Patagonia to Hollywood? The José Bohr Story

When contemplating Patagonia, not many people think of the movies – even though there’s a surprising assortment of films about the region, some of which I’ve already covered in this blog. For the moment, though, I’d like to bring up the origins of Chilean cinema, which owe a great deal to its remotest region.

In the town of Porvenir, across the Strait of Magellan from the regional capital of Punta Arenas, the renovated local museum exhibits vintage film-making equipment (pictured above) and pays tribute to German-born José Bohr (born 1901, pictured below), who came south as a child and started his career by filming local newsreels. From his first newsreel in 1919, his career spanned half a century, ranging from Tierra del Fuego to New York, Hollywood and Mexico.

Bohr’s first major effort, El Desarollo de un Pueblo (The Development of a People, 1920), also known as Magallanes Ayer y Hoy (Magallanes Yesterday and Today), coincided with the 400th anniversary of Magellan’s voyage to the Strait that now bears his name. Having ordered his cameras other gear from Valparaíso by telegram, the audaciously named “Bohr & Ivovich Patagonian Film Company” persuaded local dignitaries to subsidize the project.

In the process, he and his partner Esteban Ivovich went everywhere in the region including the “extraordinary Fuegian fjords, the glaciers, the ranches, and the mansions of the moneyed.” Among those moneyed was José Montes, who occupied an elaborate home (pictured above) – now housing municipal offices – that still adorns Punta Arenas’s central Plaza Muñoz Gamero. Bohr shot the arrival of many visiting dignitaries, including Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria representing the Spanish King Alfonso XIII. The prince was there for the dedication of the Plaza’s monument to Magellan (pictured below), and the film attracted nation-wide attention.

Bohr, though, soon went to Argentina and then Broadway to act in musicals, and then starred in Hollywood’s first Spanish-language film, Sombras de Gloria (Shadows of Glory) in 1929. In the early 1930s, he went to Mexico and then returned to Chile a decade later, where he became president of Chilefilms, a state-run company eventually privatized in the late 1980s.

Some of Bohr’s later work is available on Youtube but, unfortunately, the early newsreels are not. Still, as a composer, he wrote a hymn to the city of Punta Arenas, where the Teatro Municipal José Bohr remains a testament to his influence in Patagonia and beyond.

The Kings of Tierra del Fuego

Almost everybody who visits Patagonia hopes to see penguins. Every once in a while, passengers on the Navimag ferry from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales will spot one in the water, but most visitors prefer close-ups at nesting sites like Otway Sound or Isla Magdalena (pictured above), near the city of Punta Arenas. There, from October to March, Magellanic penguins and their newborn chicks (pictured below) become the subjects of countless photographs.

There’s a new option and even more interesting option, though. Since 2009, a swarm of colorful king penguins has begun to colonize a site at Bahía Inútil (“Useless Bay”), across the Strait of Magellan on the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego. These resemble the giant emperor penguins that paraded across the Antarctic in “March of the Penguins,” but they are somewhat smaller and lead a less arduous life, though they still forage hundreds of miles in search of food for their chicks.

Getting to the king penguin colony, which is now a private nature reserve called Parque Pingüino Rey, is a bigger time commitment than the Magellanic colonies, one of which is barely an hour from Punta Arenas. It requires a two-hour ferry ride to the town of Porvenir and another two hours overland to reach Bahía Inútil, and a return to the continent via the more northerly crossing at Primera Angostura.

That, in effect, makes it a full-day excursion to spend about an hour or so with the kings, which I did recently with a local tour company. Another advantage to the trip is that some birds stay at Bahía Inútil all year, though the size of the colony varies. It’s been as large at 150, though there were about 75 when I went in mid-March. Wooden blinds keep human visitors from approaching too closely, but also offer protection from strong winds.

While I have my own car here, I was pleased I didn’t drive. In the first instance, the freight for the vehicle would have cost me nearly as much as the excursion did. In the second instance, I probably would have driven north to the Primera Angostura crossing where, as it turned out, high winds had shut down the ferry shuttle with the continent and left an eight-km line of vehicles waiting to board without knowing when the service might resume.

