February 2 - Punta Arenas and Estancia Olga Teresa

It’s morning now, February 2, to be exact, and we’re docked in Punta Arenas.  At the moment it’s in the mid-50’s.  I have a tour booked for this afternoon to an estancia, a ranch.  While I was eating outside on the aft deck people were jumping up and racing to the railing pointing out to something in the water.  It was a pair of penguins.  I didn’t say anything but we’re all going to see (and smell) lots of penguins up close and personal very soon.

Before I talk about my tour I need to tell a little about Punta Arenas, literally sandy point.  This is the capital city of the 12th district of Chile, whose formal name is Magallanes and Antarctic Chile. The city lies on the Strait of Magellan, because it was he who discovered this route from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The area has a population of roughly 120,000, almost all of whom live in Punta Arenas.The area was first used as a penal colony in  the first half of the 19th century. In 1848 when the California gold rush began, Punta Arenas was founded and became something of a boom town because the only way to get from the eastern US or Europe by ship relatively easily was to come round Cape Horn. The boom ended in 1914 with the opening of the Panama Canal. Punta Arenas is the southernmost city below the 40th parallel. 

Punta Arenas from the ship

It's the equivalent of earlyAugust back at home.  Our guide Marcelo told us that we had a lucky day here because we had sunny skies and fairly warm temps, roughly 64°. There is a very brisk breeze, actually that's an understatement, blowing and she told us that is most often the case. The topography is split in two zones.  On the side facing the Atlantic there is more rainfall, sometimes as much as 2000 millimeters per year.  The side facing the Pacific is more arid with only about one-tenth of that amount of precipitation. I’ve only changed planes in Texas so I can’t say it’s true but a couple of people on the tour said that the landscape reminded them of parts of Texas. 

We headed east toward our destination, Estancia Olga Teresa, the Olga Teresa Ranch.  The road we took is the principal road connecting this part of Chile to the rest of the country. We made an abrupt stop at one point; there was a rhea standing in the middle of the road.  It dashed off and on the side of the road there were a bunch of babies. They raced off, incredibly fast.  One of the men on the bus managed to catch a photo and he’s supposed to send it to me.  If he remembers to do it, I’ll post it. Here's an interesting trivia fact.  A male rhea usually has four female mates who lay about 100 eggs total. The females then take off and the male cares for them and for the hatchlings.

Entrance to the ranch

The ranch has been owned by the same family for 100 years. They raise cattle and sheep, more of the former. We went first to an enclosure where we watched a dog herd a bunch of sheep. It takes at least two years to train these dogs. It was amazing to see him work, guided by the whistles of the shepherd with him.

The shepherd and his dog. Above it is a video of the dog herding the sheep along but I'm not sure it has uploaded properly. If it hasn't, sorry but I can't figure out how to delete it. I'm not trying to upload any more videos; they take an impossibly long time to process and then I don't think they work.

Next we went into a shearing barn.  The shepherd brought in a 4-year-old ewe and expertly sheared her.  The sheep looked like she actually was happy to be shorn which made sense to me because she had a very heavy coat and it’s mid-summer here.  A ewe’s pelt can weigh as much as 5 kilos our guide told us. I won’t go into the process the wool goes through because it’s lengthy.  One fact I found very interesting is that the price of wool has tumbled. A few years ago ranches sold this kind of wool which is not the finer merino or cashmere for about $7.00 per pound.  It’s now selling for about $0.80 a pound.  Consequently, this ranch and many others are wrapping their wool in bales and storing it in the hope that prices will increase. 

First being shorn and then all sleek after the haircut

Each fleece is spread out on a table and examined after being shorn,

An interesting thing I learned was that the ranch has a team of professional shearers who come in when it's time.  A pro takes about 2 minutes to shear the sheep with the fleece all in one piece and is paid by the number of sheep he shears.  The guide told us they're paid about $1.50 per sheep and a really good shearer can do 200 a day.

We were next taken into a stable where there were some beautiful Chilean horses used to herd the cattle.  These horses are descendants of Andalusian horses brought by the Spaniards, but they aren’t as tall.  They are very hardy though which is necessary in this very unforgiving climate.

That's Salto Chico on the left

After a lamb barbecue (late lunch/early dinner) we boarded the bus to head back to Punta Arenas.  Along the way a condor soared by us, but he was too high to get a picture. As we approached the Strait of Magellan nearly back in the city we could see a group of magellanic dolphins playing in the water.

Just one photo to give you an idea of what the terrain looks like

All in all it was a nice day but we did walk a great deal, several miles, on paths that weren’t too level.  I was pooped and I think most of my fellow passengers were too.  I had a salad and then went to bed.