Matts travel blog: Christmas in Tierra del Fuego

i finally arrived in punta arenas on december the 23rd. it was a sunny day but with a chilly breeze, sort of an irishy feeling to it actually... .
the temperature change from santiagos 30 degrees to punta arenas 14 degrees takes some adjustment. the wind blows really strong here.

then on the 24th i took a bus which crossed the magellan straight to tierra del fuego and carried on to cerro sombrero.

the christmas rush in cerro sombrero

depite having a population of just 700 people!! cerro sombrero has a few amenities such as a museum, a leisure centre with swimming pool, gym , indoor sports arena and pool tables all completely free for everyone to use, a church, a school, a bar somewhere and a supermarket.. a cinema (that never seems to open), oh and i heard that there is a restaurant a few miles away. but apart from that, theres just miles and miles of bare landscape.

christmas shoppin

i had a genuine kerrygold moment when i informed paola that "yes indeed, we have this in ireland too!" :-)
now.. what i want to know is "whos taking the horse to france?"

travel tip of the day:

regardles of your level of spanish, do not attempt to explain that tony-the-tiger`s english motto is "grrrrrrrreat" . you´l only look stupid :-)

for those of you who ask do they celebrate christmas like we do?

heres you answer. feliz navidad!

mommy look what "viejito pascuero" broaght me! :-)

they call santa clause, viejito pascuero here, though given that pascua is easter wouldnt that mean the old easter-man?..

cerro sombrero was founded when oil was discovered here. they still celebrate the day of petroleo every year.

the museum in cerro sombrero displaying artifacts dating back through the ages.

the last remaining selk´nam people, the original inhabitants of these lands, now extinct. the photos were taken in the 1920 s.

is there anything cuter than a spanish speaking three year old?

this name "o´higgins" can be seen on street signs all over chile.

bernardo o´higgins (an irishman, no less) was the first president of chile upon liberation from spanish rule.

good christmas deeds.

during a trip to the local playground we found two frozen australians camping out. and invited them to the house for dinner and beers! they had driven from santiago and were on their way to ushuaia. seems they have been getting a lot of that kind of hospitality along the way, i must try that someday.

links

in remembrence of my mp3 player which was lost. iv decided to add songs to my blog.

so heres
todays theme song. :-)