We slept in and it felt great. Our tour was not until 4p so we pretty much had nothing to do. There was a looming dread throughout the day of our 330am flight that night out of PA to Mendoza via Santiago where we essentially had to kill 6 hours in PA from 8p until 2am in a town where nothing is really going on.
Around 2p we ventured out to grab a bite. At the recommendation of the hotel, we went to a fast food style cafeteria called Lomit’s. I think it was an American style diner, but I’m not sure. Everyone had big sandwiches on round rolls so we got one that was chicken and cheese (seemed safe) and one called a Lomito – we figured that’s the one the restaurant is named after so let’s go for it. We thought is was steak of some sort.
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| Everyone loves Lomit's...well, almost everyone. |
Unfortunately, it was not. It was dried pork that made us nervous. Compounded with the extra heavy layer of mayo, this was a lunch that did not go down well for either of us.
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| Not pretty... |
We walked it off picking up some random souvenirs and killing time until our tour.
The van picked us up at 4p and we headed off to see penguins. AMEX found us this tour which ventured around Otway Sound to see a major Magellanic Penguin colony. There was one woman in the front seat and we picked up a family on the side of a highway before heading to who knows where.
“Tour” is not exactly how I would describe the afternoon…we drove for about 45 minutes and eventually entered a protected park. We were dropped off and instructed to follow a path for an hour. So we did.
Upon arrival we saw our first black and white animal friend, also native to our homeland. Skunk.
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| Not exactly the black and white animal we planned to encounter... |
Somewhat skeptical, we walked and eventually we laid eyes on our first true penguin in its natural setting. Were we expecting thousands of penguins wandering all around us? Maybe. But besides the bracing cold winds in our faces, it was quite cool to see the Magellanic Penguins face to face. The babies were just about to hatch so there was lots of walking between the beach and the grass where the babies were. Here are some of our favorite moments:
After that, it was back to Cabo de Hornos to kill another 8 hours. Nice. We decided to first lounge a bit at the hotel bar where we knew we had wifi and ample access to Pisco Sours.
After a debate about whether to return to Sotito’s for more crab, we decided to branch out and try another local spot that came recommended through travel advisor, La Luna. Please note, I never take food recommendations from travel advisor, but in Punta Arenas Strait of Magellan as the sun was setting. I have to say I was pretty impressed with its vastness, the deep blue color and its biting cold (yes, I stuck my hand in for a second and felt immediate pain).
Wrong! It was tasteless and a waste of space on our table top. We had two bites and decided to call it quits.
After some more killing time at the Cabo de Hornos bar, around 2am it was finally time to head to the PA airport. We were deliriously tired, wondering if anyone else would be on our flight and somehow, yes, the plane was nearly full. A bunch of young military guys in uniform were on our flight and we couldn’t figure out anyone else. The coolest part about the trip, in my mind, was that we could have missed our flight and taken the next flight to Antarctica ! Not everyday you see that flight on the big screen.
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| An 830am flight to Antarctica was very tempting compared to our 330am to Santiago. |
Finally it was time to take off for something much more miserable and more unreasonable than any redeye we had ever taken. A 330am flight to Santiago which arrives at 7am to then connect to a 930am flight to Mendoza
Mendoza - almost there!
Mendoza - almost there!
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