Drive to El Calafate

I was up several times during the night, so I was knackered when the alarm went off!  The cook group had prepared toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches for breakfast which went down well.  Unfortunately, there weren't enough to go round - either they didn't make enough, or people were greedy and took more than one each.  I think it was probably the latter!

We were on the road by 8am and retracing the route we came in on the other day.  The mountains around El Chalten were beautiful in the morning sunshine, but it soon clouded over and we were driving through miles of desolate scrubland.

At 9.45am, we stopped for a toilet and coffee stop at Hotel La Leona where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid holed up for several days in 1905 when they were on the run after robbing two banks in Rio Gallegos.

The hotel is in the famous Route 40 which we have been driving on and off throughout our time in Argentina.  It forms the spine of the country and is 5194 kilometres long.  It runs through 14 national parks, 26 natural reserves, 41 border crossings, 11 of the 24 Argentine provinces, 5 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 13 ski resorts, 18 rivers, and 236 bridges.  It connects more than 200 towns and cities.  It runs parallel to the Andes mountain range and is the longest road in Argentina, as well as being one of the longest in the world.Read more