Peninsula Valdes

Quick update because we finally found a WiFi signal in eastern Patagonia (in the Puerto Madryn bus terminal). Since Sunday night we have been camping on Peninsula Valdes, which is world famous for its wildlife, especially the 9 orcas that almost beach themselves to feed on sea lions and southern elephant seals every March and April. On two different days we were able to see orcas (saw 7 just this morning), but they decided not to come in to the beach to feed even though they were just a hundred yards or so away. Anyway, we have pictures of penguins, seals, etc., but the signal is too slow to get photos uploaded right now. We are headed to Mendoza tonight, so hopefully we will have a faster connection there and can get some pictures posted. Hope everyone is doing well!

trout heaven

This is Ian guest blogging on behalf of Clay and Esma, who graciously allowed me to visit them in Argentina. The trip to Patagonia was amazing - we did lots and lots of fishing, stopping only sometimes to eat and only at dark to sleep. Since the Holley camera got drowned (but later resurrected!), here are some of my photos from the trip.

This is one of my favorite photos of Clay's many, many catches. Don't let the fish's size deceive you--it had the heart of a champion but took on a bit more than it could swallow.


Clay often offered me the most ideal-looking fishing holes, and I would accept, only to see Clay downstream catching more (and bigger) trout. After a while I started thinking, 'something fishy's going on', so at this particular prime hole, I turned down his offer...only to see Clay pull out this 20" monster rainbow (and about 10 other trout)! You are quite the fisherman, Clay!


Chilly mornings in Patagonia often turned into hot afternoons, and dressing in layers was key. Here's the highly-fashionable Esma dressing for the day's weather (and looking an awful lot like a rodeo clown...or Pippi Longstocking). Esma was gracious enough to let me post this semi-embarrassing photo of her but wanted me to point out that she was still color-coordinated!


The water in Patagonia was the purest I've ever seen. We were often tempted to drink straight from the rivers! Here's Clay casting into a crystal clear fishing hole.


Although we spent a bulk of our time camping and fishing, we did take some time to check out the nearby towns. Here we are outside of Junin.


Our last day of fishing was the best, with well over 200 fish combined between us, including this nice brown trout. We caught so many fiesty fish that our forearms were sore from all the fights!


And what's a great trip without some delicious local eats? My last day in Argentina was spent exploring Clay and Esma's adopted home of Bariloche. Here we are in downtown enjoying some choripan (Argentinian sausage dogs, aka "heart-attack in a bun"), made by the local choripan master himself!


Thanks for letting me visit, Clay and Esma! I had a great time in trout heaven. Hope to go back sometime!

Ian visits Patagonia

Sorry for the lapse in communication. We have been out in the middle of nowhere camping and fishing for the last week and obviously didn't have internet connection. We also don't have a lot of pictures to show because we had a camera accident involving water during the trip, which thankfully did not result in the death of our camera but did require a couple of days of drying time before the camera functioned properly again. Ian had a camera with him, so we'll try to get him to guest blog in the next few days about our experience over the last week.

Our good friend and fishing buddy Ian came down for a visit to see and fly fish Patagonia. He arrived in Bariloche on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 21, after a LONG trip: he sat on the tarmac for 3 hours at RDU airport Wed. night, Feb. 18, because of a weather delay at JFK and ended up not getting to leave Durham until Thursday; connected through Dallas on Thursday; then on to Buenos Aires; then a 20+ hour bus ride across the Pampas of Argentina to Bariloche.

After that, we proceeded to drag him around northern Patagonia staying in a tent each night with no access to showers, electricity, etc., for a round trip of 1000 km and 4 different campsites in 5 nights. At least we did take him to a good Argentine parrilla (steakhouse) before we left for our camping/fishing adventure. Here is Ian with his Sirloin steak cooked to perfection. The steak was too big to include his salad and glass of wine in the picture. :-) Oh, and did he ever catch the fish. Let's just say that on his last full day in Patagonia (Thursday, Feb. 26), he caught 100 trout in ONE DAY, and one of them was a 21 inch brown trout (photo to come later if we can get Ian to guest blog). Thanks for coming to visit, Ian! We had a blast!

