Date: Sunday, March 13th 2005
Time: 22:30 pm
Location: Punta Arenas
Temperature: 13°C 55°F
Wind speed: 20 mph 17.3 knots
Wind chill: 10°C 51°F
Altitude: 1.5m
Weather: Sun and Rain

Our Twin-Otter flight to Punta Arenas yesterday was quite spectacular. Our carry-on luggage had to weigh in at less than 10kg because the plane was so full. Our pilot flew directly over the Cordillera Darwin and, as luck would have it, the skies were quite clear. We all managed to secure window seats and were treated to a wonderful aerial view of the glaciers and mountain peaks where we had just been a few days before. The flight ended with an impressive swooping dive landing into Punta Arenas airport, quite exhilarating!

After eating a delicious churrasco for lunch we tried to find the airline and cargo companies in town. Unfortunately, most Chilean businesses close at midday on Saturdays so we will have to wait until Monday. Mike and Scott were still in town and we arranged to meet up for some dinner at a local restaurant. After dinner we wandered around town to examine the local nightlife, as it turns out, the locals have a great love for karaoke.

The ferry arrived at 14:00 today with all our gear safely on board. The weather was fairly good with a fair amount of sunny spells. Erich and I unloaded all our bags onto the adjacent beach and proceeded to set up all three tents so that they could dry out. Several people were watching us from their cars and giving us looks as if they thought we were mad! Andrei and Paul joined us and helped unpack the rest of the gear over the beach, things were starting to look like a laundry again! The wind was quite strong and gusty, so we had to cover most of our gear with large rocks to stop it blowing away. We left things out for as long as possible, but then an advancing rain cloud forced us to repack everything in a hurry. Andrei managed to make a deal with a local bloke in a white van and soon we were heading back to the hotel with our mass of bags, barrels, and boxes. Tomorrow we will head over to the cargo company and try to ship all our heavy gear back home.

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