Kate and Dan: Punta Arenas Museums

There was less to do in Punta Arenas than we had expected. We spent a few hours touring the small but interesting Naval/Maritime museum. Chile has been pretty successful gaining interest in the Straight of Magellan and the Pacific coast. Buoyed by European support, Chile has generally kicked the butts of each of their neighbors at one time or another.

The Maritime museum displayed detailed scale models of many of Chile’s famous vessels including Schooner Ancud which was used to claim the Straight of Magellan for Chile in 1843.

One of the museum highlights was a documentary film regarding sailing around Cape Horn in 1929 by a large tall ship, the Peking. The documentary was narrated by Captain Johnson from Massachusetts who had filmed the voyage as a young man. Captain Johnson recalls rogue waves, huge storms and barely believable tales of seamen bravery. Below is a clip of the footage I found on youtube; the actual movie is called "Around Cape Horn." It really lacks something without the narration but is worth a watch to see the ferocity of the ocean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X840oaD6R14

No maritime museum is complete with out some out-dated toys. A torpedo.

An old HP computer.

From the Maritime Museum we made our way to the Centro Cultural Braun Menendez Museum. This museum is a restored turn-of-the century mansion in downtown Punta Arenas.

The opulence is pretty stunning. At the turn of the century, all the way down at the southern tip of the South American mainland, was a house with a game room to satisfy any gentlemen. Floors made of mahogany, American Oak, Oregon pine and some other rare woods; tables inlayed with mother-of-pearl; a provocative model French-painted picture on the wall.

There were some neat contemporary sculptures in the backyard.

After a tough day of museuming, we took a long siesta. We headed to La Marmita, by far the best restaurant in town, at about 10:00. Still very much light outside.