We camped and fished by this volcano (Volcán Lanín, which thankfully, unlike others in this part of the world, is currently inactive) on the Río Malleo on Ian's first night and full day in Patagonia. He caught his first Patagonian trout on Sunday morning (Feb. 22) after only about 5 minutes on the water.

More to come in the next few days...

Rio Meliquina & Esma's first (9) fly-caught trout

We took a weekend trip north of Bariloche to a small river called Rio Meliquina, which is in a beautiful valley just a few kilometers southeast of the town of San Martin de Los Andes. We had the river and small campground to ourselves the entire weekend, and this (below) was the view that greeted us when we arrived late Friday evening.

The fishing was excellent in terms of quantity of fish. Most of the fish in Rio Meliquina this time of year are not big by Patagonian standards, although we did come across a few large fish. But what this river lacks in big fish, it more than makes up for in quantity, and unlike in many Patagonia rivers, the fish respond very well to dry flies.

Esma practiced her fly cast and fished some yesterday but didn't catch anything. This morning, however, she caught her first fly-caught trout, and then proceeded to catch 8 more in the same spot! We were both very excited. We combined to catch 62 trout (35 rainbow and 27 brown) between 7am yesterday and 10:30 am today.

A stone fly molt. The insect hatches on this river are incredible. Yesterday just before sunset, the sky was full of mayflies, and we caught plenty of trout using mayfly imitations.

A Rio Meliquina rainbow.

A beautiful Rio Meliquina brown.

Reason #234 why we enjoy fly fishing. Fish, and especially trout, usually don't live in ugly places.

Esma with her 2nd fly-caught trout (better shot of the fish below). Her first one slipped out of the net before we could get a photo.

Esma's 2nd fly-caught trout.

Another rainbow in the net for Esma. This fish was very pretty.

Esma's 9th fish while standing in the same place - a fat rainbow that gave her a nice battle.

Esma with another trout on the line - another feisty rainbow that gave her a good fight.

Esma standing in her fishing hole, where she caught 8 rainbow and 1 brown trout in 30 minutes. Notice that our tent is in the background. We had not fished this hole until just before we broke camp. We assumed it had received some fishing pressure (and thus held fewer fish) because it's directly adjacent to a dirt road and small campground. Good thing Esma tried!

The promises of God

Tuesday (10th) was Clay's birthday, and we woke up that morning to a rainbow right outside our window. Neither of us had seen a rainbow appear so close. It was a cool birthday gift, and not being one to believe in chance, luck, coincidence, and the like, I thanked God for providing it. Rainbows remind us of the promises of God. In Genesis 9:13, God says, "I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth." It's easy to sometimes forget about God in our busy lives, but He is faithful to us today just like He was to Noah in the day of the first rainbow and just like He will be tomorrow. Thanks, God, for the reminder.

Fly fishing on Rio Pichi Leufu (¨Little River¨)

We spent Sunday afternoon through Monday morning (Clay has afternoon Spanish classes this week) on the Rio Pichi Leufu, which is about 1-1.5 hours outside of Bariloche in the Patagonian steppe (aka desert). It is a small, freestone river with many trout, although most of them are small by Patagonian standards. We rented a car for the first time since being in South America, and Clay got to experience driving in Argentina, i.e., road signs - including stop signs, traffic lights, and speed limit signs, if present - are mere suggestions. It was fun!

Setting up camp on Rio Pichi Leufu. This was a beautiful place to camp next to a deep, clear hole of water (with many trout of various sizes swimming around).

Esma tried out fly fishing for the first time. She´s a natural! Her cast is already prettier than Clay´s, and he´s been practicing for almost a year. She had trout on the line two times but failed to get them all the way in to the net both times. We´re hoping that next time she gets one all the way in so that we can take a picture of her first fly-caught fish.

First cast in Patagonian waters. There was a HUGE trout in this hole, but we couldn´t get him to bite.

Netting our first Patagonian trout.

Clay´s first Patagonian fish - a 10 inch brown trout.

A beatiful rainbow that wasn´t the biggest fish of the day but definitely the hardest fighting!

The biggest fish of the day - an 18 inch brown trout. He wasn´t too happy about me catching him. He kept biting the net, but finally let go long enough for us to let him go!

A final rainbow before sunset.

¡Bienvenidos a Argentina!

