Punta Arenas, Chile
January 30th, 2026
Today the ship made port in Punta Arenas, we woke up early to see the Glaciers (6:30m)
There is not a dock to tie up to, so they anchored the ship and we took tenders in Punta Arenas. We had booked an excursion that started at 1:10 (pm). This gave us the morning to explore the city.
Punta Arenas
Punta Arenas, (historically known as Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chiles southernmost region, on the Magellan Strait. Although the city officially was renamed Magallanes in 1927, its name was changed back to Punta Arenas in 1938. The city is the largest south of the 46th parallel and the most populous southernmost city in Chile and the Americas.
It was a short walk into town. We started our tour in the Plaza de Arms. There was a market set up with booths selling local art and T-shirts. Local people were dancing in traditional clothing to traditional music. They would pull tourists in to dance with them.
Locals in traditional dress doing traditional dances with tourists.
In the middle of the Plaza, there is a bronze statue of Magellan. Below him are two indigenous figures representing the native people of Patagonia. There is a tradition of touching or kissing the foot of the lower indigenous figure, will bring you good luck and ensures a return to Punta Arenas.
Touching the foot for good luck and ensure a return to Patagonia.
We bought a few souvenirs and I got a postcard for Grace. They do not sell postcard stamps in the shops, so we had to find the post office. The town is small, so we found it quickly. It was a different process when I got to the post office. I needed to “sign-in” at a kiosk to get a number, then wait to be called. It did not take long. Soon we were out and looking for a place for a bite to eat.
Street Vender in Plaza de Arms
We walked past Plaza De Arms again and stopped at a booth and got some Patagonia hats for the kids.
Mesita Grande
We had some time before we had to return to port to catch our excursion, so we found a small restaurant called Mesita Grande. We had some Pisco Sours and ordered Pancitos de Guanaco,( a local Patagonian dish with rolls and shredded meats. The meat in it was most likely Lama.
We walked back to the port and took a quick photo with the large letters of the city. (seems to be a trend in this area)
We had signed up to do a Princess food tasting excursion to try authentic Patagonia Asado. The excursion started with a short tour of the town in a shuttle bus. There were only 10 people on this tour which made this great. We saw many sculptures and monuments that are important ot he area as well as an upper view of the city (with our ship in the background).
View of the city with our ship in the background.
Our guide took us into the countryside to her home. She is a chef in a local restaurant and was approached by Princess to offer an authentic Asado experience. She did a great job explaining that an authentic Patagonian asado-a social gathering centered around slow-roasting meat over an open fire, or parrilla.
we were greeted by her staff that had everything set up for us.
We were offered Calafate Sours when we arrive. These drinks are a twist on Pisco Sours. It is basically the same as a pisco sour, but they also add calafate sauce, made from a patagonia native berry. The calafate berry is dark blue, like a blueberry, but is slightly tart.
As an appetizer, Tapas was served. We had king crab in the shell, river trout ceviche, Croatian Ham and Choripan.
Our Tapas appetizer menu
All the food was slowly cooking over an open fire. They had started cooking it 6 hours earlier. The lamb is cooked by a traditional Patagonia technique called Asado a la Cruz. The whole lamb is butterflied and fixed to a metal cross and slow roasted beside an open wood fire. It cooks next to the wood fire, not directly over it. This allows the heat and smoke to penetrate the meat. They will periodically bast it with salmuera (a simple bine of water, salt and herbs).
All the food was served tapas style, After drinks an appetizers, she moved us to an out building where she had tables set up. There was more food inside.
Whole lamb, butterflied and cooked slowly next to wood fire. (Asado a la Cruz -" “barbecue on the cross”)
She had built a Palapa (an outbuilding used for entertaining in Chile) for us to eat our dinner. As it worked out, the timing was perfect. It started to rain just as we finished our appetizers and were heading into the palapa. We had potatoes, Grilled carrots, salad and of coarse, we got to eat the lamb. The food Was amazing. Chilean wine was also served with the food.
Table setting in the Palapa for our Asado dinning experience.
She also prepared as dessert that incorporated the Calafate berries.
The ship was leaving port at 5:30. We got back at 5:30. Since it was a princess excursion, they held the ship for us.
Enjoying our cocktails as we pass the Magellan Strait.
We were soon underway passing through the Strait’s of Magellan. The seas were fairly calm. I even got a shot at a rainbow as we passed.
After dinner, we went to the Explore’s Lounge for the Guess that 80’s Song trivia contest. We were a little late, but still had fun trying to answer the trivia questions. We saw that there was an All Out 80’s Challenge in Club Fusion, so headed other there next. The band would start singing an 80’s song and stop, someone from the audience would come up and sing the missing lyrics. The audience was separated into two groups. If someone from the other side came up to sing, you had to cheer for your singer to win. Sandy went out and sang Bon Jovi’s Liv’n on a Prayer. She ended up winning! Then they had a Back to the 80’s Dance Party in Club Fusion after that. We had a blast dancing! It was a Totally 80’s night!
80’s music sing-a-long competition. Sandy went up and sang Liv’n on a Prayer by Bon Jovi.
