The two hour and twenty minute ferry ride from Punta Arenas to Porvenir, the small town on the other side of the Straits left on time at nine am. We had to show up at 8 to sit in line which put us in a good spot to get to the front of the line.
We co overheard the occupants of the four rental campers who spoke French but they ignored us so we didn’t get to chat. I speak French but I’m not French so I’m not a member of their club and they don’t expect me to speak their language so it’s up to me to break the ice. If Layne doesn’t push me I’m not likely to.
The straits were calm, there was nothing to see and the factorial only had cookies and candies so we crossed while aboard our own yacht. Rusty wasn’t even allowed to get out of the van.
People are always eager to get on ferries and even more to get off. I was fine sitting and watching the others leave but we were at the front and it was time to get exploring Tierra Del Fuego; if we must, we must.
Porvenir is a town of 5,000 people and is the capital of Chilean Tierra Del Fuego, though I should point out it’s the only real population center on the west side of the island.
The east side of the island is a long thin strip of Argentina, all part of the crazy jigsaw of ferries and borders in the archipelago. Tierra Del Fuego is really a group of islands but the only driveable one is technically known as Isla Grande, the big island. After we reach our goal of Ushuaia we’ll have to drive back up some of the sane roads across the top of Chilean Tierra Del Fuego to get to mainland Argentina. Weird huh?
Porvenir is a neat tidy little town just like the rest of Chile properly served with a hospital, police and decent cell service.
I quite liked the little town and we walked around for a while in no hurry to hike across the island to our next penguin stop.
They call it the Illustrious City Hall of Porvenir. Chile does very nice public works in even its most remote areas.
Porvenir is the place where history is recalled like that of the indigenous Selk’nam people represented by the red and white striped figure. The other figure is the gold miner representing Cerro Grande where people still dig for gold.
More public works, in this case the public library:
Not colorful and creative like Spanish colonial cities up north but it seems very livable.
And the object of our walk across town was the Selk’nam park commemorating the genocide of the 4,000 original residents of the island. The last two members of the tribe died in the 1980s and there’s no one left who speaks their language.
“…tall, good looking, strong and vigorous…”
Now that’s good looking:
The breads weren’t bad in the bakery. I’m weird but I liked the pizza base which we weren’t sure what it was when we bought it. Neither Layne nor Rusty thought much of it.
We got some sandwich rolls too so it wasn’t all about me. Layne’s red button is a souvenir of our shipboard bingo game where she won one round. I didn’t.
The main square of Porvenir:
A very splendid home on wheels, perfect to hide out from the thinking winds of the southern (austral) latitudes.
“For a change of attitude…” no idea what that graffiti is about.
And the little town boasts a nice museum so we had to visit.
Dark green on the map below is Chile while the light green is Argentina. The border is a straight line because it is a political creation to keep the peace between the two countries.
The museum showed us the various tribes that burned the fires to cook and stay warm that gave the land of fire its name.
Ferdinand Magellan, the first European, as imagined by us:
The knicks and knacks of indigenous and European life down here:
For some reason Porvenir became a magnet for Croat immigrants from what was Austria-Hungary in 1883. The draw was gold and they all tried their hands at mining. Then they gave up and started farming or opening stores and trading.
Their names live on in the museum and in the community. I had no idea how much impact European immigration had on southern Chile.
They created a complete society in the wilderness with a newspaper and firefighters.
The blue can on the top shelf below is more of the disgusting lamb livers that some strange people seem to enjoy. Not me.
You have to be tough to thrive here today but back then they must have been super human.
We haven’t yet seen any live hairy armadillos but we have seen lots of Patagonian foxes. What happens when Rusty sees one I don’t know but he does not like guanacos.
Selk’nam life:
Porvenir is a hub to supply and sustain the farms (“estancias”) on the prairie. But around here they are mostly sheep ranches.
A stark illustration showing how white immigrants replaced the Selk’nam with sheep. The museum acknowledges the genocide quite candidly.
Time to go see some more penguins off to the east.
We had six miles of cement paved road ahead and very lovely it was too.
Then we had 65 miles of gravel. Good practice for Alaska. Sigh.
