7th January 2004

We were starting to feel the pressure of time now, and although we would have liked to have spent more time in Ushuaia, walking in the nearby parks, we had to move on if we were going to reach Buenos Aires. We long ago accepted that we would not reach Rio and probably wouldn't have time to travel up to Iguazu Falls, thanks to the 3 week late arrival of the Weasel in Ecuador at the beginning of the trip. The perfect excuse for another trip? We were keen to come back and see more of South America - Venezuela and Brazil in particular.

Leaving Ushuaia reasonably early ( after a service for the landy), we headed off to Cerro Sombrero. We now had a well planned out schedule, which we felt we needed in order to reach Buenos Aires in time to ship the Weasel home - and get back to work on time for the beginning of February.

Just before we left, we caught up with some other overlanders we had met at the campsite. They were keen to see our vehicle. Parked up next to theirs the weasel looked tiny! But they were travelling for a lot longer than we were and the vehile was their home.

It was a long day's drive for Ed, re-crossing the border into Chile at San Sebastian, and then returning to the same hotel of a few nights ago. We checked in and after a quick shower, walked into town for some food. We hadn't had a good look at the town the last time we were here. It is a strange place, with lots of pastel-coloured houses, a church slap bang in the middle of a roundabout and no obvious bars or restaurants. Ed spotted a landy which seemed to be well kitted out for an expedition, with a pop up roof. It's always interesting to see how others have prepped their vehicles and we had a good old look.

After walking around for a bit we found the cinema the lady at the hotel mentioned, and the building opposite which was supposedly the social club where we would be able to get something to eat. Inside there were quite a few tables already laid out and these soon filled up with the locals. We were given a small table and offered fish or chicken, with salad, chips or potatoes. The food was really good and cheap - which was fortunate as we had hardly any Chilean Pesos left!

Then it was back to the hotel for a good night's sleep before another long drive the next day back into Argentina. This would be our last border crossing in the Weasel.