The Golden Van: Tenting Punta Arenas

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I used to be strolling the seafront in Punta Arenas and I got here throughout this monument. It’s a celebration of the primary Chileans dropped at this shore by ship to say sovereignty of the Straits. 


We noticed this mannequin at Fort Bulnes in yesterdays publish. 

After which we noticed a re-creation of the Ancud sitting on a seashore at an outside museum simply north of Punta Arenas. So regardless of my protestations that this isn’t a vacationer city it does have touristy issues price seeing. At the least I believe so. 

We’ve been in Punta Arenas per week and we’ve discovered learn how to make  this “non vacationer” city work for us as a result of there isn’t any sort of infrastructure to assist overlanders who’re a uncommon subset of the vacationer business. You’ll see backpackers and vacationers throughout city on their technique to and from Antartica and Patagonia so there are many motels hostels and eating places. 


In our week  right here  in  Punta Arenas, we’ve managed to unravel one of many metropolis’s tightly held secrets and techniques: avenue parking. There are these characters throughout city in excessive viz clothes wandering the streets:
He’s a parking attendant and if you park on the road he’ll be aware your tag and cost you a payment if you depart. The speed appears arbitrary and isn’t posted wherever which implies we’ve paid a couple of hundred pesos for fast stops up to some thousand together with one asshole close to the market who demanded ten bucks. Make a scene or smile and by no means return to his patch? Barely bizarre as a system nevertheless it works kind of. Above his head you’ll discover  a blue parking signal marked with the phrase “concesionado” which implies it’s pay parking. Now you realize. 

This spot price us $3 for 2 hours whereas we went to lunch on the market and shopped at Unimarc. 

Punta Arenas is a metropolis based by European immigrants and even right this moment you’ll see numerous gabled buildings that appear to be they belong in Paris which supplies town a really continental air.  The massive white arrows on the road indicators level to the path of journey which is useful however proper of approach is usually confused with cease and yield indicators not all the time clear. Each intersection is a crap shoot and locals get pissed in the event you hesitate when you’ve got precedence. 

So, what concerning the grocery buying overlanders should take care of, and you realize it ain’t simple… We had been warned about distant Patagonia however we discover it to be moderately like Key West was once, if you needed to know what day the vegetable vehicles cane to city. In a area the place all the pieces is shipped from the mainland provides come and go so in the event you hit the shops appropriately the bananas are ripe she the broccoli is recent. There’s a Lider (Walmart) on the town however Unimarc is the favored retailer in Patagonia although Layne charges it as simply okay. Jumbo, her favourite chain stops at Puerto Montt far to the north. 

So we meals shopped at Unimarc and across the nook we went to lunch on the metropolis market which in Chile is clear and tidy and about as ethnic as the rest in Chile which isn’t in any respect ethnic! The markets of the Andes with colourful natives and girls in bowler hats and piles of produce on the sidewalk belong in Peru and Bolivia, not right here. However they do have Coke Zero in glass bottles, that’s a primary. 

And I had hake (“merluzza”) and chips with egg on prime. Additionally a primary and never unhealthy in any respect; it was like breakfast for lunch. 

The market provides low cost lunches however not that low cost as that is Chile so round twelve {dollars} a plate. However we had been busy with extra work to do that time for Rusty. We had discovered a vet in iOverlander who in 2017 used to do well being certificates for pets to cross the border to Argentina. 


In fact no traveler has up to date the app and that one was closed and gone so I resorted to Google Maps and located Vete Pet who did the paperwork for a really modest $18. After which I famous them in iOverlander for future vacationers, as you do. 

We needed to take Rusty in and he as traditional was not  excited however he was discovered to be wholesome and he took his anti-parasite medication like a champ and we had been achieved with an official piece of paper to show all of it for the workplace of agriculture, our subsequent cease. 

So we drove to the Federal Constructing which regarded to me like Cruella deVille’s fortress, and on the second ground a really good authorities  vet Don César, on the agriculture workplace referred to as SAG moderately amusingly to an English speaker, checked the papers and stated come again tomorrow in your canine’s exit certificates. 

So we did and for $11 we obtained a certificates which ought to permit Rusty to cross backwards and forwards between Argentina and Chile for the following 60 days with no extra paperwork. That will be good. 

Layne naturally had some catching as much as do with a good friend she had made within the ferry from Puerto Montt so I dropped her off at a espresso store and Rusty and I spent  a few completely happy hours on the seashore close to the Magellan monument. This have to be why town is known as Sandy Level: 

I confess I actually do benefit from the freedom of Latin America taking my canine with me to the seashore simply hanging out within the solar with nobody wigging out about leashes and stuff. I do know many canine house owners are assholes and don’t choose up and so forth  however there may be liberation to be discovered right here particularly in the event you behave your self. The massive orange Astrolabe on the waterfront is the Magellan monument. 

This under is as soon as once more the Ancud monument reminding us being a sailor isn’t all the time simple  both. I’ve gained new appreciation for Webb Chiles the primary American to sail alone round Cape Horn simply 4 hundred miles south of right here. And he did it in a leaky boat; I discover it laborious in a cushty van being this far south. 

GANNET2 nevertheless is sort of massive in comparison with extra economical native transport regardless that she could be dwarfed by Magellan’s flagship, the 120 foot Trinidad. 

The black field under is a public trash can and that’s the place we dump our trash. There are public trash cans throughout city and missing the standard campground amenities it’s the place we put our trash. Making overlanding work in Punta Arenas, metropolis with out organized tenting. 

So we’ve not discovered a correct campsite within the metropolis however we’ve discovered a really nice park twenty minutes up the coast the place we are able to in a single day totally free.

There are vault bathrooms that are disgusting to make use of  however are good to dump our porta potty. That’s all to the great.


We don’t must plug in fortunately as our photo voltaic panels are going gang busters even on overcast days and driving round our alternator is holding our batteries charged. Good to this point. Trash we’ve solved clearly so our  final concern is how can we bathe with out sizzling water in GANNET2 and no correct campground? Enter Backpacker’s Paradise Hostel discovered on iOverlander: 

5 bucks apiece for warm showers carry your personal towels and soaps. Good. Extra French structure downtown: 

And that is kind of how we make town with no real interest in car campers work for us. We’ve seen others in automobiles from Europe Argentina Brazil and Uruguay round city and plenty of wish to camp proper on the waterfront however we just like the park up the freeway removed from the waterfront madding crowd.  

The massive rings are campfire pits with in-built seating and there are picnic tables and the vault bathrooms are scattered round.

Rusty likes the abundance of grass in fact and we just like the quiet of weekdays camped outdoors town. 

The bushes don’t give a lot wind safety however we’ve been fortunate with the climate with restricted rain and many sunshine with bursts of sturdy winds gusting via. We are able to see out over the straits strolling via the Chabunco Park. 

And that’s the lifetime of an overlander, making do with what we discover. I’ve learn Ushuaia has fairly a couple of campgrounds however some folks park on the airport. I expect to find out extra after we attain our aim. 

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