After a busy rest day in C. we woke to a calm and blue dome day. Our departure from town was slowed by waiting for the empanada shop to open but being told the empanadas not ready till 10am. They are good but not worth waiting 2 hours for! Consoled ourselves with a cafe stop and then we found a panaderia that did have fresh empanada. So all good again.

The road climbed slowly and then with more vigour up to 1100m. We camped beside small lake with many mosca. Alan is getting to see jo going a little loco (crazy), not handling the flies very well!

Before dinner we climbed to viewpoint and enjoyed the peck peck peck of the woodpeckers above us.

We woke the next morning to a strong headwind which dramatically slowed our descent and gradual climb to the real pass. Big downhill to Villa Cerro Castilla where we arrived early and stayed put. Luckily as the winds became as strong as we had seen them (to date). Overnight the wind direction changed and our original plan to go walking changed as the chance of an easterly to push us on our leg west was too good to ignore.