Tierra del Fuego — Blog — The Towering Travelers

It’s been five years since we (Nicole, Jason, Emilie, and Ally) last went on a big trip together. Over a year ago, we decided that we wanted to prioritize going to Patagonia and started planning a 2.5-week trip that combined trekking, a penguin detour, and city exploration. This blog post includes the first part of our trip, including our time at the bottom of the continent (much farther south than any of us had been before).

We all arrived in Santiago fairly early on Thursday morning. We planned to just drop our bags at the airport hotel, but in an unexpected but greatly appreciated turn of events we were able to check into our rooms at 9 AM, so we showered before heading into the city for the day.

We had signed up for a free walking tour (always a good start when you’re trying to figure out what to do in a new city), so we spent a few hours learning from a local about the history of the city. The area was brutally taken over by the Incas, and then less than 100 years later by the Spanish, so there was a considerable amount of violence and forced assimilation. Almost everyone who gained power in Chile is somewhat controversial, including the founding father who has a lot of monuments and streets named after him, Bernardo O’Higgins. The illegitimate son of a wealthy landowning family with Irish noble lineage, O’Higgins led the successful revolt against the Spanish (who were at that point moderately under the control of Napoleon). After an exile, some backstabbing, and many battles, he eventually became a somewhat successful leader for six years, but was ultimately deposed by a conservative coup in 1823. If you’re interested in learning more about that whole ordeal, the Wikipedia page is wild.

Santiago also feels different culturally from Patagonia, which was physically harder to take over and still has some cultural ties to its indigenous heritage.

An interesting statue at Plaza de Armas (photo/Jason Rafal)

A pigeon perches on a tall fountain in a courtyard. — A pigeon looks down on us (photo/Jason Rafal)

A bicyclist with an Uber Eats bag bikes down a pedestrian street. — A pedestrian street in downtown Santiago (photo/Jason Rafal)

A clock tower reaches into the sky above a red wall. — The clocktower of the San Francisco Church (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up at historic buildings in the Santiago city center. — The very French Edificio de la Bolsa building (photo/Jason Rafal)

A convenience store with a painting of a cat on the outer wall. — A convenience store with a painting of a royal cat (photo/Jason Rafal)

View of the inside of a church with elaborate pillars and painted ceilings. — The incredible interior of the Metropolitan Cathedral (photo/Jason Rafal)

A man sitting on a horse in the street and typing something on his phone. — Modern mounted police (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also explored the Parque Metropolitano de Santiago by taking the funicular up the hill and the gondola down the other side, which provided some nice views of the city (Emilie, who agreed to ride the gondola despite a fear of heights, also entertained us with her pained facial expressions, but she also had fun).

View looking over the city of Santiago. — The view from the top of the mountain (photo/Jason Rafal)

Emilie and Ally sitting in a gondola and laughing. — Emilie had lots of emotions on the gondola ride (photo/Jason Rafal)

After about 24 hours in Santiago we flew to Punta Arenas, one of the most southern cities in the world. We liked it immediately, despite the constant weather changes and considerable wind. There are great parks, a long beachfront to stroll, interesting buildings, and good food. We spent an afternoon wandering, eating, and wishing we could adopt all of the cute stray dogs.

Nicole, Emilie, and Ally petting a black dog on the beach. — The first dog we met, who we all fell in love with (photo/Jason Rafal)

An old dock stretching out into the strait, with a container ship in the background. — Old docks were very popular with gulls and cormorants (photo/Jason Rafal)

A group of gulls taking off from the beach into a partly cloudy sky. — Birds being alarmed at the dog running along near us (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole sitting next to and petting a black dog. — Nicole probably would have taken this dog home if she wasn’t 7500 miles from home (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two poles with signs pointing to different areas of the world and noting distances. — We were fascinated by which cities were on these signs (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset over a city street in Punta Arenas. — Sunset over Punta Arenas (photo/Jason Rafal)

The next day we went on a quest to see penguins, a trip that involved a ridiculous amount of transit but was also amazing and definitely ended up being worthwhile.

The first part of our day was a ferry ride across the Strait of Magellan. We had hoped we would see some animals on the crossing, but it surpassed our expectations almost immediately. From the boat we saw dolphins, sei whales in the distance, sea lions swimming by, Magellanic penguins hunting, and lots of other birds flying around. The two-hour ferry ride flew by.

