Land of Fire

June 15th – Our last day in Patagonia, we woke up early in order to catch the ferry ride across the Strait of Magellan to the town of Porvenir on the island of Tierra del Fuego. The ferry ride was a lot of fun, if a little cold. It took over two hours one way, and we didn’t have much time in Porvenir until the ferry left to go back to Punta Arenas. We saw some more dolphins and seabirds on the ferry, along with several penguins in the water. It was quite the experience going to a place that you’ve heard about your whole life, and it was a little unreal. The farthest south we made it was 53° 19’. After getting back and picking up our luggage, we went to a little restaurant and ate a huge plate of Chorrillana. Chorrillana is basically a gigantic plate of French fries covered in sausage, onions, egg, beef, and anything else greasy and delicious. We didn’t want to pay for another night in the hostel, so we waited in the airport until 5:00 am when our plane left. We made it back safe and a little tired.


Our ferry.


The town of Porvenir.


Tierra del Fuego


Bundled up for the ferry ride across the Strait of Magellan

June 16th – We got back to my house around noon, and we slept for three hours to prepare for the night’s activities. First we went to a locale called the Piedra Feliz in Valparaíso where we met up with a bunch of friends for salsa dancing lessons. That was a lot of fun, and by 11:00 our legs were pretty tired. The lessons were taught by an animated Cuban man. After leaving Valpo, we went back to Viña to meet up with my host mom at the casino. She had received some sort of offer that if she got a new person to sign up they could get free credits and she would also get a coupon. Both Nicole and I signed up, and we then spent about an hour playing the slot machines with our “promotional credits”. However, whatever we happened to win did get translated into real money. Unfortunately Nicole lost, but I ended up winning around $25 and my host mom won $60 right at the very end. It was my first time in a casino, and it was a pretty unique experience. I don’t think I’ll ever play with my own money, but it was fun to play with free money. I’ll have to sign up more often.

June 17th – Today was a sad day because it was Nicole’s last in Chile. We spent the day going to class, doing some last minute shopping, packing, and traveling to the airport. Her flight left at 6:30 in the morning, but again, due to the bus schedules, we had to get there around 11:00 pm. We napped a little and did a crossword puzzle, and Nicole is waiting to board as I’m typing this.