Because of this, the driver told us, we could return to Punta Arenas via Porvenir, where the ferry Pathagon’s departure had been delayed, instead of going to Primera Angostura. This, however, required unanimous consent from all 17 of us, since the tour included a visit to the company town of Cerro Sombrero before returning via the northern crossing. All the Spanish speakers agreed, and I had to interpret for the English-speakers, including three Taiwanese whose fluency was not completely clear.

Not making the ferry would have complicated matters, as Porvenir (population 6,000) and Sombrero (about 700) are the only towns on the Chilean side of the island, and have very limited accommodation. Fortunately, the large and comfortable Pathagon (pictured above and below, it's literally a huge improvement on its predecessors) could handle the wider section of the Strait easily, and we returned by 9 p.m., in time for dinner. Nobody who saw the kings, though, was disappointed after the long day.

Pleasures of Patagonia? The Platters of Punta Arenas

From people who don’t really understand what a guidebook writer does, I often hear that I have the ideal job, spending four to five months every year “on vacation.” While I enjoy what I do, and welcome the opportunity to revisit people and places that I’ve gotten to know over the past couple decades-plus, that’s a big oversimplification. At this point, for instance, I would find it difficult to dedicate a week-plus to hiking Chile’s Paine Circuit – as I first did in 1981 when it was almost unknown – because I have to devote so much of my time in South America to basic fact-checking for upcoming editions of my books.

That said, at the end of the day, it’s always nice to relax with a pisco sour, a nice seafood dinner and a glass of wine, as I’ve done most of the last few days in Punta Arenas (as seen above from the Muelle Prat, where Cruceros Australis vessels dock). That’s still work, as the latest information on restaurants is part of the job, but it slows the pace and gives me a chance to reflect on the day’s accomplishments (or lack thereof) and plan for the coming day(s).

Punta Arenas is actually one of my favorite dining destinations and, after arriving Saturday afternoon on the LAN flight from the Falklands, it was a pleasure to contemplate the possibilities. Unfortunately, on a four-day stay that ended today, I was unable revisit every place I might like – I can only eat so many meals per day – but here’s a summary of what I managed to sample.

SOTITO’S BAR

I hadn’t been to Sotito’s – whose name is misleading in that it’s a full-fledged restaurant – for several years since they had moved into large new quarters. Saturday evening at 8 p.m. (early for dinner here), I was alone in the upstairs dining room, though the downstairs was virtually full with a special event. The king crab cannelloni didn’t blow me away, but the calafate mousse for dessert was spectacular, light and flavorful but not excessively sweet. The pisco sour was a bit on the sugary side, though.

CLUB CROATA

On Sunday, I took a day trip on the Strait of Magellan ferry to the town of Porvenir on Tierra del Fuego, and lunched at the classic Croatian Club – Croats played a huge role in settling this part of Chile – and ordered a king crab lasagna which, unfortunately, was an enormous portion and heavier and creamier than I would have preferred. Next time, I’ll order grilled fish, I think, and I still love the retro ambiance.

LA LUNA

Back in Punta Arenas that evening, I didn’t feel like a full dinner, but I couldn’t resist a visit to this quirky institution, where I ordered an appetizer of ostiones al pil pil, a garlicky scallops dish that was surprisingly spicy for a country whose palate usually rejects hot peppers. Bigger portion than I expected, but it was irresistible.

LOMITO’S

Monday at lunchtime, I headed to Punta’s sandwich specialist for ave con palta (chicken with avocado). A lot of Chilean fast food is pretty bad but, if you insist they hold the mayonnaise (Chileans regularly overdose on the stuff) and split this huge sandwich, you’ll be set until dinnertime. To wash it down, choose fresh raspberry juice.

DAMIANA ELENA

In a classic Magellanic house, Damiana Elena has become Punta’s prestige restaurant and, though nobody was there when I arrived with a friend at 8:30 p.m., it filled up quickly even on a Monday night. The menu now consists of seven or eight nightly specials; not caring to eat beef, I made an offbeat choice for sub-Antarctic Patagonia: mahimahi, flown in from subtropical Rapa Nui (Easter Island) with an onion and Carménère sauce. The dessert was more locally sourced – a rhubarb ice cream.

