March 21st 2015
Sometimes while travelings things just don’t work out, you don;t get a chance to do something you we’re really looking forward to, visit a place you’ve always wanted to see, of eat what you want to eat. This blog isn;t that though, it’s the exact opposite, where, by some miraculous chance, everything works out perfectly, almost impossibly so.
Our flight from Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas to Punta Arenas get in just a few minutes late and we grab a taxi into the centre for 9,000 CLP (18 CAD) One of the advantages of travelling as a group of four is that taxi’s are often cheaper than buses, as was the case here.
We arrive at Hostal 53 Sur pretty tired but are welcomed warmly, by the staff and by the fireplace dotted throughout the space. We check into our 4 person room (44,000 CLP per night for the room including a delicious pancake breakfast) and then get down to business, or try to at least. One of the things we’re really hoping to do is go visit Isla Magdellena, famous for it’s penguin colony.
Getting of the plan we weren’t sure if they’d still be there since the penguins usually leave throughout march for the warmer waters of Brazil but our taxi driver told us there were still some there. Sadly when we ask at the hostel we’re told there’s only private tours running this late in the year and those run between 50 000 and 55 000 CLP (100-110 CAD) each. Out of our Price range especially considering we’ve already seen penguins in Chiloe.
More than a little disappointed we decide to go for a mid-afternoon stroll to see what the town of Punta Arenas has to offer, and look into to bargaining for a better price on the private tours the next days.
We find a bunch of interesting street art on the way to the centre of town and I’m mocked as I snap more photos. The funny thing is, travelling with people like this makes me take way more pictures than normal, and yet they just tease me for it. I have such a cruel family. (sarcasm).
We get to the main square without passing by a single tourist agency and find some beautiful buildings lining it but still no places to bargain on penguin prices. That said I do find some delicious churros which I’ll be glad of later and we pass by some cool buildings, and the Chilean flag which is displayed more proudly than any South American country yet.
The cold is starting to bite and we’re all realizing we should have donned our warmest clothes, hell it’s almost Canada cold with the wind. Almost.
Just as we’re about to head back I spot a hostel a half block a way and suggest ducking in just to see about the penguins. The amazing woman welcomes us inside, is patient with my accent, and does everything she can to find out about the penguins. With some careful googling she finds out that today is in fact the last departure of the large tourist ferry for the entire year.
She calls to make sure and buy us tickets only to figure out that her computer clock is an hour slow and the ferry leaves in 19 minutes. I ask if we can make it, and she nods and says something akin too “If you hurry.”
She then calls us a taxi, tells it to come as fast as it can and about 3 minutes later we’re piling into the car and asking the driver to go as fast as he can. We run a few yellow to red lights on the way and pull up to the jetty where we see a ferry staff member standing on the ramp getting ready to start the process of leaving.
We run up to him only to be told we have to go back into the building to buy our tickets (30,000 CLP or 60 CAD each roundtrip including entrance onto the island). the people inside sell them to us and take our information. I’m worried about the time it’s taking until they tell us that they are the guides and the boat won’t be leaving without them. Lucky for us we caught them on the way out of the building and not a minute later, thanks mister taxi driver and miss hostel worker!
We climb aboard the huge ferry followed closely by the guides, then we’re on our way, a 2 hour crossing across the open ocean to the penguins Islands home. I’m beaming. I just love when everything falls into place.
The ferry isn’t crowded, maybe 150-200 people in all and the boat is designed for many more, with a small cafe and plenty of empty chairs. But I can’t sit still and head out onto the deck to take some photos of the beautiful ocean, which lives up to it’s end of the world reputation, in feeling, stretching on into nothing, the light streaming through clouds and flickering up off the dark water. I’m buzzing, a feeling I know more from 20 months of travel than in the rest of my adult or semi adult life.
The cold soon gets the better of most people quickly and soon I’m more or less alone on the deck, watching Punta Arenas fade away into nothingness as the sea birds zip by in the air. I spend almost the entire ride outside, listening to music and losing myself in the feeling of travelling to the edge of the world.
Eventually the island appears on the horizon and as we edge closer to it, my anticipation grows. During peak season the Island is home to about 130,000 penguins. I know there won’t be that here, but I’m excited to find out how many there will be. As we draw a little closer to island I see two sea lions ducking into the water and skillfully evading the massive ferry bearing down on them.
The rain begins as we get close enough to the island to see anything and combined with the wind, and my unplanned wardrobe of shorts, T-shirts, and thin Dal Theatre hoodie, I duck inside to get a little warmer before landing on the island. But not before snapping a few pictures of the cormorants and penguin colonies on the rocky beach of Isla Magdellena.
Meeting up with Russell, Clara, and Robert we head outside ahead of most of the crowd and just as the rain starts coming down. Soon we all find ourselves wishing we’d dressed warmer, but not long after we all find ourselves grinning from ear to ear.
We step onto the island and thousands of cormorants take flight, well small collections of penguins on the beach look up at them wistfully. I join them, wishing I could sly too, but that is soon forgotten as we start up the trail towards the building atop the island.
Penguins are everywhere, and though it’s bitterly cold and the rain alternates between spitting and pouring, I’m laughing and bouncing around. The penguins glance up at us inquisitively, some retreating to their burrows (I never knew penguins burrowed) others emerging from them to check on these new visitors. They’re certainly anything but scared of us, and some even seem to pose for pictures.
The rain relents for brief moments allowing me to capture some of the magical moments, moving constantly trying to ignore the coldness. Poor clara has come without socks and since my legs don’t get cold easily or feel as much in general since my blood clot I give her man and a nice Swedish man hooks her up with a spare rain coat. She ends up best equipped of all of us.
We have only just over an hour on the island which is enough time to walk up to the end of the path and back with tons of photo breaks, but I’d have loved more, even with the rain.
As you can see here I have countless pictures and also spent time interacting with some of the penguins who would often mirror my head movements, though I later heard that may have been more a defensive gesture than playful. As we descend I eventually hand my father my camera to keep dry in the boat and I hang out on the path to the last possible moment, eventually heard back onto the boat by the friendly guides. Last one on the boat heading there, and last one on the boat leaving the island, I couldn’t ask for better.
The guides tell me the best time to come is November December and early January, when you can see more young penguins and also a ton more penguins. they tell me that right now only about 10 % of the penguins are still on the island, it doesn’t sound like much, until you realize it’s about 13,000 penguins. More than Id I’ve imagined seeing in my life.
The boat ride back is spent inside warming up and passes quickly enough. We make sure to be first off and nab one of a few unbooked and waiting taxis back to our hostel, making plans to head to Puerto Natales on the morrow, a small town which has one main attraction: being the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park. Chiles most famous outdoor attraction and a place right up there with the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu for must do’s in South America.
