We traveled 300 miles today over 200 of which was gravel and the whole day was through dusty, dry grass lands with little habitation. There were only two places we passed today where we could buy fuel and at one of those the owners for some reason just left the customers waiting without service - we gave up after waiting 30 minutes. Incidentally that was the town of Bajo Caracoles which I commented on in yesterdays camping section.

We saw many Guanacos and Nandus today and treat of treats we saw and got some good photos of Armadillos.

Late in the day, with the fuel level close to empty, we came to the town of Tres Lagos and after a fruitless search of this dusty little hamlet we found a lonely gas station just south of the town at the start of the pavement that would take us to the El Chalten turn off and into El Chalten. It was intriguing to us that the pavement stopped (or commenced depending on your point of view) 500 yards before the turn off to this town.

The drive from Ruta 40 into El Chalten gave slightly shrouded views of the mountains to the west and we got some fleeting glimpses of Fitzroy through the clouds.

El Chalten is a strange mix of up market hotels, restaurants, and outdoor equipment shops, together with some very down market homes, campgrounds and half finished roads. The town was founded in the 1980's to strengthen Argentinas claim to the land that contains Mount Fitzroy.