Chao, Punta Arenas!

The last few days have been “wrap up” days.  Saying hello and good-bye to teachers we know, who are coming back to work from their summer break, meeting with school and city officials (the mayor here is awesome), securing our boarding passes and taking one last trip out to Isla Magellanes to visit the thousands of penguins who call the barren spot home for the Chilean summer.

We took a ferry out to the Isla Magellanes a couple of days ago, and I can’t resist posting a few photos I took of the penguin colony there.  There are thousands of penguins, kelp gulls and other birds, but we were only allowed an hour on the island (from 7-8 pm).

Penguin colony, Isla Magellas

Penguins getting ready to settle in for the night.

The birds are quite hearty, because even in the summertime, it is dang frigid out there.  If I were living there, I’d be in my hidey hole right after the last fish came in!  They then leave in April to take the long swim through the Straight of Magellan to the south of Brazil for the winter.  They are “carbing up” on lots of salmon right now!

We’ve been hanging out with Maria Angelica Mimica, the director of the Miguel de Cervantes private school, and one of the primary contacts for the Bellingham Sister City Assn. down here.  Angelica started the school with the namesake author in her heart, 27 years ago.  She is thinking about stepping down, but leaving quite a legacy.  I’m doing my best to be a good diplomat down here, and our calendars have been quite full.

Teresa & John in Plaza de Armas, Punta Arenas

Just about every place we’ve visited on this trip through South America deserves another look, we both think.  Certainly Patagonia. The bus ride we took from Ushuaia took us through part of the Tierra del Fuego, but as we have discovered, there is so much more to explore in that region!

We’d love to form a strong relationship with Teddy Romero Mendoza, our excellent guide through the Sacred Valley in Peru.  He wants to strike out on his own business someday, and would love our participation bringing students or scholars down to know the region.  And certainly, Quito.  If I ever came close to tears because a place was tugging at my heart, it was the Ecuadorian Andes and the consummate artists  who reside there!

So there you have it, faithful readers.  If you ever step out into the southern hemisphere in the Americas, give me a call and I can recommend the must do’s and don’t do’s.  Chao!

Chao!