As we cycled further north in Tierra del Fuego, we were enveloped by the treeless expanse of the pampas. Fields of grass that stretched to the horizon fed herds of sheep and smaller bands of guanacos. But the serenity of the vistas stood in sharp contrast to the weather, which buffeted us with strong winds that made bike handling a challenge and slowed our progress to a crawl. After a couple of tough days, we made it to the border and crossed into Chile. There, our hopes for a rest day were dashed by a terrible weather forecast - forcing an overnight cycling marathon to outrun the storm. Our reward, at the end, was a rendezvous with royalty at the King Penguin Nature Reserve.

The Pan-American Highway ends in the south where it reaches the ocean in the city of Ushuaia. But even though Ushuaia is known as The End of the World, it served as a beginning for us. From there, we resumed our Alaska-to-Patagonia bicycle journey, heading back north towards Colombia. After a visit with some penguins, we were back on our bicycles, cycling over the snowy, southern Andes and across the Patagonian steppe. Blown by the wind and drenched by rain, we found shelter where we could - among stunted, gnarly trees and even in the basement of a bakery - eventually arriving in the industrial center of Tierra del Fuego.