The Dead Of Punta Arenas

Before the visit to the noted cemetery…lunch. 

Punta Arenas is not known as a tourist destination of course but it’s got a nice vibe. I like busy towns, places where things are getting done and this city at the bottom of the earth has a weird New Orleans  vibe with run down structures, irritating graffiti and huge street parks, wide grassy medians called “neutral ground” in the Crescent City.  

And a monument to the Chilean liberator Bernardo O’Higgins son of an Irish immigrant. 

We saw foreigners here, back packers, Instagram adventurers preparing for Patagonia, the great southern wilderness. 

We the anti-adventurers made for the municipal market. It’s where you go to eat like a local and no better place for fresh fish than here. Of course, this being Chile it’s clean and tidy and organized. 

We shared scallops in a cheese soup to start and saved some for dinner. 

And a fish soup for main. I had cod and Layne had shellfish. Potatoes, peppers rice and huge chunks of white meat to keep cold Patagonia at bay. 

Then we drove a couple of miles across town to that other institution so well know in New Orleans…

…the above ground cemetery. 

Right inside the gate was the Italian section filled with 19th century migrants to this New World. 

The immigrant mutual aid group was apparently quite busy around 1900. It was how you coped in those days, by keeping tight knit. 

The cemetery is beautiful and park like. I spoke to a custodian and he said it’s an expensive place to die. A mausoleum plot costs around $90,000 US with monthly maintenance fees after you build your monument to immortality. 

This plot below dedicated to the War of the Pacific between Chile Peru and Bolivia in the 19th century put me in mind of the USS Maine plot in the Key West cemetery: 

The French plot: 

The Spanish plot:  

This memorial below is dedicated to the Chilean explorer of Antarctica who staked the country’s claim to a share of that continent: 

Police: 

Then Rusty back at the van needed his walk: 

We took to the neutral ground: 

On our way to our free camp up the coast we passed a firefighter monument. It was a day for monuments I suppose: 

A municipal park fifteen minutes north of Punta Arenas is our base. There is no decent organized campground in the city - at least not one with decent hot showers which is our bare minimum requirement at 53 degrees south latitude. 

Traffic on Highway 9 dies out at night and it’s very peaceful. 

Fire rings and picnic tables all for free. 

Our home for the night. Up next we need a vet visit to cross to Argentina next week, our last country driving south. Exciting stuff.