Post Office at the End of the World

Standing proud at the base of Tierra del Fuego National Park, at the southernmost tip of Argentina, is the Post Office at the End of the World. A vision of corrugated metal and wooden piles, this shanty ships postcards and parcels from the last stop in the Americas before plunging toward Antarctica.

At your service is Carlos de Lorenzo, a septuagenarian, mustachioed postal officer who found his way to Ushuaia after a career as a teacher in Buenos Aires. Carlos settled on the tiny island of Redonda— about 2 kilometers from shore—and took up a job at their post office, which was stationed there until 1997.

Today, Carlos works at this post office back on the Argentinian mainland but still lives on his isle ten minutes off the bay. He is also the self proclaimed prime minister of the “Independent Republic of Redonda.” He and his two sons are the only residents of the fifty-hectare micronation he founded and calls home. This anarchist state is bound by one rule:

“Do what you want, as long as you respect others.”

Indeed, do what you want when you visit here. But consider sending a postcard with a coveted seal from one of the most remote places on the planet, using a stamp commemorating Prime Minister Carlos’s 1948 birth. If you’re feeling especially worldly, pursue a passport stamp from Redonda.

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