Saturday 21 January
The alarm went at 0430 not good for a holiday but the once a week plane from Santiago to Mount Pleasant was due to leave at 0730 so no choice.
As always Chilean airports are busy in the early morning as the geography of the country means flights have to travel miles up and down Chile’s length.
There was a little confusion in security as although the boarding pass cited MPN and so was international it stopped in Punto Arenas and so started life as domestic !
At Punto Arenas the most southern point in Chile we all had to disembark and pass through Immigration to exit the country although the system relied on a passenger list, transit passes and a biro crossing off names. Needless to say not fail safe and back on board confusion reigned as there was a mismatch between the number on board - 167 - and the 166 who had passed through Immigration. An hour later the American culprit was found and, duly processed we finally headed east.
Mount Pleasant is the result of the 1982 altercation with Argentina and is a large British Forces South Atlantic camp hosting the international airport. Through Immigration and transfer on the airport bus the 30 miles to Stanley saw us at the Malvina House Hotel which is ranked number 1 - rightly - in Stanley.
Now it turns out the Malvina is in fact a Scots girls name and the hotel is named after an early female settler. So quite how that ties back to the cry of the Argentines I am not too sure.
The sun was out and we took a stroll along the main street before a drink and a very good dinner - Vegetable Wellington and Braised Lamb.
The alarm went at 0430 not good for a holiday but the once a week plane from Santiago to Mount Pleasant was due to leave at 0730 so no choice.
As always Chilean airports are busy in the early morning as the geography of the country means flights have to travel miles up and down Chile’s length.
There was a little confusion in security as although the boarding pass cited MPN and so was international it stopped in Punto Arenas and so started life as domestic !
At Punto Arenas the most southern point in Chile we all had to disembark and pass through Immigration to exit the country although the system relied on a passenger list, transit passes and a biro crossing off names. Needless to say not fail safe and back on board confusion reigned as there was a mismatch between the number on board - 167 - and the 166 who had passed through Immigration. An hour later the American culprit was found and, duly processed we finally headed east.
Mount Pleasant is the result of the 1982 altercation with Argentina and is a large British Forces South Atlantic camp hosting the international airport. Through Immigration and transfer on the airport bus the 30 miles to Stanley saw us at the Malvina House Hotel which is ranked number 1 - rightly - in Stanley.
Now it turns out the Malvina is in fact a Scots girls name and the hotel is named after an early female settler. So quite how that ties back to the cry of the Argentines I am not too sure.
The sun was out and we took a stroll along the main street before a drink and a very good dinner - Vegetable Wellington and Braised Lamb.