Understanding the isolation and the want for independence
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Mon 17 May 2010 22:30
PATAGONIA. As many people seem to claim the area of Patagonia and it keeps
growing due to the potential of tourism, but it is really is restricted to
the south where the original Patagonian people came from, and this covers
both Chile and Argentina. But as we have travelled around this area it is
clear that it is isolated and has been for years only just in the last
couple of decades. But they feel like the central government takes taxes
from here and gives little back, so they keep flying the Magellan flag a
(yellow land Blue sky and the southern cross) alongside the Chilean flag,
and this even happens on government buildings. It reminds you of Texas which
wants to be part of the republic but also independent, and the people here
show the same characteristic. Certainly the I had not realized the
importance of sheep farming here as this is where the wealth came from in
the early days, then oil and the shipping lane, now it is tourism.
But this town of 150000 has a lot of history by different cultures/ natures
taking ownership, and this can been seen in the different schools today
British, German, Croatian, French and Chilean.
An interesting day and while people point to Torres Del Paine, there is a
lot more, I would advise people to consider going the cruise we did to see
the channels, but even go further to Beagle Channel as it looks interesting,
both Tracy and I have no doubt we will return but next time we will go from
Punta Arenas to Antarctica in the future (so our dreams keep growing add to
the list).