View over the front of a ferry toward water and a partly cloudy sky. — Our view after boarding the ferry (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunlight lights up buildings on the shore. — Sunlight on the shore (photo/Jason Rafal)

A seagull perching on top of a light pole. — A dolphin gull perched on the boat (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two dolphins swim in the water in front of a container ship. — Southern dolphins swimming by (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two water birds flying over the waves. — Imperial cormorants flying over the water (photo/Jason Rafal)

A large black and white bird splashing the water as it takes off. — A black-browed albatross performing the impressive feat of getting its huge body out of the water (photo/Jason Rafal)

A whale blow in the distance. — A sei whale in the distance (photo/Jason Rafal)

Three sea lions swimming and looking at the boat. — Southern sea lions swimming by (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two small penguins floating in the water. — Magellanic penguins hunting in the water (photo/Jason Rafal)

Once we docked at Porvenir, the capital of the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego, we picked up bag lunches at a nearby cafe and drove east to Inútil Bay. Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago that encompasses the southernmost parts of both Chile and Argentina. It was given its name by the Spanish Explorers, who arrived to see bonfires that the indigenous people were using for warmth and communication dotting the coastline. It’s an extreme climate, with lots of scrubby brush and grasses. The landscape was dotted with guanacos, a wild relative of the llama, and we enjoyed spotting them throughout the drive. There were fences everywhere to contain herds of sheep, but the guanacos, for the most part, jumped them easily whenever they needed to get to another area.

A guanaco standing in a field and looking at the camera. — A guanaco observes us from afar (photo/Jason Rafal)

A baby guanaco standing in front of a wire fence. — An adorable chulengo (baby guanaco) (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close up image of a guanaco winking at the camera. — Guanaco wink (photo/Jason Rafal)

Eventually, we reached the Reserva Natural Pingüino Rey, which feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere (because it very much is). We were all relieved by how seriously they were taking the safety and well-being of the penguins; they allowed a limited number of people in for an hour time slot, and we were kept back at designated viewing areas appropriately far from the colony. The reserve opened in 2011 to protect and study a colony of penguins who had just appeared there, lured by the shallow bay and protection from predators.

A wooden sign that says Parque Pinguino Rey. — Parque Pinguino Rey Sign (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole and Emilie standing on front of the ticket office at the penguin reserve. — Yes, it was this cold and windy (photo/Jason Rafal)

Emilie looking through binoculars at penguins from behind a wooden wall. — Our first glimpse of the penguins from behind a wind block (photo/Jason Rafal)

The penguins who live at the reserve are king penguins, the second largest penguin species. They are simultaneously so beautiful and so absurdly silly. They’re contrasting black, bright white, and vibrant orange, except for the babies, who are a fuzzy uniform brown with adorable fat rolls. They also waddle around ridiculously.

A group of adult penguins with fluffy brown chicks. — There were about 70 penguins at the reserve when we visited (photo/Jason Rafal)

A group of penguins laying on the ground, grooming, and flapping their wings. — Some of the penguins were just stretched out on the ground (photo/Jason Rafal)

A group of penguins in long grass, one of them rotating its body to shake. — So beautiful, so silly (photo/Jason Rafal)

A group of king penguins, including brown fluffy chicks. — We loved the little brown fluffy chicks (photo/Jason Rafal)

A group of penguins standing together, one molting a fluffy coat. — The brownish penguin in the center group is in an awkward molting stage (photo/Jason Rafal)

A group of penguins and chicks, with two of them raising their beaks toward each other. — No idea what these guys were doing (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two penguins walking down a hill from the group. — Two penguins wandering down to the water (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our guide also used her scope to find and point out a surprise—a Snares penguin, native to New Zealand, who had landed in Chile and was hanging out with the king penguins, who seemed to have adopted it. It was much smaller than the king penguins and had adorable yellow eyebrows.

A group of king penguins with a smaller Snares penguin among them. — Can you spot the little Snares penguin? (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also saw some other animals at the reserve - a fox looking for penguin eggs, upland geese, and rufous-collared sparrows.

Two geese walking in the grass. — Upload geese living near the penguins (photo/Jason Rafal)

A fox walking through the grass along a river. — The adorable South American gray fox (photo/Jason Rafal)

A fox trotting through low grass and moss. — Cruising around looking for lunch (photo/Jason Rafal)

A fox sitting in the grass and looking off into the distance. — The fox was amazingly well camouflaged (photo/Jason Rafal)

A bird perched on a bush and looking up at the sky. — A rufous-collared sparrow peering up at something (photo/Jason Rafal)

After spending an hour watching the penguins from a couple of viewpoints, we headed back to the van for the long ride home (made longer by some unfortunate car issues). It was a long travel day, but completely worth it. The penguins were magical, but we also felt like we were on a safari the rest of the day, too.

A person looks out the window of a boat into a sunny ocean. — We only had an indoor view on this shot ferry ride (photo/Jason Rafal)

Next blog, we head north to Torres del Paine.