RUTA 40
few chicks following her around!! We stopped for lunch in the last civilisation for three hundred kilometres and then set off on the last leg. Just after we’d left the driver suddenly screeched to a halt and said something in Spanish which we didn’t understand but it resulted in everyone jumping off the bus excitedly!! It turned out that he had spotted an armadillo crossing the road and this South American woman proceeded to chase the poor little thing through the scrub and finally catch it. Everyone got a photo and then it was released to carry on with it’s scuttling around!! A couple of hours later we stopped at a viewpoint over a gorgeous lake and were relived to find that we only had another couple of hours to go!! All this time on a bus on a bumpy gravel road was really starting to take its toll on both of us!! The absolute highlight of the tour was saved for last though - we arrived on the shores of Lago Viedma just as the sun was setting, and this truly was a breathtaking sight. The sunset
reflected perfectly on the lake, and the views in the distance of the jagged Andean peaks above El Chalten were just awesome!! Across the lake there was also a view of the enormous Viedma glacier - again a magnificent sight!! After a ten minute stop in which we fired off the equivalent of a few rolls of film we finally trundled into El Chalten with very sore backsides but very happy hearts!!! It hadn’t been the best journey in terms of the level of comfort that we’d become accustomed to in Argentina, but it was certainly a journey to remember and the scenery of the second day had more than made up for the monotony of the first!! We checked into our hostel and very much looked forward to exploring the incredible mountain scenery around us in the coming days!!