Yearly Archives: 2026

Ushuaia: the end of the world

The city of Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world. It has captured the imaginations of explorers for decades, and we are no exceptions. I (Daisy) have been dreaming of this place for many years. To actually be here, preparing to embark on our next big cycling adventure, is a dream come true.

Total travel time to get here from our door was about 26 hours. Miraculously, every bag and every bike box arrived undamaged. We spent our first day wandering the town and putting the bicycles together. Ushuaia is cold, windy, wet and full of art.

The city is perched on the edge of the Beagle Channel, surrounded by mountains. It was so dreary we didn’t see them until the fourth day, but they are stunning!

We discovered that both girls love empanadas and most particularly they love “submarinos,” which is the local approach to hot chocolate. To make one you start with steaming hot milk, then melt in a big chunk of dark chocolate before drinking it all down!

I learned the hard way that to buy groceries with a credit card you must show your passport here. Alice and I headed to the store with just a credit card and a few US dollars. At check out I was shocked when they asked for my passport! I tried to pay with the dollars, but they were all too ragged to be accepted. After a long back and forth, I learned that a *photo* of my passport would be good enough and luckily I had one! It was quite a scene.

Here are a few more photos of our time here. Tomorrow we start our journey on bicycles!

The St. Christopher shipwreck. Apparently this ship was assisting another in 1957 and ended up stuck ever since.
The wind is famous here and the huge flags were almost always flapping
This ‘end of the world’ sign is an iconic destination for cyclists
…and of course we found the playgrounds. This one had some particularly cool swings.