Some People Are Buried A Long Way From Home

This is not the first time we've been to this part of the world. 

We were here 20 years ago with two of our children, Lewis and TK.  It was also New Year's at the time, and we were in the same town as we find ourselves today, Puerto Natales, Chile.  That was a long time ago and things have changed.  But not the landscape, it's timeless.  

And some people went to their eternal rest in this part of the world, even though it's a long way from home.  

My wife Fiona grew up in Scotland.  She was born in Stornoway, and always heard stories about her ancestors who went to far away Patagonia.  In fact, as the stories went, they are buried here.  And their descendants still live here.   

We had some time to look up those long lost Scotsmen (and women) here in Punta Arenas, a place at the End of the World.  It even says on the road signs = (Ruta del Fin del Mundo) - translated: Route of The End of The World.  
In fact, this sign below fully translated says:  
Welcome, Province of Last Hope ... not sure what they are implying ...

And Hey! So we finally have our own rig, a four-wheel-drive dual cab four-seat pickup truck.  This thing is rugged, just what we need for the weeks ahead. Indeed, it's a little beat up - perfect!  Because you don't want a fancy la-di-dah vehicle that people will mess with, you want a down-to-earth well worn work rig.  

So ...  back to the people from Scotland at the End of the World

Fiona was brought up with the understanding that some of her relatives moved to Patagonia about a hundred years ago.  It's a lot like parts of Scotland here, cold, wet, windy, remote, bleak, and ... good for sheep.

So they came here and settled, already used to grueling conditions and limited resources.  (If there were better opportunities in Scotland, they would have stayed home).

So we went looking for them yesterday except that ... well ... they're dead.  Which in this case, makes it easy to find them.  We went to the grand Cemetery in Punta Arenas.  They even have a big book (now on computer) that lists names and such.  

Look what we found:

And here's another one, a little more basic:

So it's true, the Scots came to this God forsaken part of the world to raise sheep and look for a change of luck - and they found it. 

In fact, the citizens found a way to honor the sheep herders in this part of the world with a statue in the middle of town in a park.   (the picture at the top of the blog is this sheep herder's face, up real close)

You know, the Cemetery was a real cool place, with people from all over the world who came here, and lived here, and died here, and ... life goes on.  

It is a high quality Cemetery, with some lovely architecture and gardens, like shown below, these cultured cypress were probably forty feet high.

And, going waaayy back, before the Scottish got here - let's not forget the first "civilized European" to come here in 1520.  It was Ferdinand Magellan, who was credited with being the first guy to sail around the globe.  He somehow made his way through these treacherous waters and reached the calm ocean on the other side which he named "Mar Pacifico" - the Pacific Ocean.  This was a pretty courageous achievement - you can't do this without vision and faith and determination.  

They have erected a statue of him here too.  A bit more impressive than the sheep guy.  

   
Important note:  In the statue, Magellan is facing West, the direction he was headed ... Just Keep Heading West, eh?

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In the meantime, we're heading north on this trip. Tonight, as mentioned before, we're in Puerto Natales.  It's a pretty spectacular place.   The scene below greeted us on our arrival here.  

We're heading off into this fantastic landscape tomorrow, the unique Torres del Paine.  Stay tuned.