Atacama to Paine Day 9

Another early rise to make our way to the airport for a flight to Punta Arenas. Another great view out of the window of the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, before the cloud rolled in. A couple of hours later we dropped out of the cloud to be greeted and buffeted by a very strong wind over the Magellen Straits. We landed surprisingly smoothly and then headed for the town.

It was not what I had expected, as it was quite large and not the small outpost at the end of the world I had expected. It had a few nice buildings in the centre of town next to a lovely square where a local market was taking place.

As we were becoming used to for many Chilean towns there were many buildings decorated with graffiti art, which covered the whole building.

We had a stroll and then took in some lunch before heading out on a optional trip to see another penguin colony. This was situated out on the Magellen Straits and was extremely windy, but not too cold.

We saw the penguins, but also several birds of prey and some smaller as yet unidentified birds. It wasn't the most fascinating of trips, but the scenery more than made up for it.

As we were leaving we saw a caracara feeding on a dead sheep just beside the road.

We got back to town just in time to go out for dinner with the rest of our travelling companions to a lovely restaurant, full of character, for a great meal and another bottle of excellent Chilean wine.