Winter Carnival - Punta Arenas

If for ever reason you plan to be in Punta Arenas in the middle of winter, try and time it for the same time as the Punta Arenas Winter Carnival. This is an annual event held every August filled with costumes parades, the big decorative floats, lots of dancing and music which is enough to warm people’s spirits during the coldest, darkest month of the year.

It all happens at the Main Square and some surrounding streets with a fireworks display on the final night down near the waterfront (just follow the herd to get there).

I stayed at Hotel Plaza which overlooks the square though unfortunately I didn’t have a decent camera to get better night shots though you can still get a general idea of the carnival vibe from the ones I did take. See them at: Punta Arenas Winter Carnival

I also have some video footage from the carnival which I will publish here when I get time.

Chubby fingers or Trees?

The cemetery of Punta Arenas is not your typical necropolis. It is a fascinating place to stroll around with its immaculately trimmed cypress trees that look like giant chubby fingers protruding from the ground. Some of the mausoleums seem like miniature cathedrals; each one lavishly built to outdo the last.

There are also many urban legends surrounding the cemetery:
Did you know that only one person has ever gone through the front gate, the same person that paid for them to be built?
Do you know why some people visit Sara Braun’s mausoleum every 1st of November?
Do you know who the unknown Indian is? (Of course you don’t, otherwise he wouldn’t be unknown any more)

If you are curious to find answers to these questions and learn more about the cemetery, then visit our recently created page about the Punta Arenas Cemetery.

Oh, and there are plenty of photos there too!

New Panoramic View of Punta Arenas

Our new version of the panoramic view of Punta Arenas as seen from the hill overlooking the city.

This time it was done with a video recorder instead of just the normal camera so the quality of the image is a lot better. Also the panning from one side to the other is a lot slower so you have more time to look at the details.

The lookout from where this was taken is around 7 blocks up the hill from the main square.

Una vista Panorámica de Punta Arenas desde el mirador a 7 cuadras de la Plaza de Armas.



Enjoy!

Flying Whales at Punta Arenas Airport

This is a video I took at the Airport of Punta Arenas in the South of Chile. It is the view from the second floor overlooking the main parts of the airport including what to expect when you go through the exit door after picking up your luggage (if it arrives!).

What makes the airport interesting are its flying whales. Well, they aren't actually flying, they are hanging from the ceiling above everyone. These artistic creations are quite impressive since the whales are made of many individual 'slices' of clear acrylic. See if you can find them in the general overview in the video before I zoom in on them. One of the whales even has a smaller baby whale inside of it. Pretty cool!

Kiss the Indian's big toe

This is a video of the famous statue at the Plaza de Armas (Main Square) of Punta Arenas in the deep south of Chile.

The tradition is that if you kiss the Big Toe of the indian, you will return back to Punta Arenas one day. That's why the video starts with a shot of that very toe and the reason it is so shiny compared to the reason of the statue. I also filmed as I walked around the statue so that you can see it from every side and finally I took some close ups of different parts of the it.

Have you ever kissed the indian's big toe?

Video of Punta Arenas Experiment

Today I have been experimenting with videos I have taken on our trips through Chile, with youtube and also with our South America website. The result after some frustration, is not a mess but the following short clip of a panoramic view of Punta Arenas.




So you think, is that it? Well, I must say that I'm not at all a computer whiz. Everything I have learnt about making websites and playing around with them, I have learnt myself from scratch and experimenting. I'm totally self-taught, if that really still exists nowadays with the advent of (and great help of) the internet, so this is of great satisfaction for me, even if its something obvious and easy to do for others.

The hardest part of the entire process was not actually uploading the video (even I could do that), but fiddling with the original video itself with the Window Movie Maker program that came with this laptop, one that hadn't been used until today. I almost deleted that program on the first day for thinking it was another piece of MS crap taking up space on my harddrive, luckly I didn't.

Oh, if you are wondering where the sound is to the Punta Arenas clip, I took it off since the sound of the wind battering the camera's microphone in the background was quite annoying.

Anyway, the point of all this dribble is to let you know that you can expect more videos appearing on our website of the places we have visited, and also that we will try to avoid the shaky hand in the future. I'll publish them here as we get them done.

If you'd like to learn more about Punta Arenas, check it out here.

Is there anything you'd like to see on video of here in Santiago or Chile?
Let us know, we might be able to make it!

Last Months - Punta Arenas

As you've probably noticed we have been very busy with our other companies which (fortunately) have been doing very well so haven't been able to do much with this non-profit/hobby site. We have been travelling quite a bit (La Serena, Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Pomaire, Andes Skiing and more) and have got some more juicy details about what to see and do and will get around to adding those details to the pages when we can.

Tomorrow we are heading to Punta Arenas for a three-day investigative trip to see what is happening down at the end of the Earth (literally). Punta Arenas is the gateway to the famous Torres del Paine trek and also Antarctica. We won't be able to do either of the two (for now) though it should be an interesting trip nonetheless.