Ushuaia, Argentina
Ushuaia is fin del mundo,"the end of the world".
We made it to the world’s southernmost city, the “end of the world”. Ushuaia is the port of departure for cruises to Antarctica, just 1000 km further south. French cyclist Patrick joined us on our final day. He’s biked from Salta in northern Argentina and, like many cyclists we’ve met, is ending his journey here. But for us this is only halfway; a transition time between South America and South Africa, where we will resume our cycling adventure in a month. We fly from Buenos Aires to Capetown on the 14th of April and have time to hike in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile before then. In less than one year I have cycled 22,171 km in 244 days of travel with 104 days of rest. Julie joined me nine months ago in Panama City and has cycled 15,220 km and climbed 143,744m (equal to 18 Mount Everests). Another odd tidbit is the number of towns we stayed in that start with the letter “C”: 55 (22%). (We noticed this after five in a row between Constitución and Concepción, Chile). It’s A Small World: We met two young women from Wisconsin in a brief snow squall while hiking up to the Martial Glacier above Ushuaia. Annie Klahn, from Lodi, was a UW-Madison college roommate of Rachel Elbing, from Amery, daughter of Dr. Paul Elbing, my Dad’s former partner.
A regatta of tall ships has gathered.
They've sailed through the Beagle Channel to Ushuaia from all over Latin America.
We start our last day cycling the Americas with Patrick.
Fall colors are just beginning at 55 degrees south latitude.
March 23rd, 2010 at 01:37
Congrats on reaching this remarkable milestone. I thought Ushuaia would be a dumpy little town at the end of the world but it looks incredibly beautiful there. Enjoy your two week holiday! Looking forward to part 2 of the journey.
March 23rd, 2010 at 06:02
Thanks, Mike. Ushuaia is in a more attractive location than the flat, treeless and windy plains of the northern 3/4 of Tierra del Fuego. That made our arrival here an unexpected pleasure.
March 23rd, 2010 at 09:13
Congratulations you two – very nicely done.
Enjoy your holiday!!
James (from Coyhaique)
March 24th, 2010 at 22:43
Congratulations David and Julie, the El-Haj family is following you closely. Since you are in beautiful Argentina eat a lots of pan and
facturas en las panaderias, que rico!! How is your Spanish after all these months traveling in South America?
Take care, El-Haj family!!!
March 25th, 2010 at 05:29
Muchas gracias Talal y Patricia
Our Spanish fluency is no muy bueno. Every time we cross the border between Chile y Argentina we say “Como?”, because the idiom is so different. We have always done okay with simple “travelers spanish” and now people have complemented us on our conversational spanish, That is, when we ask questions we are able to understand most of the answer. Esperamos que el corazon de Talal es fuerte ahora.
April 14th, 2010 at 18:27
Hi David and Julie,
Congratulations on finishing South America. That is fantastic. Your photos are amazing. Some sad news to report, not sure if you heard about it… Valdo passed away in late February. He almost made it to California. I wrote what I know about it on my blog here: http://www.cruzbike.com/content/well-miss-you-valdo
I can’t wait to hear about Africa. Happy trails!
April 17th, 2010 at 01:31
We were saddened to hear of Valdo’s death. He was a 66-year-old Brazilian priest, one year into a four year, around-the-world bike tour for peace. We met unexpectedly on August 3rd (his photo is on my blog) in El Remolino, Colombia; both of us on Cruzbikes! Valdo seemed so joyful and full of life, but none of us know how long we have. If I should pass away on this trip, let my epitaph read: “He lived until he died.”