Punta Arenas, Chile

 llama with 5 day old baby!

Perito Moreno Glacier

The internet is working a little faster than usual today so I put on 2 pictures!  The day after Ushuaia we went to Punta Arenas, Chile.  We were only supposed to be there for one day, but as there was a monster storm in the South Pacific along our route, we stayed for two days to miss most of the storm.  The first day I went on a tour to the Perito Moreno Glacier (above).  We traveled 30 minutes by plane to El Calafate, Argentina and then 1 1/2 hours by bus to the glacier.  It was a pretty drive.  When we got off the plane I was sure we were at my sister's house in southern Arizona it looked just like it).  We had some time at the glacier to walk around.  It was drizzley while we were there, but the rest of the area was mostly sunny.  Before we went back to the airport we had time to do a little shopping in El Calafate.  It was the cutest little town and I would have liked to have more time to explore.  The next day I went on a tour around Punta Arenas.  Like Ushuaia, Punta Arenas claims to be the southern most city in the world.  Their reasoning is that Punta Arenas is the furthest south city on mainland South America (Ushuaia is on an island), and it is larger than Ushuaia.  Either way it too is a cute little city.  It was a booming metropolis until the Panama Canal was completed, after that, not so many ships went that way.  The weather was all over the place the day I was there.  It started out raining..then a little snow..back to rain..cleared up and was sunny..then went back between rain, sleet and sun the rest of the day.  The whole time the wind was BLOWING.  I went to a very cool cemetary there and a nice mansion turned museum.  Very nice antiques!  Then I went to a farm to see the sheep shearing process.  They also had llamas there and that is where I took the top photo.  The sheep shearing was interesting..I guess.  It looks like the poor sheep is being tortured, but I guess they take it all in stride.  After the tour, I again did some shopping back at the main square street vendors.  I also wanted to go there to see the big statue of Ferdinand Magellan.  The Straits of Magellan are at Punta Arenas and they talk about him alot.  I did a report on him in 5th grade, so he's always been one of my favorite mariners.  We left Punta Arenas on Sunday and have been at sea for the last 5 days.  Monday through Wednesday was pretty wavy and rocky.  I didn't mess around this week and kept popping the sea sick pills for 3 days.  I felt wonderful..just a little sleepy!  Tomorrow we get to Easter Island...Another tender port, so cross your fingers for calm seas so we can get off the ship!