Once an important provisioning place for ships and home to sheep barons who left a legacy of fine houses, Punta Arenas in the far south of Chilean Patagonia is still a likable and lively place today. Its fascinating history can be seen within the town and southwards to its original settlement.

 

Early Days

In the main Munoz Gamero plaza of Punta Arenas there is a large monument to Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese navigator who was the first European to see the area in 1520 when he sailed through the straits that now bear his name.

At his feet are two Indians: a Selk’nam representing Tierra del Fuego and a Tehuelche Indian representing Patagonia: it is said that if you rub the latter’s toe you will return to the city.  It says much for Magellan’s achievement that it wasn’t until 1843 that a successful attempt was made at settlement, a penal colony being established at Fuerte Bulnes, some 60 km south of the present city.  This site was soon proved far from ideal and the colony moved to its present location in 1848.

The only previous attempt by the Spanish in 1584 ended in disaster when their last remaining ship slipped its moorings with their captain, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, leaving 337 people stranded. Although he later tried to arrange rescue missions, he was imprisoned by the English and it all came to nothing.

When an English privateer, Thomas Cavendish, called in in 1587, he found only 18 survivors at Rey Don Felipe. Unfortunately for them, Spain was at war with England at the time and they didn’t trust him: only one joined him so when he set sail again the others were left to starve to death. Cavendish called the place Port Famine as a result and today it is Puerto Hambre.

A Family Affair

Opened to foreign settlers in 1867 and declared a free port, Punta Arenas prospered in provisioning shipping and when the sheep boom took off in the last quarter of the century, it became the principal port in that industry.

Though things had ticked over nicely with timber, coal and gold, it was sheep farming that put the icing on the cake and generated the huge fortunes that created the city you see today.

There are three names that occur again and again in the history of this area: Jose Nogueira, the Brauns and Jose Menendez. The Brauns were wealthy Russian immigrants who arrived in South America in 1874; their daughter Sara married Jose Nogueira in 1887. He started out a simple Portuguese sailor, but made his money in shipping, furs and ultimately sheep.

Sara’s brother, Mauricio, managed sheep farms for Jose Menendez, another sheep baron and ended up marrying his daughter, Josefina Menendez Behety in 1895. It is all very incestuous but these families were the royalty of their day and spent part of their vast fortunes building fantastic mansions around the Plaza in Punta Arenas.

As a result, the city has some fascinating architecture that we can still enjoy today and has a more substantial feel to it than many of the Patagonian towns.

Jose Nogueira died at the age of only 48 from TB, so he never saw Sara’s house. Designed by a French architect, the Palacio Sara Braun (1894-1905) is now divided between a luxury hotel and a gentleman’s club. It sits grandly on one corner of the Plaza, with stairs leading to the front door and a balcony above.

To one side can be seen the winter garden, which is now a rather splendid breakfast room within the hotel. The period rooms that are open to the public are richly decorated with frescoes and antiques, though sometimes the marble is more trompe l’oeil than real. The overall effect is quite sumptuous anyway and must have been doubly so for the place and the time.

Not to be outdone, in 1903 Mauricio started to built his own mansion just round the corner, again using a French architect , which today is the Museo Regional Braun Menendez, having been given to the city by his descendants in 1983.

To the front are the original family rooms, which have a more substantial sumptuous feel than Sara’s house. The study where Mauricio worked is especially fine and the billiard room next door has a fantastic floor made from African hardwoods. Most of the furniture and marble fireplaces were shipped from Europe.

There is a huge basement with kitchens and boiler for the house. The servants even had their own luxurious bathroom, which was much better than anything their English equivalent would have enjoyed at the time.

Part of the house has also been turned over to a regional museum with displays on the Indians and the settlers. Entrance is free and it is great museum.

We had time to also pop into the Museo Navel y Maritimo, a pleasant little museum which had an interesting display on the Yelco, the Chilean naval ship which finally rescued Shackleton’s men from Elephant Island after two previous attempts had failed.

