Day 117: January 24, 2025 – Punta Arenas, Chile

Every port has its treasure, and in Punta Arenas, it was a public cemetery. Filled with crypts, mausoleums, and tombstones, the Punta Arenas Cemetery Sara Braun has been ranked by CNN as one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world.

What I found mesmerizing was how intricately personalized the graves were. Some made it easy to imagine the life left behind, such as the one filled with a young child’s toys, or that of a young man whose passion was soccer.

Others were harder to interpret. Was the one with artfully arranged wine bottles indicative of someone who enjoyed his libations? Owned a winery? A toast to a milestone?

And the one that had only blue flowers and blue birds — was that his favorite color? Did he enjoy the blues? Or was he blue? Later, I translated his epitaph, which read: Our old Sea Wolf sails other seas, leaving an indelible mark on this land” so perhaps he was a captain who loved the deep blue sea?

Other common themes included multicolored pinwheels, seasonal decorations (Christmas, Halloween) and blue birds.

And everywhere, there were flowers. Some plastic, others real (poppies, lupines, foxglove, asters, daisies), and sometimes the two were so comingled it was hard to tell them apart. Here are some of the real ones:

And even the not-so-real ones were eye-catching.

Lining the paths between the rows of tombstones were hundreds of immaculately trimmed (and yes, oddly shaped! 🙂 ) European cypress trees.

Part museum, part botanical garden, this cemetery was a feast for the eyes.

I don’t have any desire for a tombstone; cremation has always been my preferred option (or better yet, just throw my body overboard!) But strolling here made me wonder, how would I want to be remembered?