During the week prior to my departure political unrest began to unfold in Punta Arenas. The government raised the price of petrol 18%, a huge jump, and for some living in such a remote harsh environment it was too much. A riot began, with protestors blocking the roadway from the city to the airport with burning tires. All traffic was halted to and from the airport and the major highway. Stranded tourists were either stuck for an extended holiday or had to walk 15 miles to the airport.  Fortunately days before my departure I received word that the government had succumb and dropped the increase to a much more tolerable 3% raise and the rioting was over. My trip was not to be cut short prematurely.

Setting out from Wellington, I headed for Santiago, then flew south landing in one of the most southern cities in the world. With a population over 100,000, Punta Arenas isn’t small; yet it maintains a small town feel. The people are fantastic, very kind, welcoming, and patient. Being a vegetarian I struggle to order a dish with no meat in an area of the world were meat truly is the staple!

Flying to King George Island is hugely dependant on the weather, which was why Marcelo had requested I come a few days earlier than the proposed date of departure. With a few days to spare I had a chance to have a look around the sleepy seaside city. I also went down to the INACH warehouse and got kitted up in cold weather gear for my trip!

The day before our proposed flight everyone heading down to King George Island attended lectures on safety and first aid in Antarctica. With bad weather coming it wasn’t looking good for us getting down when we wanted, but a last minute break in the weather was jumped on, we were requested to meet back at INACH at 3:30am for our re-scheduled 5:30am flight the next morning.

The good news is we made it! I’m writing to you from the Chilean Antarctic base on King George Island! With some of the slowest Internet experienced since it’s inception when you needed half your living room to house your modem, but Internet nonetheless! Landing to blue sky’s the 2 hour flight went off without a hitch, it really was a window in the weather though as no more than ten minutes after landing, clouds rolled in it began to snow!