This morning, I realized that I couldn’t use Wi-Fi in the hotel.
This happens all the time in South America.

I headed to Sebastian, the town at the border.
I left Argentina and entered Chile safely.

Yay! Congrats to me for entering Chile.
Chile is the 62nd country!

I found a cup of instant ramen noodles in the cafeteria/shop next to the border office in Chile!
I couldn’t help but to buy it. I ended up eating standing up.
It had been a long time since I had had this. It was sooo good!! 

As I entered Chile, I found a long dirt road in a vast plain field.















 

 I needed to pay attention because the edge of the road was easily broken.

I arrived at the shoreline of Magellan!























 




 

I saw many sea gulls.












 


 

I wonder if there’s such thing as a sea gull meat….
I kind of want to try it.

There were animals climbing up the cliff.
























































They were Guanaco. They live in places where there are strong winds.

I arrived in Porvenir in Tierra del Fuego. Tierra del Fuego is an island near the southern tip of South America. It’s the only town in this area of Chile.
I was going to take a ferry to get to today’s destination, Punta Arenas.
I went to the dock…
There was nobody there. There wasn’t a ferry either…

I heard seagulls over my head.

When I listened carefully, they sounded like they were saying “I’m stupid!?”

Did I miss the ferry?

Be quiet, seagulls!

There was a person on the fishing boat deck, so I asked him. He said that the ferry leaves 7:00 pm.
I read my guide book carefully. It stated that there were two departure times: at two o’clock and seven o’clock pm.
I just missed the ferry at two.

I wondered about what I wanted to do until seven.
The guide book said that this was the town of nothing.
I decided to eat first.












 


 

I finally found a restaurant. As I entered the inside of it, I noticed that the pricing of the menu was strange.
It seemed odd when I tried to calculate it into yen.
 

Oh! That’s right! I’m in Chile now.
The currency mark is still the same, but they use Chile peso.
I realized that I didn’t exchange my money at the border, so I didn’t have any Chile peso!
I had already ordered the food and there was already a piece of bread in my mouth… I hurried and asked a senorita.

“You can’t use any cards, but you can use US dollars.”

She said with a smile.
I was relieved.

I found a small store that offered an exchange service after my meal. I was able to exchange some money there.

I went back to the dock an hour early and bought a ticket for the ferry.
It was going to be a two and a half hour ride.

The ocean was rougher than I expected.
My bike, which was tied to the deck, was all wet because of the waves.



























It was 9:30 pm.



























And then the sun set.
























Arriving in Punta Arenas!

After I got gas for my bike, I went to the center of the town.

























It was a quiet and neat town.
This town is on the most southern part of Chile. It had a population of 110,000.

There was a statue of the Ferdinand Magellan Memorial in Plaza de Armas.





















Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who led the first expedition to sail the Atlantic Ocean and into the Pacific Ocean.
Because of his great achievement, much of world history was changed.

The amazing part of the story of Magellan is that his crew completed the entire voyage, although Magellan himself was killed during the battle in the Philippines.
I can tell that his will was strong enough for his crew to complete the voyage without him.

There is a legend that your sail will be safe if you touch the sitting shining statue of Alcalf’s foot.






















I touched it firmly.

The rest of my journey will be safe.

Translated by Maki & Angela Trolio