so at 8:00 a.m. I took my luggage and went downstairs.  The two men that were there said there was no taxi ordered and that the taxi service didn’t work on Sunday.  Really.   I had been a bit nervous about this happening mostly because it was Sunday.

  

It didn’t take too long standing on the street for a taxi to come by.  Actually in the end it was probably for the best because it was much cheaper than if they had called.  When I’d asked the doorman to order a taxi he told me it would cost 15,000 pesos, when I arrived in Santiago I paid 18,000 pesos at the airport “official” taxi and this morning I paid only 7,000.  Live and learn.

The taxi driver was very nice and it only took about 20 minutes to get to the airport.  I had plenty of time before my flight.

I went to check in at the ticket counter but the lady told me the counter was only for checking the baggage and that I needed to get my boarding pass from the machine.  These are the same machines we have in America airports for “express” check-in’s.  What was interesting about these machines was they had a scanner and I needed to put my passport in.  I put my passport in the slot and all my flight information appeared on the screen.  Kind of cool and kind of scary.

Now I had my boarding pass so I walked back to the ticket counter and checked my one suitcase.  

I had about an hour and really wanted some coffee.  I went through security and the only option for coffee was Starbucks.  Really.  This is the first Starbucks I had and I wasn’t so happy but having the coffee was much more important then caring about it being “Starbucks”.  The grande latte was nearly $5.00 and not so good.  Oh well.

My boarding pass said the plane would leave from gate 28 but then I looked at the monitor which indicated that my flight was leaving from gate 24.  I walked to gate 24 and the screen over the gate desk said it was the flight to Punta Arenas, via Puerto Montt so I sat down.  Not long after waiting at the gate, I overheard someone ask the woman at the counter if this was the correct gate for the flight.  She said no the flight was leaving from gate 28.  I got up and went over to ask the woman myself and pointed to the sign showing the Punta Arenas flight, but she said the information was wrong and that I needed to go to gate 28.  Don’t believe everything you read.

The flight left Santiago on time.  First stop Puerto Montt which took about 1 1/2 hours.  The captain was great every so often he would come on the loud speaker and in English and Spanish explain where we were and what sites you could see out the window.  It was a glorious day and we could see lots.

Puerto Montt is in the Chilean Lake District and I was sorry I wasn’t stopping here but I had to make choices knowing it’s not possible to see everything.  My goal was to get to the south before the weather got too bad, as Patagonia’s weather is very unpredictable.  We weren’t on the ground very long in Puerto Montt before taking off to Punta Arenas.     

[A small tangent.

Figuring out this part of my trip, traveling between Chile and Argentina in Patagonia, was the most complex puzzle so far. I’ve spent hours on the internet over the last few weeks trying to find out about transportation between cities and communicating with hotels in the towns that I want to visit.  I needed to make transportation and hotel arrangements around my March 1 flight from Ushuaia to El Calafate. 

The first problem I had was finding out about bus transportation between Punta Arenas and Ushuaia.  I had found a 4 night cruise ship for $3,000 but wasn’t going to spend that so I was looking for a bus.  After much digging I found one bus company that I was able to communicate with that said they had a bus (which takes 12 hours) that leaves on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for $60.00 and I could buy a ticket in Punta Arenas.  I felt better about that.  Next I had to figure out how I was going to get from El Calafate to El Chalten (a 3 hour bus ride) after my visit to Torre Del Paine.  I booked a hotel in Torre Del Paine that is suppose to pick me up in El Calafate and bring me back to El Calafate.  Also I was concerned about getting transportation from El Chalten to Bariloche, which I have now discovered exists but only goes on odd days and is a 2 day bus ride.

Traveling alone has it’s advantages in that I don’t need to worry about anyone else and I can be extremely flexible.   But all this “travel as you go” has me working all the time.  I can tell you that Trip Advisor is extremely good as is Booking.com.]

So I arrived in Punta Arenas and went to look for a taxi.  They said there were no taxi’s but I could take a van.  O.k.  

The Ilaia Hotel far exceeded my expectations.  Jenny and Sandra had told me how kind the people were to them but I have to tell you the hotel is more like a home than a hotel.  The people were so warm and welcoming and the room was fresh and clean.  The first person I met was Ricardo.  He spoke English and was very helpful.  I was rather hungry since all I had was the two snacks on the plane and it was nearly 3:00 p.m. 

The lobby and breakfast room

I walked to the main part of town and found Chocolata, mostly known for churros and chocolate drinks but they had sandwiches as well.  I ordered a tuna sandwich which was so huge that I could only eat half of it.  I took the other half back to the hotel and ate it later.  

I walked around their Plaza del Armas and then down to the beach.  

Patagonia Statue in the Plaza del Armas

explorers tools

The weather was incredible.  All I’d heard about was how windy Punta Arenas can be and there was literally NO wind.  The sun was out the sky was blue and the air still. 

 It was Sunday and I think the entire town was soaking up the fantastic weather at the beach. This town has a population of about 110,000 people but it felt much smaller. 

I had no idea how long the beach walkway was or which direction I should go.  I just strolled along the beach for an hour.  The sun was shining brightly and it was nearly 7:00 p.m.  Gotta love the summer.

I walked back to the hotel which was about 8 blocks from the beach.  

I wrote for a while and put my head on the very soft pillow.