Unexpected encounters at the end of the world

When studying in St Andrews in Scotland I remember hearing a, probably apocryphal, story regarding Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland whom the town is named after. When the Saint died his remains were entrusted to a Greek monk who was to take his remains to “the ends of the earth” in order to keep them safe. After a long journey that place turned out to be what is now the coastal town of St Andrews. On a cold winter day St Andrews may indeed seem like the end of the world, but in reality it is, of course, far from it - or even the end of Scotland...

In February 2024 I made the trip from Buenos Aires to the small city of Ushuaia, a town with a similar nickname of ‘the end of the world’. Located at the southernmost tip of Argentina it is far easier to justify this epithet; geographically it is officially the southernmost city in the world and indeed, as such, it is often used as a taking-off point for people travelling to Antarctica.

The city itself is as picturesque as one would probably imagine. Hugging the coastline, on one side the chilly waters of the Beagle Channel passing by, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. By land the city is surrounded by rocky mountains, forever towering over the local population.

But beyond its breathtaking scenery, Ushuaia is a place of adventure and exploration. From hiking in the rugged wilderness of the Tierra del Fuego National Park to cruising through the icy waters of the Beagle Channel in search of penguins and seals. Further, it serves as the jumping-off point to go beyond the end of the world and into the other-worldly Antarctica, meaning their town receives plenty of tourists year round.

I have written elsewhere about the wonders of the travelling community; how one can make quick friends with someone in a hostel and then bump into them again weeks later in another hostel and another country. Generally, however, such things happen with travellers using popular and well-known backpacker routes where most people have somewhat similar itineraries. When travelling directly from my base in Buenos Aires to what is in reality a sparsely populated city quite literally located at - and called - ‘the end of the world,’ I plainly did not anticipate seeing anyone I knew - or even had a connection to. Clearly, from the fact I am writing this, that is exactly what happened.

Having spent a few days exploring already, by both land and water, I found myself one morning in a small mini-bus for what would be a short journey into the nearby mountains. There I would make the short trek to Laguna Esmeralda - a lake famous, one might guess from the name, for the beautiful, emerald colours of its water. Beyond helping a few tourists communicate with the Spanish speaking driver, the journey passed by with headphones in and my expectations were of another day of solo exploration. Instead, it would very much epitomise the concept of serendipity of life on the road.

We disembarked the bus and the small group quickly dispersed. I stayed back to organise my bag whilst also hoping to let the crowd gain enough of a lead so not to have to share the path with too many others. One other passenger was still near the drop-off point too, a young guy with a large, bushy beard I could only dream of growing. We quickly struck up a conversation and began the trek together.

Having gone through the classic introductory questions every traveller knows by heart - name, country, travel route (in this case Fabian, German, a dream trip through Patagonia) - we almost immediately realised we had a rather close friend in common.

To me Phoebe is a close friend who I have known for years and worked with at multiple summer camps and even lived at her house for a couple of weeks one summer. To Fabian she was a backpacker he met in a hostel in the Balkans the previous year and subsequently shared a week road-tripping and exploring together.

Having mentioned that I had once visited his hometown of Dresden after working in a summer camp in Poland, he told me he knew someone who had done something very similar. At this point, thinking it would be interesting if he knew someone who had also worked for Angloville, I questioned further. Did this person happen to have large, red hair? Once confirmed, it really couldn’t have been anyone else and yet it was such a mind-blowing coincidence it was hard to believe.

Just imagine, an English man and a German man meet in the mountains in a place literally known as ‘the end of the world’ only to discover they are connected by a person they both consider a good friend.

Even from its extreme edges, it really is a small world.

Posted: 05/05/2024

Written by: Tom Taylor (@tomtayloor)