SUSPIRO DE LIMEÑA

After spending the morning at Fuerte Bulnes, the ruins of the region’s first Chilean settlement about an hour south of Punta Arenas, I chose this new Peruvian restaurant under the auspices of La Luna’s owners. The parihuela, a tomato-based soup embellished with king crab, scallops, shrimp, squid and octopus, was perfect for a frigid late-spring day, with chill winds off the Strait of Magellan.

LOS GANADEROS

Recently merged with its sister seafood restaurant Puerto Viejo, this relocated grill specializes in Patagonian lamb (pictured above), but I chose not to overindulge myself in a large portion of meat as tempting as it sounded – though the US$30 price tag also helped make up my mind. Instead, I chose the Puerto Viejo option, a portion of merluza (hake) in a cider sauce at a third of the price. I was slightly disappointed in it, given my previous experience at both restaurants, but still would not hesitate to return for the lamb or a beef dish.

THE NEXT TIME BACK

Fewer than four full days in Punta left me unable to sample everything I might have liked, but I’ll be back, maybe even later this summer. Next on my list is El Remezón, which specializes in Patagonian game dishes.

Update from Ushuaia: the Uttermost of the Uttermost

Lucas Bridges, the son of Anglican missionaries via the Falkland Islands, was one of the earliest European settlers in Argentine Tierra del Fuego and he titled his memoirs The Uttermost Part of the Earth. In fact, as I began writing this Tuesday morning, the Chilean cruise ship Stella Australis was anchored off the north side of Cape Horn - arguably, the uttermost of the uttermost.

Tierra del Fuego is not a single island but rather an archipelago divided, unequally, between Argentina and Chile. Most of Argentine Tierra del Fuego consists of its sector of the Isla Grande, the big island. In fact, it’s South America’s biggest single island, and the port of Ushuaia (population about 65,000) dwarfs any settlement on the Chilean side (where Porvenir has only about 8,000 inhabitants).

Isla Hornos, though, is the stuff of legend, a verdant but rugged rock where the Chilean navy keeps a lighthouse and countless shipwrecked sailors died trying to “round the Horn.” In fact, this was the third time I’ve been to Cape Horn; the first time, with the Stella’s sister ship Via Australis in 2006, the seas were so calm that the captain circled Isla Hornos - giving us all the opportunity to say we had rounded the Horn. The second time, in 2009, the seas were choppier but we still managed to go ashore, landing in the rocky cove and climbing some 160 steps to the windswept plateau. There, a boardwalk leads to a flat metal sculpture that silhouettes an albatross memorializing victims of the numerous shipwrecks here.

Most of the Stella’s 200-plus passengers eagerly awaited the opportunity to land here - one retired English couple chose the cruise, despite the dent it put in the budget of their round-the-world adventure, specifically because it meant the chance to go ashore at Cape Horn. The most concerned, perhaps, were the four-person crew from the PBS series TravelScope (pictured below), filming a program in which the landing at Hornos and exploration of the island would be a highlight.

Producer Julie Rosendo told me they had two scripts - Plan A with a landing on Hornos and Plan B without. As we approached the island, the seas were choppy, visibility was limited, and a steady rain fell. Fortunately, the seas were calmer in the lee of the island, the rain relented, and the skies lifted to provide reasonably good visibility - not nearly so good as my previous visits, however.

In fact, I was one of a handful who chose not to go ashore, partly because I had writing to catch up on but also because I thought, under the conditions, I could not get photos any better than those taken on previous trips. In addition, I will make my fourth visit to Cape Horn very soon - tomorrow morning, in fact, as the Stella begins her return itinerary to Punta Arenas this evening. I will hope for better weather yet.

Unlike me (at least in this instance), most Australis passengers do only one leg of the trip, but the return to Punta Arenas is not exactly a reverse itinerary. It makes some stops - the Isla Magdalena penguin colony in the Strait of Magellan, for instance - that the Ushuaia-bound leg does not.

We were not the only vessel at Hornos. A Chilean patrol boat was there, delivering supplies to the lighthouse, and Celebrity Cruises’ massive Infinity (capacity upwards of 2,000) was also at anchor. Passengers on the latter, though, could only watch with envy from their cabins and decks - Cruceros Australis is the only operator allowed to land here. As the Infinity lumbered off toward Antarctica for another distant drive-by, the Stella’s captain chose to circle the Horn, to the delight of all aboard.

