Unto the End of the World...

Happy New Years!!!

We finally made it, sort of. Drew and I are now in Ushuaia, Argentina - the end of the world. Ushuaia considers itself to be the southern-most city in the world. It´s credentials are good. Ushuaia sits at the southwest end of Tierra Del Fuego and is nestled up against the Beagle Channel. It is tough to find a beer anywhere south of here.

There is just one small problem, Puerto Williams, Chile.

Puerto Williams is on the other side of the Beagle Channel and consequently, just a few kilometers farther south. Argentina deals with this problem just like every other great civilization deals with their sticky little issues. They ignore it. Apparently, inconvenient facts aren´t facts at all.

Ushuaia argues that Puerto Williams is not a city, it is just a small naval village. Therefore it doesn´t count. Being located in Chile doesn´t help Puerto Williams´case either. Chile and Argentina have been ignoring each other for decades. (Except when they are trying to blast each other off the continent. On this topic, I saw my first mine field the other day.)

So Drew and I will close out 2008 surrounded by penguins and beaver. Who couldn´t like that?! The only downside to being this far south is the absolute lack of college bowl games.

Where to next?? Good question. We had hoped to book passage to Antarctica, but that proved to be too expensive. The best price we found was about $5000 for a two week cruise. So the Antarctic will have to wait. The Falkland Islands are still a possibility (which the Argentinians are still pissed about) or perhaps we will wander up along the Atlantic coast of Argentina. Who knows.

Best wishes to everyone for 2009!