If ever all countries of the world did a catwalk, Chile wins hands down. A length of 4279 km, with a svelte waistline of 64 km at the narrowest, Wow! Take a flight from Vancouver to New Mexico: you would have overflown entire USA from north to south and traversed to middle of Mexico, covering 4770 km. That’s the approximate length of Chile, the long ribbon-like country sandwiched between the Andes and the Pacific in the south American continent. Then come to the width. It’s a staggeringly narrow 177 km, on average. A long-distance runner can run end to end in 24 hours.
If you thought such a north –south length is more than someone can digest, rather govern, then the story gets more interesting with Chilean territorial claims. Cape Horn (56* S), the southernmost tip of Chile, borders the Drake Passage, the treacherous 800 km breath of ocean between land’s end and the Antarctic continent. Go to Punta Arenas, the southernmost town in Chile, almost at the fag end of 4000 km, and there you find a large white obelisk in midst of a traffic island. If Chileans had their way, this obelisk would mark the center point of their country, which, as per their claims, extends southwards all the way up to the south Pole. Only, if wishes were horses!
During the height of the Cold War, USA and USSR surprisingly came together to draft the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) in 1961, now ratified by 49 nations. The ATS defines all land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude, as Antarctica, which is the Earth's only continent without a native human population. Today any country is free to establish a scientific base in Antarctica, but all military activity is banned.
So what if Chileans’ sovereign rights claims remain just that? The country is the gateway for everything that happens in the Antarctic Continent. The North Pole can be flown in from Russia, Norway or Alaska. But choices slim down in the south. Most expeditions to main land Antarctica - to reach the south Pole, or climb the Vinson Massif, or run a marathon there – start their journey at Punta Arenas in Chile (there is also a sea route to the Antarctic Peninsula – the King George island – and the voyage starts from Ushuaia in Argentina, braving the Drake’s Passage).
The Antarctica Ice Marathon was slated for 1 December 2011. I had planned to reach Punta Arenas by 27th November. I took a JFK – Santiago LAN flight, and completed Chile immigration formalities at Santiago. It was a domestic flight thereon to Punta Arenas. In a shop at Santiago airport, I found hematite pebbles piled up with a small pouch kept hanging alongside. For $ 5.95, I could fill in as many pebbles as possible in the pouch and take. These are highly magnetic, bright black pebbles and form good decoration on the refrigerator door.

Diego de Almagro hotel

I landed in Punta Arenas by evening and took a taxi to the Diego de Almagro hotel. A striking feature of the Punta Arenas landscape is the slanted trees. Due to heavy winds blowing from the south Pole, most trees are slanted to one side, except those that are trimmed and rounded. The charming sea-front is in itself a maritime museum of sorts. Most of the street decorations are artifacts from bygone naval wars. Scale models of actual warships lie docked for tourist view.

The rooms in Diego de Almagro hotel were very well furnished and the bathrooms had all the modern amenities including a bathtub. But I noted with dismay the absence of my favourite gadget: the coffee maker. The staff were very co-operative, like when I got accidentally locked out, the house-keeping girl came running with the master key-card. Girls at the reception always hurried to find an interpreter, whenever we strayed into stumbling communication. Breakfast, included in the room rent, was wholesome, though in no way lavish. It was repetitive too. But very delicious menus (including vegetarian) were available for dinner.

Punta Arenas is a tranquil township. The central Plaza has a huge statue of Magellan, who was the first to circumnavigate the southern hemisphere and discover the link between the Altantic and Pacific Oceans. Locals sell their wares in attractive brick red caravans at the Plaza. In the couple of malls that I visited, I was in for unbelievably attractive bargains. They had bumper sales going, on everything from trousers to fleece jackets. More pleasing was the attitude of everyone there. Shop assistants were keen to know, if after coming a very long way from India, I had a good experience with the Chileans. I told them I could not have asked for more.