Punta Arenas

hello! we´re here in Punta Arenas on Thursday, February 12th! We arrived yesterday evening at approx 8 pm from Porvenir. So let me back up and explain our situation after leaving Rio Grande. We headed out from Rio Grande last week sometime. We had a tough time the first day because of high winds but were able to make it 16 km from the Argentinian border. The following day we headed out to cross the border but were met with fierce headwinds once crossing the Argentinian portion. It was 15 km to the Chilean border crossing and that took us 3 hours due to extremely high winds and the lack of paved roads. We made it eventually, were able to take our food as well. We decided to wait it out there to see if the winds would die down. They did and we rolled out just before nightfall. That was such an amazing night. The sunset and golden hues cast upon the plains was breathtaking. Really excited we rolled about 20 more km that night then camped out and ate delicious grilled sausage and cheese sandwiches on Arab bread. The next few days would be a test. We awoke the next day to high winds. Our barometer told us we had gusts up to 70 km and probably much higher than that. We sat it out that day and decided to try for it at night again. We waited until just before nightfall and then rolled out and were making good time as the winds were lessened. It was good until we realized that the slight breeze had turned into a strong headwind and we made only 25 km that night before calling it a night and we put down camp just after 130 am. We awoke the next morning to strong winds and a view of the ocean. It was amazing yet disappointing at the same time. The winds were strong and due to our close proximity to the ocean knew that we would be dealing with them no matter what time of day it was. It was just 100 km to Porvenir. We decided to head out a little after midday and we began rolling. We soon realized that we would have to ride 33 km a day in order to reach Porvenir without running out of food, which is not much at all but when you´ve got 50 mph winds in your face, you exert a lot of effort only to ride a short distance. Sometimes it was like getting punched in the chest while riding. It would stop you dead in your tracks and progress was incredibly slow. We finally said to heck with it and decided to opt out for a ride into Porvenir. We lucked out and hitched a ride with a fisherman named Omar who had lived in Porvenir his entire life. We were in Porvenir in a little over an hour. I was ecstatic to be in Porvenir and out of the harsh winds. We stayed at a lovely hostel and slept in beds. Porvenir was pretty bland. Not much to see. A true fishing village. We stayed one night. Our situation was complicated by a lack of banks in Porvenir. The only bank in town accepted only mastercard. We both have visa so it was impossible to take money out. We had some issues buying tickets for the ferry ride but it worked out ok. And that takes us up until today. We arrived here in Punta Arenas last night, paid for a cheap but decent hostel, took showers, and ate at a fine dining restaurant last night named La Marmita. Today we´re working on doing some laundry, posting photos, new blogs, and emailing people. Tomorrow we´re gonna see about taking some photos around Punta Arenas, buying groceries, and visiting a brewery here! The next day we leave for Puerto Natales and we´re hoping for less wind? It is probably just wishful thinking. Anyways we´re both happy that SPOT has come through for us finally. Hopefully it will be working regularly now! So thats that for now. I´ll try posting a video and some photos up on here in just a bit so check back for that and if they don´t show up then hang tight and maybe within the next week I can get it working. Chao for now. Byebye...


Zach