PATAGONIA, Day 7

Patagonia, Chile: Day 7: 1 Mar

In which we see a heroic Magellan, learn that Picasso hated painting feet, talk to a boat-builder without design and find an opera house

Punta Arenas, Chilean capital of Patagonia, halfway through the Magellan Straits. Abandon plans for 8-hour boat ride to see penguins. Opt for day of relaxing wandering around this surprisingly pleasant town whose tree-lined square has a very heroic statue of Hernando Magellan, with four large statues of glorified natives around the base. They look more like Europeans than the natives wiped out by the colonialists.

The legend says that Magellan entered the Straits on November 1, 1520 and sailed out at the other end on November 27, 1520. It is also reported that he died in the Philippines in April. As we learnt earlier, he became very odd and began to believe that he was protected by God and therefore impervious to spears and arrows. Seems the natives were ignorant of his heavenly shield and they dispatched him with an arrow. Sic transit gloria mundi!

The Museo Regional de Mallagenes, formerly Palicio Braun–Menendez, was built in ornate French style on the occasion of the marriage of the children of the two great families of the region. Must have looked totally incongruous in the frontier town of basic functional buildings in 1903.

In the dining room there is an oil painting of two ducks. The description reads: "It was painted by Jose Jose Luis Blasco, Professor of the Academia of Bellas Artes of Malaga. As his son tells the story, as a child he was frequently asked to help his father in completing his paintings. The young man was none other than Pablo Picasso.” How about that for a surprise?

According to John this is why Picasso never painted feet on his palumbos, doves, because he hated to paint feet after being forced to do so many times for his dad. The problem is that our very tall companion John can tell very tall stories with a straight face in a most convincing manner. Will have to check on return home.

Later on we stop by a small boat yard were they repair fishing boats. One man is actually building one and when John asks if he is working to a design or a plan, he says, “No, I just build it as I have always built them.” Now ain't that refreshing! No teams of designers, engineers, consultants etc. Just do it.

Walking back from dinner at the grandly and inappropriately-named Savoy Hotel Restaurant, we pass by a run-down building with a blue plaque which says that it was built in 1897 by Numa Meyer, who later went on to design the Theatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the opera house with reputedly the best acoustics in the world.

Looks as if the final curtain for the Punta Arenas theatre was some time ago. Must learn more.