I admit to being drawn to this shot posted at the Cohort by Rivera Notario by the vernacular architecture of this house in Punta Arenas, Chile, but the red Suburban makes it even more appealing. The style of the house is something that I might expect to find in Austria, although some of the elements are distinctive, especially the gable trim and the brackets that support it. Well done.
The Blazer is sitting in front of a less distinguished abode. But be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home. Especially when there’s a 1979 Blazer out front.
It’s always a curiosity to me on the backstory of how these American vehicles came to be acquired by the owner(s). 🙂
Interesting to see how 2007–2009 Dodge Durango “towers” over the “diminutive” Suburban…
I’m used to seeing many Chilean license plates here in Montevideo, as many people from the other side of the Andes are used to very long distance driving. But Punta Arenas is lterally almost at the tip of the Southern world. 4WD vehicles are tremendously helpful as snow and ice are a fact of life. Punta Arenas is the last stop for the big Hercules planes that take Uruguayan Air Force supplies, scientists and military to our Antarctica base. It’s not only a wonderful place I hope to visit someday, but a symbol for the region.
Punta Arenas is an interesting place, the southernmost populated city in the world, located at the southern tip of South America. A place so close to the Antarctic circle, it seldom gets above 60 degrees. How in the world these big Chevys ever got there must be a fascinating story.
Puerto Arenas 53°10′S 70°56′W isn’t the southernmost populated city in the world. Ushuaia is even further south 54°48′7″S 68°18′11″W (at the southern tip of Argentina’s Tierra Del Fuego). It has about 57,000 residents. Chile does dispute the southernmost populated place claim with the settlement of Puerto Navarino, which lies to the south across the Beagle Channel from Ushuaia. Puerto Navarino exists primarily as a Chilean Naval station, where Ushuaia has a major naval base along with some manufacturing.
I was very much schooled in that regard by the locals when I visited Ushuaia in 2016. They pointed out the same thing as Eric said here.
I would recommend visiting Ushuaia, especially for the long hikes and a wonderful cruise around the bays.
Make that Punta Arenas is the southernmost city in the world with a population over 100,000.
Those old Blazers show up all over the planet often in the condition of that green one, woudnt start cant be bothered anymore, not for sale,
Wonder if that first house was built by German immigrants? There was a big German-Chilean trade based on nitrates to fuel the German chemical industry – the bark Peking featured in the film you shared earlier was on a nitrite run.
And here’s Fritz Hoger’s expressionistic 1921 Chilehaus in Hamburg, now a hotel and where I’ll definitely stay if I ever get back.
I’m seeing a bit of Stick and Eastlake in the first photo. As Spicolli would say…”Tasty ! “
Chile has a pretty eclectic mix of vehicles, and has for years. Both the Blazer and Suburban were likely sold new down there, not imported privately as seems to be the implication. Interestingly, GM of Canada marketed their Acadian brand there in the late 60s/early 70s, mostly the Beaumont. They’re likely Oshawa-built.