Monday 8th September, Punta Arenas

I wake up at 5:30 in the morning to get a tube and a bus to the airport of Santiago. All goes well, I must say I am very impressed with Santiago's public transport. I am very impressed with it all until I get to the airport and spend 20 minutes running up and down stairs, lifts and escalators trying to find out where to check in my baggage for the domestic flight I am taking. After asking at the information desk the second time around (I am not sure why but the first time I ask the lady decides to send me to the other side of the airport.... I guess I didnt ask politely enough) I realise I have to check in my baggage in international departures and then run to domestic departures to the gate... The lady explains this to me looking like, yeah, I know it makes absolutely no sense but off you go!

Eventually I manage to do this with enough time to spare on Starbucks eating a cinamon roll... I have another little surprise when I read that my flight, to Punta Arenas, in actual fact goes via Port Mont. What the heck does that mean in a flight??? I guess I haven't travelled enough in my life to know this means the plane lands leaves some passengers, gets some new ones and leaves again... So eventually I get to Punta Arenas. Here starts my, all-taken-care-of tour for the next 5 days in the Patagonia.

I have a very nice chap waiting for me with a "Maria Martin"sign. He takes me around Punta Arenas, showing me the main sights. I must say I started this thinking why do I care about Punta Arenas main sights? but in the end I discovered it is quite a nice little town and my guide was a very nice and enthusiastic Punta Arenian (just made this word up...). You could see that he had been living there all his life!
So the highlights were the monument to the sheep herder...

 The indian in the main square whose feet you must kiss...

And the cemetery, a mix of normal graves and some other that are bigger than my house... Another interesting fact is the names are a nice mix of spanish, english and spanish-english... not sure about Welsh or not, I saw no Bales and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference in any other way!

And of course, the bit that got me more impressed was the Magallanes Straight in the back!!! It makes me realise how far from home I am, and it is so cool!!!!

BTW, when I got to Punta Arenas I saw in the news that there had been a small bombing in Santiago's underground, just my luck. Obviously am safe and sound...