Tonight finds us in Cerro Sombrero. it's the middle of nowhere, but there is a whole lot of nowhere here in both Argentina and Chile. The countryside is vast, empty, and pretty monotonous. we rode a little more than 580 km today, about 200 of that on dirt roads. it's been a very long day.
after touring Torres del pain park, we headed south on the highways, which are basically two lane roads of concrete and fairly decent condition. it was long hours through empty country with strong blowing winds and little else. occasionally we would see sheep, and sometimes the wild llamas which are actually known as guanacos. they are kind of like deer in the US, they hang out along the highways though. though I haven't seen many run over so they are probably smarter. we also saw a lot of the ostrich looking birds along the road which are surprisingly well camouflaged until you're right on top of them.
The highlights this afternoon were reaching the straits of Magellan and the shoreline were repaused for a brief stop at an old sheep processing area. we proceeded further south and boarded a ferry in porta natales. it was a 20 minute ride across. then we headed south as darkness fell arriving at our hotel with with the lights on. we quickly checked in then ran to the restaurant for dinner before it closed. it is the kind of place where there is no menu. what they have is what you eat and tonight it was pretty good steaks and other side dishes. it's late and tomorrow we head out around 8:30 to continue south to oushwaya back in Argentina. I hope the border crossing goes well.