Travelling from Punta Arenas to Vallenar

When I was twelve years old I moved to the city of Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile. My family moved to that city due to the job of my dad at the time, every three years we had take our bags and move into another city. Both of my parents are from Vallenar, so all my family has always been there, and each summer we used to travel from Punta Arenas to Vallenar by car to see them. 3664 kms separate both cities, so the journey by car was quite a long for a impatient child like me at the time. The only way to arrive Santiago from Punta Arenas is through Argentina, so that was the first time I visited another country. The journey was great, the argentine portion of patagonia have a lot of cities and small towns aswell, and they have developed the commercial tourism into some brand new levels that we as chileans have not explored in our lands yet. When we arrived to Caleta Olivia, I remember I saw the Atlantic ocean for the first time and I run just to touch the water, I don't know why but that is something I still remember very clearly. The argentinian people treat us kindly, and we enjoy the three days of our stop there. A lot of things called to my attention, like the money they use, the several petroleum extractors, the police cars and the funny armadillos (little animals known for having a sort of leather armor covering their entire body) walking near the road. In the fourth day we arrived to Vallenar and we met our family. I still remember this journey as the best because of all the new things I saw and because it was the funniest thing I have ever done with my family. We repeat this journey three times, and when my parents announce we will go to Vallenar again, were always excellent news.