There are two places to see penguins in the wild near Punta Arenas, Chile. One is Magdalena Island, where small Magellanic penguins roam free. We decided to go to Magdalena Island because it’s close to Punta Arenas and the entire island is run over by these little penguins.
Puerto Williams is the southernmost city in the world, a small town and naval base of merely a few thousand people on Navarino Island at the southern tip of Chile.
We flew to Punta Arenas from Puerto Montt after visiting Chile’s lake district, picked up our rental car at the airport, and drove straight to Puerto Natales, our base for taking day trips to Torres del Paine.
Chile’s lake district is a land of volcanoes, glacial lakes, German settlements of old, and millenary araucaria trees.
A few days after arriving in Santiago, the capital of Chile, violent protests erupted overnight, triggered by an increase in rush hour metro fares.