land of fire

I made it! 

After 3 flights and more than 30 hours of travel, from rain in San Francisco through snow in Toronto and blistering heat in Santiago, I find myself in Tierra del Fuego—land of fire.

The plane had all these silly map views. You could rotate them 360º like in a video game—something you ordinarily never do with a map. So you get nonsensical perspectives like this:

Here's Punta Arenas at the very bottom of South America, the farther south I have been so far. On the Strait of Magellan. It's just one really long, really rough boat ride to the Falklands or the South Pole.

They even have a beer—an artisanal beer, natch—named for Ernest Shackleton.

And yes, there are penguins here.  Pinguinos, to be exact.

Not sure what this guy was doing in Toronto airport last night. Welcoming me on a grand Patagonian adventure.