Saturday, September 18

We were planning to take LanChile (LanExpress, whatever) SCL-PMC-BBA-PUQ, arriving at 4:30 PM. Because we arrived about 20 minutes before departure, we had to take the next flight to PUQ, which leaves SCL at 7:00 PM and arrives PUQ at 11:20 PM with a stop in PMC.

In the immigration hall, there was a couple next to us at the booth where you pay entry fees. They were having a fit. Didn’t they find out about the $100 entry fee when they bought their tickets? It is pretty steep, but then we charge Chileans 100 non-refundable dollars just to apply for a visa. It is idiotic IMHO, but whining to the clerk doesn’t solve any problems.

There was no line for immigration or customs, and we were quickly on our way to the terminal for our eight hour layover. I didn’t feel like paying for luggage storage and taking the bus into Santiago, so we stayed at the airport the whole day.

I had placed Dunkin’ Donuts on a lifetime boycott a couple of years ago because of consistently old donuts and watery coffee. We ate at a restaurant at the airport but were getting hungry in the afternoon. I decided to temporarily lift my boycott, hoping that Dunkin’ Donuts in Chile might be an exception to the rule that they are to serve donuts at least two days after cooking them. As it turns out, they actually cook the donuts throughout the day in the back of the store! They were delicious.

Finally 6 PM (referred to as 18:00 there) rolled around, and we went through security in the national departures terminal. There were only a couple of people in front of us, and it took about 30 seconds to get through. There were no power-tripping, rude screeners enforcing a litany of stupid rules. It was quite pleasant – take out coins and keys, put your bag in the X-ray, and walk through the metal detector. Amazing! Why can’t we do this in the US?

The LanChile flight was very nice. I paid $150 roundtrip per person to go 1,400 miles, and we got a pre-departure mint, a sandwich on one flight and a hot meal on the other flight. The flight left on time and arrived on time. The flight attendants were friendly and professional with a smart-looking uniform. Why can’t US based airlines do this?

Punta Arenas was very cold and windy! Because I had cancelled my reservation with Budget, we took a taxi to downtown Punta Arenas for 6,000 pesos ($10). Rather than mosey around downtown looking for a cheap hotel, I looked through my guidebook for the nearest cheap hotel before I froze in the wind. Luckily, just a block away was the Hostal Fitz Roy for 15,000 pesos a night ($24).

This place had a shared bath, but there was only one other person staying there at the time, so we almost never had to wait for the bathroom. Breakfast was included, a cat lived there, and the room had a TV.


Sunday, September 19

We walked around downtown and up a hill for a nice view of Punta Arenas. We found a store with a telephone where you give the clerk the phone number, he dials it and says “You have a call from Chile”, and then you pick up a phone in a booth and talk. The rate was 450 pesos a minute, which is kind of expensive, but it does include personalized dialing, which I needed at the time. I talked to my wife, and then I asked the clerk if there were any rental car places around. He said many places were closed since it was Sunday morning, but he did find International Rental Car open and said they would be here momentarily.

I bought a map and a small souvenir. The rental car lady showed up at the store a few minutes later and we were on our way to the airport. The car was 25,000 pesos a day plus tax, and the rate includes insurance. It was a white Fiat with many manual features.

The car had manual steering, manual windows, manual side mirrors, and a manual transmission. I loved it! My car is a manual transmission but I got stuck with power steering and automatic windows and side mirrors. Why are Americans so lazy? It’s hard enough to find a car with a manual transmission, let alone one with a simple handle that moves the window up or down. No, we have to have everything done for us by machines.

On the way back to Punta Arenas from the airport, we stopped to view the Strait of Magellan. The wind blows out of the west constantly!

In the afternoon we drove south to Fuerte Bulnes. There are some cannons and beautiful views from Punta Santa Ana, such as this one and this one.