Today we begin our long drive north - and we have a lot of territory to cover to get to Rio in time for Carnival. We have breakfast at 7 AM and are ready to leave shortly after 8 AM. We travel in reverse back up the way we came and we need to cross through Chile to get back to mainland Argentina. The border crossing at San Sebastian is not too difficult. They seem to be used to these transits.
As we drive along the flat land that is used to raise sheep, we notice the strange cloud formations. They are like a massive fleet of spaceships and battle cruisers. The sky is filled with them. The high winds are blowing the clouds into these streamlined shapes. The highlight of the drive (at least for Lars) is taking the ferry back across the Magellan Straits.
Once on the ferry, Lars gets out and goes up to see if he can spot any dolphins. Due to the high winds and occasional spray, all the others stay in the safety of the truck. But Lars is rewarded - the dolphins show up in force and he gets to watch the for almost they whole crossing. At times there would be up to 8 dolphins racing together, jumping and leaping out of the water. They would pass under the bow of the boat, providing a great view of the heads and blowholes as they passed under us.
One across the straits, we carry on to the border, once again crossing into Argentina. We drive and drive (we want to cover as much ground as possible). We stop in Rio Gallegos for a quick dinner. We notice in the Lonely Planet that there is a good ice cream shop in town. While the food is being prepared, Paolo and Lars race out to find the shop - and they are rewarded. We sample a few flavors and in the end we get half a kilo each. It is good!
We drive on for another hour and find a nice little camp site for the night. It is quite full so they offer us a space on the river for half price. What a deal - it is better than the campsite itself. Right after dinner we go to bed.