Flights from Buenos Aires to Punta Arenas all route through Santiago, Chile, and cost over US$600/pp, which also means another reciprocal fee for both of us at Santiago airport. In order to save money, we flew to Rio Gallegos in Argentina for ~US$220/pp, and then took a bus to Punta Arenas for ~US$20. This became a very long day, as it happens that on Wednesday, there's only one bus going this way.
Rio Gallegos is quite bleak. The bus terminal is busy. Reached the border in ~1 hour. Terribly windy. The full bus (~70 people) filed out of the bus to line up in two different buildings, one for immigration, one for agriculture check (no vegetable, no fruit, no dairy, no meat even if it's vacuum packed). The border crossing took close to 1.5 hours. 2+ hours later, we reached the sprawling Punta Arenas.
Bought some Chilean Pesos 1. Checked in at Hospedaje Costanera 2, a 2 story house 15 minutes walk from downtown. 2 blocks from the waterfront. The owners' English is slightly better than my Spanish. The lady recommended restaurant Donde Mariano. Portion is a bit small, otherwise, not bad. Walked to waterfront after dinner. People are enjoying the colorful exercise installations. Sun sets at ~10pm here.1/26, Thursday. Sunny - rain - sunny with clouds, very windy.
Downtown Punta Arenas is centered around Plaza de Armas. A memorial of Magellan, shaved trees, souvenir shops. An old gentleman was preaching something in fervent. Later, another old man sang through a loud speaker. 
Visited Sara Braun's home (now Club de Unión and Hotel Nogueira) and Magallanes Regional Museum (home to Braun's too, both ~US$2). French furniture, chandeliers, parquet floor. Not very big. We can sit on the old couches in the first museum. The later also has some window display of the original human trace, original plumbing system, and a 1906 water filtration tank.Hid from the rain at a supermarket, ate and bought beer for the later Penguin trip, (yet forgot it in the hostel fridge). On the way back, visited the cemetery. Again, nicely shaved trees.
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Travel agency Comapa offers Magdalena Island trip, a penguin colony. 5-10pm. 2 hour each way by slow ferry (~60 tourists, not a single vehicle on board). 1 hour walking to a lighthouse on top of the small island, which was closed. Terribly windy, but the ride wasn't too choppy. 
Penguins come here each December from Brazil and Uruguay for longer daylight. They breed and feed the young, then leave in March. It's the busiest in the morning and late afternoon, when one of the pair leaves or comes back from fishing. They call loudly hoping to find their mates. The young are already quite big, beginning to shed their fluffy grey coat. The ferry terminal is rather far from town, about an hour's walk. There's University of Magallanes and a large "duty-free" shopping complex "Zona Franca" on the way. 1/27, Friday. Cloudy - rain - sunny with rain.
Barely caught the 9am mini-bus tour (CLP10000) to Fuerte Bulnes in Punta Santa Ana, a fort founded in 1843 where a ship of 23 people, under the order of President Bulnes, sailed here and claimed the area Chilean. The fort was burned after the town was established in Punta Arenas. In 1940s, this was reconstructed. It's quite beautiful here, can even see some snowy peak in the distance. Big trees, all leaning to one direction. Well (re)constructed cabins, stable, a chapel, wood and grass mud brick.
A few kilometers away is Fort Famine. In 1584, 300 Spanish settled here to block English trades in the Magellan Strait. All but one survived, without any Spanish resupply, living on mussels and grass. In 1960s, 11 skeleton was found here. A few hundred meters back on the road, is a tall white post, signed the center of Chile with map: 4000km north to border with Peru, 4000km south to the end of Chilean's Antarctic territory.Back to town, bought stamps and postcards, and more importantly, a Sunday bus ticket from Ushuaia to Natales (with connection here, ~US$70/pp). Walked in downtown once more, checked out the unimpressive cathedral (colorful but small stain-glass windows), city hall. Many Imperial Cormorant, Dolphin Gull resting on the abandoned piers at the waterfront only 2 blocks south of the main square.
Anxiously waiting for the phone from Antarctic Shipping, which came at ~9:30pm, 3 hours after the lady of the house called them for me. Flying to Antarctic tomorrow!!!
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