The Train at the End of the World

In an early afternoon in May 2026, I landed in Ushuaia, Argentina. This southernmost city on planet earth is on the island of Tierra del Fuego. Stepping out of the wooden airport building, I was captured by the snow-covered mountains, clear sky and fresh air. The drive to the hotel felt like an adventure into a frontier town, where nature is in control. On the drive to the city, I imagined skiing on the surrounding slopes. 

The chalet style hotel building kept the dream going, till I looked out of the window of my room. The boats bobbing on the water then put sailing on my mind. 

The next morning, I walked to the pier to take a tour of the Beagle Channel on a catamaran. By then, the Penguins had migrated north, though the Sea-lions and the Cormorants were around. The brightly coloured wooden buildings filled city skyline quickly receding into the background. Suddenly, I spotted a water spout at a distance. The Captain accelerated to take a closer look. Lo and behold, a couple of whales swam ahead of us. The entire boat rushed to the deck, and the whale family raised their tails at us to wave goodbye. 

The next stop was the End of the World train. The rail tracks travers through an eerie landscape of tree stumps. Historically, prisoners took the train to go from their camp and cut wood for the growing Ushuaia city. Nowadays, wild horses roam where men once suffered. We walked to Lapataia Bay, where a sign besides a gravel road told us the Pan American Highway, covering a distance of 19,000 miles from Alaska, ended its journey there. 

While walking around the city high-street, I saw a faded picture of the indigenous people on a window. Being an Anthropologist, I could not leave without finding out more. The campfires lit by their ancestors had given the name “Land of fire” to the island I was visiting. In the room inside the picture on the window, I explained that I would like to meet someone from the indigenous community. A lady listening-in gave me a piece of paper, which the address of the office of relations for the indigenous communities. I found someone to translate Spanish, and got a contact number of a person from the native community. Back at home, I sent a WhatsApp message and eagerly waited. Then a generic reply came back, asking me to look-up their website for more information. Thank you. 

In this beautiful southernmost city, nature bred the indigenous communities and also caused settlers from elsewhere to erode their traditions, languages and way of life.