January 27, 2017 – Punta Arenas, Chile, 2017 Cruise to South American & Cape Horn

January 27, 2017 – Puenta Arenas, Chile

Arrived in Punta Arenas, Chile. Decided to go on a shore excursion billed as a simple 1.2 mile trek to the top of a hill overlooking the city, the Magellan Straits and Tierra del Fuego across the straits. The physical level was labeled ”moderate.” Well, if that is their idea of ‘moderate,’ I hope to never go on a ‘strenuous’ trek. First, it turned out to be over 1.5 miles and all uphill. It had rained the night before so parts of the trail were very muddy. It took four rest stops to make it to the top. We came out of the tree cover to a platform on top of the hill for the views and found the wind blowing about 35 kts from the southeast. Southeast of Tierra del Fuego is Antarctica! So the wind was very strong and very cold. Even though it was partly cloudy, the view was amazing. But then we had to walk down. The step trek down took almost as much time as it did going up and all we were rewarded with was a luke warm cup of coffee at the bottom. Tomorrow we pass a series of six glaciers on our way to Ushuaia, Argentina, but tonight we learned that the ship passes the first glacier at 4:35am the following morning. Bed early tonight.