Wednesday Wrap-up: Punta Arenas, FIGAS, Porvenir & Santiago

Today’s post is a potpourri of items from my last several days in the Falkland Islands, Punta Arenas and vicinity, and Santiago.

Summertime Snowfall
It’s almost summer in the southern hemisphere, but from Monday’s weather in Punta Arenas, you’d hardly know it - as I was walking around the city, correcting the city map for the upcoming third edition of Moon Handbooks Patagonia, I encountered chill winds and several snow flurries, of all things. Admittedly, the flakes melted by the time they hit the ground, but it was still something out of the ordinary even in southern Patagonia’s notoriously changeable springtime weather. I could only imagine what hikers might be going through in Torres del Paine, which can get rougher weather than this city on the Strait of Magellan.

In the evening, though, I managed to shake off the cool day at dinner with my friend Steve Beldham, a Brit whom I met in the Falklands more than 20 years ago, at Damiana Elena (pictured above) - widely considered the city’s top restaurant. In a classic century-old house, Damiana Elena is simultaneously spacious and intimate, consisting of several small dining rooms - ideal for a romantic dinner. My own entrée of cannelloni stuffed with scallops and palm hearts was spectacular; the only minor complaint was the dessert of white chocolate mousse, which could have been lighter. Among last night’s diners was city mayor Vladimiro Mimica (who, like many local residents, is of Croatian descent).

FIGAS: the World's Friendliest Airline?
The other day my post on the Falklands described getting around the Islands, but it didn’t really address my affection for what I consider my favorite airline. At one time, flying anywhere was fun but, given the security hysteria of the past decade, commercial aviation is more stressful than anything else. On FIGAS flights from Stanley to the outer islands, such as Carcass and Bleaker, there are no full body scans and, if you want to take a bottle of water on board, it’s not big deal. Not only that but, if you’re lucky, you get to sit alongside a pilot like Eddie Anderson who, over the headphones, describes every feature of the landscape he’s overflown hundreds if not thousands of times. Eddie, a devoted conservationist, owns several small Falkland Sound islands that are home to the world’s largest concentration of southern giant petrels (rather homely birds that, however, are graceful in flight).

At the same time, FIGAS is a social, and sociable, experience. With only a week in the Islands, it was impossible for me to revisit every place and person I know from my time there but, as the flights make multiple stops en route, it’s often possible to say hello to people you can’t pay a longer visit to. En route to Carcass Island, for instance, we dropped several tourists at Saunders Island, where I was at least able to greet David and Suzan Pole-Evans when they came to pick up their guests (though not without a mild admonition that “You’re not visiting us this time, then?”).

Sunday in “The Future”
Punta Arenas is virtually dead on Sundays but it’s a great day to visit the Tierra del Fuego town of Porvenir, about 2-1/2 hours east by Transbordadora Austral Broom’s new ferry Crux Australis. Sunday’s trip, which leaves at 9:30 a.m. and returns at 5 p.m., allows visitors to spend most of the day in Porvenir, and many locals take advantage of it to visit their families. I don't have family there, obviously, but I took advantage of the schedule to lunch on conger eel in a scallop sauce at the Club Croata, the Croatian club that’s the best restaurant in town.

Porvenir, for what it’s worth, means “the future,” but a town with barely 5,000 inhabitants has its limitations. For those curious about the Falklands, in many ways it resembles Stanley - an elongated town along a sheltered harbor, with many landmark houses of Georgian and Victorian style, a central plaza studded with topiary cypresses, and a good museum that’s due to move to new quarters next year. If you find yourself in Punta Arenas on a quiet Sunday, this is one of best excursions you can take.

Metro Goes on Strike

Meanwhile, when I returned to truly summery Santiago yesterday afternoon, it was a city whose extensive Metro system has gone on strike - or at least its operators have done so. In a city whose subway is one of the world’s most automated systems, people I spoke with here have told me that the effect has been minimal but, if the strike lasts until Sunday, there will be no service on that day. That could affect people who want to get around to visit friends and family for their Sunday lunch or barbecue - a tradition that fills the time from early afternoon to at least early evening - but it won’t stop people from getting to work on Monday.