Is it windy, or is it just me?

Hah! On the road, the way I like it. We left Santiago early this morning – 9:30am pick-up at the hotel for transfer to the airport... practically the crack of dawn in Professional Traveller time! Although we’d warned my mum almost as much about the baggage allowance on internal flights as we had about pickpockets in Santiago, she still managed to pack 6kg over the limit and smuggle in a carry on suitcase and handbag. The check-in staff were very strict though and she had to cough up cash for the excess weight in her suitcase.

We landed in Punta Arenas and luckily our luggage landed with us. So far, so good. However, when we met our transfer guide at the exit gate, it turns out they were expecting 2 – not 3 – people. There are 3 people going to the airport, 3 people on the plane, 3 people going on the cruise... but they figure that only 2 are going from the plane to the cruise? Presumably the third got dropped at the cruise office mid-flight? Go figure. They told us we’d have to wait 30 minutes for a larger car - but being Dutch we said we’d manage. That was until we saw the car – about the size of a Ford Focus. The chauffeur did a Bang Up job (literally) of fitting our suitcases in the trunk, but that left my brother in the front passenger seat with his rucksack and my mother’s small carry-on suitcase on his lap, and the guide, my mother, and myself in the backseat. A cosy 30 minutes later, we arrived in Punta Arenas.

Punta Arenas is apparently rather windy. In the summer, winds get up to 120km/hr, but when we landed it was a balmy 30km/hr only. It has one main street, where all the tourists (frantically trying to buy horribly overpriced outdoor gear) and children (cruising the main street after school) congregate. We rushed around buying a fleece for my mum and waterproof trousers and a jacket for my brother (who’d come armed with jeans and a suede coat...). Being me, I’d come uber-prepared – I bought all the gear and then some in London. Ironically, this appears to have been the cheaper option!

We did a whirl-wind shopping tour and then headed for... the cemetary? Apparently one of the prettiest in south America. It is full os mausoleums - huge marble structures with angel statues and ornate decoration. The grounds are immaculate, with manicured tress all over. If you have to be dead, there are worse places to rest.

We grabbed a taxi and headed for the look-out over Punta Arenas to get one last important picture for the blog! Punta Arenas is quite small - but like most towns we've seen here so far, also very colourful. Green, red, yellow, blue, purple, orange - you can paint your house or businessany colour it seems. I sometimes wonder if London would be a more cheerful place on Monday mornings in the rain if Buckingham Palace was pink, the tower was yellow, Canary wharf towers were blue and red, and St. Paul's was orange? Hmmmm. Would definitely make me smile!

We got to the pier - couldn't find the yellow container we were supposed to go to in order to wait for the bus. So we asked a guard to let us through the gates and simply walked down the loading dock to the ship. We're on the Via Australis for the next 4 days. It holds about 130 passengers at max capacity, has 40+ crew and looks sleek and like it could deal with a couple of ice cubes in the water. We were going to be disembarking onto glaciers and island with Zodiac boats - little rubber dinghies (centre photo). Since we had an hour to kill before dinner, we decided to spend it playing tag on the top deck! Sometimes I wish I could add videos without taking up too much blog space - I have a hilarious one of my mum chasing my brother round and round a bench. The premier of "The one that got away" will be in September in London!

Dinner was yummy. Unfortunately, since we were the last passengers to arrive, there were no seats left at any other tables and we ended up sitting on our own. However, meant we didn't have to make useless small-talk and we got some extra attention from our very nice waiter named Roman... After dinner we went to ask if there were any cabins free - as 3 people in one cabin was a bit cramped and I was supposed to sleep on a fold-out shelf above my mum (see white bed folded up against the wall on the left!). the Gods are smiling on us - because not only was the cabin opposite empty - but they let us have it at no extra charge! (we must have already paid too much). So we moved mum into 319 and went to the bar to celebrate! I have a feeling this is going to be a memorable trip, one way or another!