Puerto Porvenir

Puerto Porvenir - Photos: Jorge González

he city of Porvenir belongs to the XII Region of Magellan and Antarctica in Chile. Situated in the big island of Tierra del Fuego in Bahía Porvenir in the Strait of Magellan. It is capital of the province of Tierra del Fuego opposite the city of Punta Arenas, to which it is joined by a ferry boat.

Porvenir is near the Natural Monument Laguna de los Cisnes, and also near lagoons Verde and Deseada. In the centre of Tierra del Fuego is lake Blanco, an excellent fishing spot.

The city is immersed in a 20,000 has. rural area where they produce sheep wool, ovine and bovine meat, and breeding animals. There is also a stud farm for race horses. These animals are bred without using any chemicals or hormones, in an extensive ecological way.

The steppe covers almost all the island up to the base of Cordillera de Darwin, where bushes and then the thick Magellanic forest appear.

Porvenir is a city of 5500 inhabitants originated in a police station in 1883 when gold exploitation was intense. In 1894 it was founded as a city to provide services to the new livestock estancias on the island.

At present they keep providing commercial and administrative services to livestock activities, which are still important.

The city presents a regular tracing, with old houses that prove its prosperous past.