While planning the rescue of his crew in 1914, Shackleton stayed at a house on Espana 959: Castillo Millward. This house belonged to Charlie Millward, whom any fan of Bruce Chatwin will recognize as the man who found the prehistoric ground sloth skin in the Cueva del Milodon near Puerto Natales and who inspired his journey to Patagonia. The house, a little frayed around the edges, is unchanged and easily recognizable by the two mis-matching towers.

Around and About

The Mirador Cerro La Cruz lookout has a great view over the city with its colorful houses and the ships sitting offshore. A bizarre signpost gives you the distance to every place you’ve never heard of.

The Cementerio Municipal Sara Braun, whilst not as extensive as the Recoleta one in Buenos Aires, has much to entertain. Sara Braun’s hilltop monument to her husband has a particularly fine marble angel and there are other grand marble tombs round the central area: those families again. The Germans seemed to go in for heavy black memorials, including one to an earlier Falkland Island battle in 1914. Throughout there are avenues of sculptured fir trees which lend the place an air of distinction.

Slightly further north from the cemetery on Avenida Manuel Bulnes, there is quite an amusing tribute: the Monumento al Ovejero, or shepherd, with a gaucho and his dog driving a small flock, his horse bringing up the rear, all in life size bronze. The shiny saddle on the horse testifies that it is a popular mount.

A walk along the seafront is also rewarding: the Chilean Antarctic Research boats can be seen, as well as big cruise ships and fishing boats. A pair of old piers are now home to hundreds of cormorants and other sea birds can be spotted.

Eating and Sleeping

On the seafront and a good spot from which to admire the sea if it is a windy day, is the tiny Imago Cafe, just next to the huge monument. It has good value hot chocolate, coffee and cakes.

Our favourite cafe was the characterful Cafe Almacen Tapiz, centrally located on Roca, with good cakes and sandwiches. We heard good things too about the Los Inmigrantes cafe on Quillota, which admittedly had huge cakes, but we found it all a bit twee and contrived. It is a little further out but a handy stop if you are walking to the cemetery.

Camping again we stayed at the friendly Hospedaje Independencia on Independencia. It was good value at only 500 CPL each, albeit on a gravel front yard and we had friendly cat visits. On our way back to town after visiting Tierra del Fuego, we found excellent wild camping at Parque Chabunco, on both sides of the main road just to the north of the airport. There are beautiful views over the sea but also lots of trees for shelter, as well as some sites with shelters, and fireplaces. Sadly there is also a lot of litter around.

To the South

It is a lovely drive south from Puntas Arenas along the coast, with a picturesque wreck just out of town and quite a few ships sitting offshore waiting to be scrapped.

Fuerte Bulnes was recreated in the 1940’s, a series of timber cabins and buildings including one church. It sits on a very pretty peninsula with far reaching views over the Straits of Magellan to distant mountains. The walk round the coast is lovely and there are lots of seabirds.

The whole thing has recently been revamped to justify its 14,000 CPL entry charge and there is a smart new museum with such dark lighting that the writing can be hard to read. The gleaming cafe has a fabulous view so is worth a coffee stop.

Puerto Hambre is close by and equally scenic, but there is little to see. We continued south, passing a little cemetery on a hillside overlooking the bay. It included the grave of Captain Pringle Stokes, the first captain of the Beagle who committed suicide, due to depression, in August 1828 – I reckon the weather got to him.

The road eventually ends – at the most southerly point of a road on the South American mainland – 4 km short of the San Isidro lighthouse. A further 28 km on is Cabo Froward, the most southerly point on the South American mainland. All these superlatives are irrelevant, the point is that the scenery is rather lovely and if you have the time, it would be  a stunning 4 or 5 day return walk along the coast with wild camping en route. It is also possible to find nice wild camping spots before the end of the road.

Unlike the early colonists, you might find it difficult to tear yourself away.