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It finally happened.

In October last year, I traveled alone to Ushuaia. I had been drawn there by the legendary title “End of the World.” Influenced by Wong Kar-wai’s Happy Together, I dreamed of the southern hemisphere and Antarctica, and Ushuaia was at the top of my bucket list.

But the moment I arrived, I felt something was off. “Is this really the end of the world?”

Ushuaia became world-famous thanks to Happy Together. The film starring Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung, and Chang Chen was shot mostly in Buenos Aires, but the final destination the characters longed to reach was Ushuaia — the end of the world. Back then, the movie wasn’t immediately released in Korea due to its LGBTQ+ themes, and some scenes were cut, but the mysterious allure of this unknown land remained strong.

Wong Kar-wai originally planned a heterosexual love story, but at some point the female lead disappeared and three men took center stage. The director’s improvisation, Christopher Doyle’s unique color palette, and Leslie Cheung’s dance moves made the film unforgettable.

Yet the real Ushuaia felt nothing like the myth. Geographically, it was too far north to truly be the southernmost city. The famous title was largely Argentina’s clever promotional strategy. In 2019, Argentina was already suffering from severe economic turmoil under President Macri — skyrocketing inflation, recession, and a foreign-exchange crisis. Tourism was one of the few bright spots keeping the economy afloat, and Ushuaia’s “End of the World” branding was crucial for attracting visitors.

Visiting the Maritime Museum, I finally understood how the city earned the title. It was the southernmost port when Western powers arrived in South America, used first for transporting prisoners and later as a base for Antarctic explorers like Amundsen. But the true southernmost city was actually Chile’s Puerto Williams.

In 2019, Chile announced plans to transform Puerto Williams from a military base into a proper town and relocate residents there. Argentine newspaper La Nación called it “title theft.” It felt like another chapter in the ongoing southern pride battle — similar to the Falklands conflict, but this time over the title of “End of the World.”

In my diary from that trip, I had already written: “Ushuaia is not really the end of the world. It became famous thanks to Argentinians’ brilliant marketing and promotional skills. The real southernmost city is Puerto Williams in Chile, but it has few residents and poor accessibility, so Ushuaia took the title.”

Looking back, I had already sensed the beginning of the end of that legendary title.

Have you ever visited a place marketed as “the end of the world”? Did it live up to the hype, or did reality feel completely different? Share your story about Ushuaia, Puerto Williams, or any other “end” of the world destination in the comments. I read every single one.