Pole to Pole
Day 136: Punta Arenas
Some last-minute shopping in Punta. Short on underpants, I make my way to a promising emporium only to find that this is not Africa and people do not speak English. I have to mime. It isn't very good and the assistant brings me a pair of trousers. My next mime is shamelessly graphic. She colours a little and brings me a belt. By now I'm desperate and reach into the top of my trousers to show her the actual garment itself and find out that she can speak English after all, even if it is only to shriek, 'No! . . . not here!'.On to the nearby Hotel Navigantes to meet our fellow polar travellers for a briefing ahead of tomorrow's planned departure.
Some are dauntingly well qualified. Graeme Joy, a keen, humorous New Zealander has skied to the North Pole. It had taken him fifty-six days and they had seen polar bear tracks regularly.
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PALIN'S GUIDES
- Series: Pole to Pole
- Day: 136
- Country/sea: Chile
- Place: Punta Arenas
- Book page no: 301
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