Our first day in Patagonia!!! We set out a little late, happy, hopeful, and hungry. We wandered around Punta Arenas, a small, pretty rundown town. I discovered how to use my panorama setting on my new camera. Hooray! We had a pleasant time until we went to buy postcards and the store told us they were 3,000 pesos EACH. $6 a postcard!! For real?! We were furious and left. We chose instead to relax and get lunch. Our hostel recommended La Marmita and we almost couldn't find it, but when we did, it was such an adorable café. We were less than impressed with the menu options, but it was so adorable we kept reading until we found something that suited us. We decided to get a salmon dish with sautéed vegetables and a pasta veggie dish of carrot-stuffed ravioli in a mushroom nut sauce to share. FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD. We were in heaven. We shared both dishes and were stuffed! There were three gigantic ravioli and 2 pieces of grilled salmon with garlic on a bed of carrots, zucchini, and onions. Everything was so delicious, we couldn't take it! As we mopped up the sauce with extra bread, we were beyond satisfied with our meal. Anyone who visits Punta Arenas should go to this restaurant. If it were in Santiago, we'd go every weekend, without a doubt!We found a better option for postcards at the tourist office, about 400 pesos each, but when we asked about cajeros, ATMs, they told us the entire city was without internet, so none were even working. What?!? Are you joking?? We were flabbergasted. We tried 3 different ATMs and none worked. We were getting nervous because we still had to pay for our tours today and tomorrow! Panic was setting in when we found one that at least worked for Jess. My card is still giving me trouble at any ATM other than Santander, but Jess is so generous and is willing to lend me money. In our state of nervousness (we also had 40 minutes to get back to our hostel to catch a taxi to our ferry or we'd miss our penguin tour) I felt I had to exchange the only American money I had left, about $100 so that I'd have something to go on over the weekend. I did, and got $46,000 pesos for it. I felt terrible because I had wanted to save it for emergencies, but this sure felt like one! We only had three days here; I couldn't miss out because I didn't have cash.
Once we made it to the hostel, our taxis were a half hour late! We were supposed to leave at 4 because the boat left at 5, and we were panicking again because there was no one at all in the hostel to help us! We couldn't find a single person around to help us. We didn't know what number to call on our own. I rang the doorbell at least 8 times and called their phone, but no one came down to answer either. Finally, around 425, the man who owns the hostel appeared and called the taxis just then. We were so anxious and frustrated! Chilean time is even worse than Spain time!!! We arrived at the port, bought our tour tickets for 28,000 pesos each, and hurried onto the ferry. It took about 2 hours to arrive at Isla Magdalena and on the way we caught some awesome pictures of dolphins frolicking alongside the boat! It was so exciting. Last time I saw delfines was on a ferry in Greece and I had no chance of getting any pictures. This time they swam so consistently next to us; I got some great shots.
No comments:
Post a Comment