The Tip of the Civilized World

What a hike! Now that the daily ritual of getting up early and hiking is over we found ourselves looking for more adventures in the various pueblos. We left Puerta Natalas in the morning and we took a drive to Punta Arenas, the last drivable city south of the world. Ironically we drove on a road called “fin del mundo” (end of the world).  The drive was initially very boring but as we started to stare out at the expansive flatlands we started noticing whole wild herds of Guanacus (lama-like creatures) and “flocks” of ñandus (ostrich-like creatures). I mean, for a termporate desert, this land was filled with all of these wild creatures from eagles to albatrosses and foxes to pumas. Our driver was super nice and patient with my Spanish and we chatted vigorously during the drive. Dad did an amazing job of finding these cute boutique hotels for us to stay in and The Albatros (spelled like that) was no exception. After settling in, we wondered in search of food. Chile has been, let’s say, overly cautious about COVID. Most of their restaurants have been closed down and the few that remain have strange and idiotic rules. That, and the fact it was Valentine’s Day made the search for food extremely difficult. Every restaurant we came to had a line out the door like it was the most exclusive club in the city.  There were not street food options either. Luckily we stumbled into a hidden gem that many were passing up but served us some incredible sesame seared salmon. Dining in South America is not a rushed event. For the simple lunch it took round three hours to complete. After that, we followed the culture and all took a much warranted siesta.   It was refreshing. We awoke late in the evening and decided to try our luck again with the restaurants and again we were rebuffed by the entire city. Never in all of my traveling experience have I ever had so much trouble finding food. We searched high and low for hours without success. Finally on our way back to the hotel with growling bellies and low hanging heads we again stumbled upon a little eatery where the matron took pity on us and allowed us to dine… at three separate tables because the new law states that only two people may share a table at a time….. we all paired off leaving Viv to hilariously sit in culinary isolation in the dead center of the restaurant.  We all ordered cervezas and air-toasted laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. After dinner we retired to bed to the sweet rhythmic sounds of, not one, but two dance clubs competing to see who could play music the loudest and longest. I only had to retrieve our bedside table once as the bass vibrated it across our room.