Punta Arenas, Chile

It is said that if you rub the toe of this statue in the plaza, that you will return to Punta Arenas . . .

These young men where earning a living playing for tips in the plaza. Their national and international music was very good.

We shopped in the plaza among the stalls for souveniers to take home. I was lucky to find my friend Richard a scarf/tie that looks like a penguin--what else!

We found a late 19th century house/museum that was stunning in it's preservation of that bygone lumber era. This photo and the closeup show a beautiful tile floor with glass blocks for illumination into the basement.

The bathroom attached to the master bedroom:

A shared servant bathroom in the basement:

The house was full of Victoria furniture and chandeliers:

We also found this handmade native canoe in the basement. I presume it had nothing to do with the occupants of the house (unless there was an imminent flood) but rather part of the native displays in parts of the house.

After walking around to find an internet cafe and receiving/sending email, we asked about the best crab restaurant and were told how to get there. Afte walking about 9 blocks in the gusty wind, we found it. Oh boy, we heard about the wonderful crab to be had at the port and we were anxious to try it. I get sooooo hungry for crab, having come from the world's best area for the world's best crab--Oregon Dungeness. This was king crab, similar to that in Alaska, due to the cold waters surrounding this part of Chile. We noticed as we waited for our lunch that some crab was left on the plates returning to the kitchen for disposal. How odd that someone would get a large portion of crab and then not eat it ALL. Deb ordered crab meat and I order crab meat in cheese sauce. I ate all of mine but really didn't enjoy it like I'd hoped; Deb didn't finish hers. It was FROZEN crab and tasted like cardboard. No, cardboard would have had more flavor. I was sooo disappointed I could have cried. I'd waited for months to eat crab in South America. Later we found that the crab season was over and hence the frozen stuff. Oh, poopies!!