that would be the town of El Chalten (the indian name for Fitzroy, the mountain in the picture, which means smoking mountain [thanks Martin, smiking means something else entirely... I think]). El chalten exists for two reasons, one, it´s the base for trekking in the local hills, which are fantastic, and two, Chile said a while back that no one lived there and they´d like to own it... there was a bit of a dispute and now busloads of patriotic argentines take the bus up the valley to the Lago del Desertico which is where they feel they won one over their neighbour.

The bus on the Ruta 40 was interesting. The road is unmade for much of the 1200km and it had rained the day we went, meaning that every now and again the bus would slew alarmingly and the windows were quickly covered in mud.

We had a morning walk up to the mirador (viewing area) to see Fitzroy and it was bloomin´ impressive, 3500m and as you can see... steep. It´s busy here though, all the hostels are full so we´re sleeping in a rented tent out the back. Liz slept in all her clothes last night, but claimed toasty warmedness when asked...

Tomorrow it´s off to El Calafate and a trip to see a 4km wide glacier in a lake....  ¶ 5:54 PM