Sunrise came early on the last day in Ushuaia as we got up at 6.00am to start the LOOOOOONNNNGGGGGG journey up to Buenos Aires!!! Only 3079km to do over 6 days but the good thing was that most people had decided to take the plane up to get extra time in BA but since we were getting off there we had plenty of time so we took the much cheaper truck option!! So there was plenty of seats to spread out across on the truck with only 7 of us :o)There wasn’t much planned for this leg of the journey as the aim was just to get up to Buenos Aires as quickly as possible but we managed to stop at a few interesting spots along the way including the border control on the first day going back into Chile where we nearly got fined $250 for having some eggs, garlic, a mouldy melon and some cheese sandwiches from the Dutch girls (typical!!).
We took the ferry across the Magellan Straits and saw some Commerson Dolphins…tried to get a picture but they were way to quick!! Further up we stopped along the coast on a beach which had tons of Sea-Lions on it fighting for women, food and space in the sun (the life of a male no matter what the species). We bush camped in a trucker park - Dan I don’t know how you did it for all those years - gross!! Another few hundred kilometres (its all a bit of a blare!!) we saw a huge version of something that we have seen lots of on the roads in Argentina and finally found out what they were. Along the many roads that we have travelled we have seen lots of little road side shrines with flowers, notes and red tape or flags. They look like the ones at home and so we assumed they were for people who had died in accidents along the road but no. Apparently they mark places were local people show their appreciation and devote prayers to an Argentinean legend. He was called Gauchito Gil and he is a Robin Hood character who stole food from the rich farm owners and gave it to the local poor village people. When the authorities finally
caught up with him he was sentenced to be hung and when the day came his hangman was about to drop the box when Gauchito asked him about his son. He told him that his son was seriously ill (which the hangman did not know about) and that if, instead of disposing of his body in a ditch which was tradition for a criminal, he would bury Gauchito Gil’s body in a grave, he would save his sons life. The hangman proceeded with the hanging and then went home to find that his son was indeed very ill and so he went to the local Sheriff to ask him if he could bury Gil’s body. He did and his son made a full recovery. Every January there is a day of celebration for this famous legend and there is a church in his local area which people come to make offerings at…its apparently full of wedding dresses, bikes, money, toys and candles. 
We also stopped at a small town called Gaiman, a Welsh colony developed in 1865 when a few Welsh settlers came over looking for freedom to practise their language, faith and work - it was all getting a bit Anglophied in Wales so why not pop over to Argentina I mean its not far!! We popped into a small Welsh Tea House for some Afternoon tea. It was run by a lovely Welsh descendent who clearly loved all things Welsh!! We had tea, cakes and sandwiches on proper china ware (Tom felt right at home!!), there was tea cossies, pictures of Princess Diana, Welsh background music and Daffodils galore!! All in all a splendid afternoon!! 
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