This is a continuation of my round-the-world trip report. The three previous reports have covered the DPS - SIN - CDG - SCL segment. From SCL, I continued to my final destination, which was PUQ (Punta Arenas).
I woke up at about 5 AM, had a breakfast, checked out of my hotel (Holiday Inn Santiago) and simply crossed the road to the domestic terminal for my flight to PUQ (Punta Arenas) via PMC (Puerto Montt).
Check in was mostly done via a self-service machine, but there were still LATAM staffs on standby to assist any passengers…
I liked the terminal…lots of natural lights coming in.
2-3 buses took us to the aircraft, meanwhile I spotted this LATAM Boeing 787 en route…
Since I have flown single-aisle jets almost all of my life, I actually cared very little about the type of our aircraft (i.e. A320 or 321, CEO or NEO), registration, etc.
We took off and was heading south to Puerto Montt. There were no IFE on the seats. The cabin service was also nothing worthy to write about: we were given either salty or sweet popcorn (I chose the salty one) and 1 drink of choice (I chose mineral water).
But the sceneries from SCL to PMC, on the other hand…
We were going to straddle the Andes mountain range, that's why I chose the left-hand side window seat…
Please forgive me if those photos felt repetitive…but I couldn't stop marveling at the beauty of snow-capped mountain peaks (since there are almost none of them in Indonesia)…
Meanwhile as we flew further south, the climate became wetter and the vegetation became greener, and there were lakes. We were flying above the Chilean Lake District, which got less attention than the Chilean Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego…
Whoops…did not realize we were on a descent to PMC…time flew so fast!
We landed in Puerto Montt, and the passengers continuing to Punta Arenas were asked to remain on-board.
We then continued our journey to Punta Arenas. Too bad the mountains were covered with thick clouds (I had hoped to see Torres del Paine from air…how cool would that be!) so all I had are photos of Puerto Montt on take-off. Plus, I fell asleep anyway…
But still I woke up in time, just before we descended below the clouds…
It was quite a turbulence!
As you could see, the autumn colors were muted here. We landed safely in Punta Arenas, and once again it was rainy…oh well…
And therefore this trip report comes to an end. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.
Here's some tourism bonus, with heavy emphasize on historical figures related to Punta Arenas (Ferdinand Magellan, Sir Ernest Shackleton and Luis Alberto Pardo). Yes, I am a fan of Sir Ernest Shackleton. And yes, Luis Pardo is almost unheard of, so you could say this trip educated me about Captain Pardo.
Unfortunately I did not have enough time to trek Torres del Paine or Magallanes Nature Reserve, or went to Fuerte Bulnes/Faro San Isidro. But still…it was hugely satisfying.
