Chile - Punta Arenas

As the flights from Chile to Antarctica are so dependent on the weather, we were required to book a buffer day on either side of our scheduled flights in and out of Antarctica. So here we are in Punta Arenas on a ‘buffer day’ with not that much to do, and we can only start our journey home tomorrow when we fly to Santiago. 

This morning was beautifully sunny and bright, and quite warm. Despite being summer here at the moment it is usually quite cool being so far south. We went for a walk along the beachfront area - of course no one was swimming as I imagine the water is just too cold. There are a few nice cafes, we stopped at one for a coffee. Also some interesting colonial style buildings, but not exactly a buzzing town, it certainly feels like it is at the end of a continent. 

Later that afternoon our camera group of seven met up to see a slide show of some of our photo leader’s images from the trip, to discuss composition and why he shot them as he did. It was a very useful exercise and I have learnt so much on this trip. 

Our group of seven has been fantastic - I had already met J and his son when I was on the Carmargue trip  with them about 5 years ago, but this time his wife also came who, like Gavin, is very new to photography. Also in the group was S, a 73 year old retired nurse who is just the most brilliant photographer. I learnt so much from her just discussing her images of which she was very critical. She regularly wins competitions and also judges national competitions and of course expects very high standards from herself. The last member was also an excellent photographer who has done many wild life photography trips all over the world when his busy work life allows for it. We all got on extremely well, it was almost as if our leader had handpicked the people in this group. All of us also live relatively close to one another, so it’s possible we can meet up again. 


Tomorrow we fly to Santiago and then start the long flight back home again. We spoke to all the boys today to catch up with them, and I cannot wait to see Xena again.

There are some attractively painted buildings on the beachfront and my blip is of one of those buildings. I have also added an extra of the broken pier which seems to attract many cormorants.