The Pan-American Highway is one of the legendary overland routes, right up there with Route 66, Cairo to Capetown and the Silk Road.

This particular one linkes North, Central and Southamerica, the entire road system of nearly 30,600 km, extends from Alaska and Canada to Chile, Brazil, and the southern tip of Argentina.

With the major exception of the Darién Gap, the Pan-American Highway is nearly continuous.
The Gap stretches about 100 km between Panama and Colombia, and has to be bypassed by either boat or plane.

The route holds a fascination of its own. Linking 14 countries, it traverses diverse terrain, from rugged mountains to dense rainforests, and bustling cities to remote villages.

In 2010 we embarked on our own Panamerican adventure for the first time. In June 2010 we reached Prudhoe Bay, the northernmost land point of the route, in Alaska and two years later, we
found ourselves in Ushuaia, the southernmost point.

This time we taking a slower approach and after spending over a year in South America, we have visited Ushuaia in March 2023 once again, plus another tip of the route. Quellón one of the four
tips of the international road.

We actually didn’t know this until we started looking up highlights of the mystical island of Chiloé, Chile. A rather simple monument marks this iconic spot, but if you spend a bit of time there, you
will see other travelers pulling up to take their photo.

It’s a funny thing with these iconic places. You spend a lot of time, thought and money to reach them, and in the end the place itself becomes a simple photo point.
Of course having these „trophy shots“, to prove that you have driven from one place to the other, are essential.

But some of these places are overrun with tourists that come here on an airplane, so when you arrive after months or years of driving, you become one of many that want to take a photo. But secretly, between the two of you, you realize the effort and adventures that have taken you there, so you beam your best smile at the camera.

As we turned our truck around after reaching the monument in Quellón, we found out that there is yet another tip of the Pan-American Highway in South America; located in Rio de Janeiro.

We haven’t found out if there is a special monument or sign there to commemorate it, so please drop us a message if know if you where it is, as we will now be heading that way… obviously not on a direct course. 😀

Andrea & Mike
www.4-xtremes.ch

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