2022 Early December - Chile, Antarctica

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Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas

Our flight arrives in Punta Arenas at 800 AM.  We were able to doze a bit during the flight, but no real sleep.  It is cool, 50’s, and windy as we arrive, coat time.  There is no traffic on our 20-minute taxi ride to the hotel.  Punta Arenas has a population of 127,000, very small in comparison to the multi millions we’ve experienced in the big cities.  We arrive at the hotel at 830, the room is not ready.  We sit for a while searching the internet for a nearby restaurant.  We find a coffee shop/restaurant three blocks away. 
We pass the time, coffee for Nicida, hot chocolate for me, breakfast for both.  Returning to our hotel, we find our room is ready.  We settle in, relaxing a bit, before heading out for groceries.  It is convenient being in a small town, almost everything we need is within a three-block radius of the hotel.  After shopping we stroll down to the water, the Straits of Magellan.  The wind is still blowing, the deep blue water is covered with marching whitecaps.  Tomorrow, we learn about our Antarctic Expedition.

South American adventure Oct/Nov 2018 part 3

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Santiago, Chile

Cerro Santa Lucia statue

We fly from Cuzco to Lima then on to Santiago Chile, this is a travel day; ending at 430 AM the next day in Santiago.  Santiago is another 3.5 hours south of Lima by plane.  The size of this continent is becoming very apparent to me with our flying times adding up as we continue south.

This portion of our adventure is where we will get to know the customs officials between Chile and Argentina.  We will be renting cars on and off during the remainder of the trip negotiating the borders several times.