Listen 0:30
Read
You are on the Costanera, the city's great seaside promenade, opened in December 2010 on the town's birthday. Here the wind is in charge. Those black posts in front of you are what is left of the Loreto pier. In the early 1900s, a little steam railway brought coal down to it from the Loreto mine, eight and a half kilometres up the valley, and steamers refuelled here, even ships bound for Antarctica. The pier worked until the mid-1940s, and in 1947 the track was pulled up. Today the posts belong to the cormorants.
Source: Wikipedia en español, «Ferrocarril de Punta Arenas a Mina Loreto». · Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH), «Circuito centro de Punta Arenas» (guía del circuito antártico), 2013. · La Prensa Austral, «Empresa Portuaria Austral y el patrimonio histórico regional», 21 de octubre de 2020 (cita a Mateo Martinic, Ingenieros e ingeniería en Magallanes, 2009). · El Pingüino, «Av. Costanera: la obra frente al Estrecho», 18 de diciembre de 2015. · Radio Polar, «Avenida Costanera del Estrecho será inaugurada oficialmente para el día del aniversario de Punta Arenas», 11 de diciembre de 2010.
