Chile. Part III. SouthMapDecember 30, 2006 January 10, 2007 You can already feel the Arctic chill in the town of Punta Arenas in the south of Chile. The local temperature is approximately 14 degrees Celsius (whereas it’s over 30 in Santiago). The sea here is a dazzlingly beautiful shade of green. The island of Tierra del Fuego is on the other side somewhere. ![]() Gale-force winds blow at a rate of at least 30–40 metres a second. The day began with my glasses being swept away into the abyss while I was photographing this wonderful ship from the edge of the precipice. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it were not for the fact that my glasses have never, ever slipped off without me wanting them to. ![]() The trees, growing under constant pressure, are a good illustration of just how powerful the wind is. ![]() This mysterious sculptural composition at the town entrance was erected specifically so that the corkscrewed wire rings would spin, propelled by gusts of wind. But they never do spin, just like the flying anal plugs in that joke — the Soviet-made ones, which can neither fly, nor fit in your ass. ![]() Here they take out their rubbish and place it in special baskets installed on the side of the road, it’s the done thing. There are as many types of baskets as there are houses. Their purpose is two- fold: no bags full of rubbish rolling around on the road and no need for the rubbish collectors to bend over. ![]() It’s impossible for a town with such traffic lights to be anything but pleasant. ![]() There’s also an Indian sitting under a monument to someone or other. You’re supposed to either kiss or tickle his foot, not sure which. That’s why the foot is highly burnished, just like the nose of that dog in the “Ploschad Rovolyutsii” metro station in Moscow (which students hoping to ace their exams rub for luck). ![]() There are fir topiaries all over town. They certainly add local flavour to the cemetery. ![]() Some of the crypts look like boutiques. ![]() The crosses on many of the graves sit at an angle — it’s the done thing in these parts (also in the north, and also on Easter Island). ![]() Those who didn’t get their own grave lie in repose in their own columbarium box. The two-storey columbarium full of boxes looks like a Soviet sports camp. ![]() At the local auto museum there are licence plates dating all the way back to 1918. I’m sticking to the version of history in which in Russia at the time they were still writing licence plate numbers in soot. ![]() The only thing you to know about the town of Puerto Natales is that people drive right through it without a second thought. ![]() Roadworks. A Chilean digger toils using a teaspoon. ![]() Just like in Canada there’s full employment among lollipop men who hold “stop” and “go” signs. ![]() The local “keep right” sign is interesting. Mainly because it’s completely backward — in the language of the Highway Code a red circle means “no entry”. If there’s something in the red circle, it’s always there to provide clarification: what sort of vehicle is it exactly that isn’t allowed to enter. In this case what you get is a mutually exclusive set of requirements. ![]() Two to three hours away from Puerto Natales the Torres del Paine national park begins. It gets its name from the cliffs, which are shaped like towers (torres). ![]() Everything is stunning from here on in. Chileans take very good care of their parks, flora, and fauna. Tourism began to take off here about twenty years ago. In that time they’ve put in paths hemmed in by rocks everywhere. There’s nothing else here. No souvenir shops next to the main sights. What they do have, however, have is guides who must all be environmentally conscious. If you stray off the path your guide may stop and admonish you. The upside is that in contrast to the Mongolian desert, for example, in the Chilean desert there aren’t bottles strewn everywhere. ![]() They protect flora and fauna from human meddling here. Yet that didn’t stop some Czech dude by the last name of Smitak from barbecuing on a gas stove here a couple of years ago. The burner toppled over and 14 thousand hectares of old-growth forest around the Torres were destroyed in the blaze. Considerable numbers of condors, here to lunch on llamas, flew overhead. ![]() Condors fear humans, foxes not so much. This fox was the only one I managed to photograph lunching. ![]() What else is there that’s beautiful around here? OK, there are the mountains. ![]() OK, there are also icebergs from the local glacier. ![]() There are yellow moss-covered knolls everywhere. Heaven forbid you sit on one — they’re spikier than a cactus to the touch. Chileans call this plant Mother-in-law’s Cushion. ![]() |
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Chile. III. The south
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