Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas

Amalia Glacier is on the way to Punta Arenas.

We sailed into the Chilean Fjords to view the Amalia Glacier. It is located in Bernardo O’Higgins National Park, and comes down from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. It is a retreating glacier receding at an incredibly fast pace compared with other glaciers in the region. The glacier is only viewable by water craft or cruise ships. This glacier partially surronds Reclus Volcano and erods its northern flank.

Unfortunately, it was an overcast day diminishing some of the beauty in the area.

Mountains in the background are cloud covered

From here we sailed through the islands to Punta Arenas the southern most city in Chile but not the southern most on the South American Continent.

Punta Arenas is the capital city of Chile‘s southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilean. It is the largest city south of the 46th parallel south, and at the same time the most populous southernmost city in Chile and in the Americas, and due to its location, the coldest coastal city with more than 100,000 inhabitants in Latin America. It is also one of the most populous sites so far south in the world.

Punta Arenas is located in the Strait of Magellan in southern Chile, and is well advertised locally as one of the southernmost cities in the world. This is certainly the farthest south I have ever been, and I’m enjoying the experience of getting to know a new city.

We noticed that Punta Arenas has a low cityscape with a mix of old and new architecture. Strong winds year-round seem to prevent the area’s vegetation from growing very tall. The city is established on a hill, with the majority of development at the bottom of the hill closest to the water, while the top of the hill remains natural and undisturbed.

Located on the Brunswick Peninsula north of the Strait of Magellan, Punta Arenas was originally established by the Chilean government in 1848 as a tiny penal colony to assert sovereignty over the Strait. During the remainder of the 1800s, Punta Arenas grew in size and importance due to the increasing maritime traffic and trade travelling to the west coasts of South and North America. This period of growth also resulted from the waves of European immigrants, mainly from Croatia and Russia attracted to the gold rush and sheep farming boom in the 1880s and early 1900s. The largest sheep company, controlling 10,000 square kilometers in Chile and Argentina, was based in Punta Arenas, and its owners lived there.

Since its founding Chile has used Punta Arenas as a base to defend its sovereignty claims in the southernmost part of South America. This led, among other things, to the Strait of Magellan being recognized as Chilean territory in the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina. The geopolitical importance of Punta Arenas has remained high in the 20th and 21st centuries because of its logistic importance in accessing the Antarctic Peninsula.

Since 2017, the city and its region have their own time zone: they use summer time during the whole year.

These buildings are now all Government owned. They were built by the Europeans in the early 20th century who established sheep ranches in the Southern Chile and Argentina. They all owned several hundreds of acres.

From this area of the city we walked to the highest point for a view of the city.

From up here the city looks bigger then walking through town.

This statue is of Magellan, the explorer and namesake of the strait around the Southern Tip of South America, and several Tehuelche. It is said that if you rub the toe you will have good luck. One toe is a shiny bronze color that starkly contrasts with the rest of the statue, and seemed to me like the obvious choice.

The Tehuelche were the indigenous tribe when Magellan arrived. The people he called the Patagons are now believed to have been the Tehuelche, who tended to be taller than Europeans of the time. They had very big feet, as you can see from the stature, and had no clothing. They went naked around the country. Unfortunately, the European Sheep Ranchers eliminated all of them when they arrived.

After enjoying the views we went to the City Square.