This winter, we took a trip to the End of the Earth. Honestly.

In late February and early March, we visited Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. Starting in Buenos Ares, our Celebrity Cruise took us to Montevideo, and around Cape Horn as we toured the coast line of these South American countries ending in Santiago, Chile.

The Island of Horn is the southernmost point of South America, below Tierra del Fuego. If the weather is bad, the cruise ships travel between oceans using the Straight of Magellan, on the north side of the island. When the weather is good, you get to travel all the way around the island, which is the end of the earth (unless you are going to Antarctica.)

Our weather was good.

“Rounding the Horn” refers to traveling from 50 degrees south in one ocean to 50 degrees south in the other. We did.

Shown above is a picture I took of the lighthouse on Horn Island, which is properly called Isla Hornos. This island is part of Chile. Its only residents are the lighthouse keeper (a member of the Chilean Navy) and family.

End of the Earth Touring and Cruise

Traveling by cruise ship is lots of fun. This year we travelled with friends from Regina, Saskatchewan and Portland, Oregon. While it was summer in South America, we only felt the heat in Buenos Ares and Santiago. The southernmost portions of the cruise were fairly cool. In fact, so cool that I rarely sat out on the deck.

We went on the usual excursions, including penguins, of course.

One thing I learned was that folks in South America do not speak much English. I even had trouble ordering coffee at Starbucks, despite tutoring from my wife.

It was three weeks of relaxing, without any radios or 3D printers. I once tried taking my Grundig YB-400 shortwave radio on a cruise. But cruise ships are essentially huge diesel power generators, so there was too much interference to do any listening. You are forced to “get away from it all”. And traveling to the End of the Earth certainly accomplishes that!