On Saturday night and Sunday, we made the 18 hour trip from Santiago across the Andes to Bariloche, Argentina. It was a beautiful trip and could be much shorter without bus stops and 2 stops at the border (once before leaving Chile and once after entering Argentina - it took us 2-3 hours to go 30 km or so at the border, but at least the mountain views were gorgeous while we waited).

The wind in Patagonia can be something fierce. This is the best shot we could get of the Argentine flag when we crossed the border.

The view out of our front window on our first morning in Patagonia (yesterday, Feb. 2).

Just up the road a couple of kilometers from where we are living. A couple of hiking trails start here, and we are anxious to try them out.

Catching up - our weekend (Jan. 24-25) on the Pacific

Sorry for our lapse in communication. We had a very busy final week in Santiago plus we both came down with a bad cold and took 3-4 days to recover. Here are some pics from our final weekend in Chile.

Valparaiso is a very colorful place. It was a lot of fun to explore this port town and Vina del Mar, a neighboring town. We spent our last weekend in Chile on the Pacific coast and got plenty of sun.

One of the Valparaiso locals suggested we try out this restaurant and even suggested what to order - ceviche. It was delicious. You knew we had to throw in a food picture on this post. And yes, that is a sweet potato with the ceviche.

The power of the Pacific. We wanted to touch the water of the Pacific for the first time in either of our lives, but while walking down the sidewalk next to these rocks, it touched us first. The coast wasn´t all rocks; there is a very pretty sandy beach just a mile or so up the coast from here (see below pic).

Clay´s sand sculpting skills have improved drastically since his early days in the sand box (sorry, no photo available for comparison). Just for the record, he no longer sculpts sand in his underwear; he gave that up around age 10, thankfully.

Of all the crashing waves photos we took, we couldn´t manage to get crashing waves in the only photo we have with both of us in it (jagged rock isn´t the greatest surface to place a camera for a timed photo).

Random thoughts from Santiago

-Esma found 3000 Chilean pesos (~$5 US) on the sidewalk Tuesday evening - ice cream shop here we come! Or possibly another bottle of wine :-)

-We have been frequenting a gelateria (the ice cream shop) in the last week or so. Although not technically ice cream, we would rank their frozen deliciousness up there with Maple View Creamery (those of you in NC will know what we are talking about). They have unusual flavors like lucuma (a fruit native to Chile & Peru); grapefruit with Sauvignon Blanc; raisins with red wine. The other good thing about this shop is that we have to walk 25 minutes (one way) to get there, so we get our exercise in on the way to get dessert and on the way back home.

-Chileans, at least those in Santiago, have the eating habits of Hobbits. They have breakfast, mid-morning snack (elevenses), lunch, mid-afternoon "helado", and dinner.

-Yesterday we found a fly fishing shop that is better stocked (full line of Simms, Sage, etc.) than probably 90% of the fly shops in the U.S. and, surprisingly, prices are comparable (although, sadly, Clay couldn't talk Esma into buying a new fly rod).

-Chileans, like many Americans, are very excited about the 44th President of the United States of America. We couldn't find any other news on TV Tuesday or Wednesday.

-Clay takes a Spanish test today to pass to the next level.

-We are heading to the beach tomorrow (Valparaiso and Vina del Mar) and Sunday. Hopefully we'll have some good pictures to post when we get back.

-Our love to you all!

Weekend culinary extravaganza

Our weekend trip turned out even better than we could have anticipated. The "gastronomic hostal", called Mapuyampay, we visited is beautiful with a great view of the Andes mountains and plenty of room to roam. They grow their own fruits and vegetables on site, and the above picture is from their cherry orchard just outside their front door.

This was our part of our "room", which turned out to be more of a wing of the house (it was about twice as big as our condo in NC) and had great views in all directions.

We took a bike ride with Vicente, the owner and husband of the chef, yesterday afternoon after our cooking class.

The first course we prepared in the cooking class: two types of ceviche (scallops; shrimp and fish).

Second course: quinoa risotto made with Chilean Carmenere wine and local varieties of mushrooms.

Third course: marinated lamb, peach, bay leaf grilled skewers. The lamb was marinated in special spices of the Mapuche Indians of southern Chile.

Desert: poached pears in a sabayon sauce made with late harvest Sauvignon Blanc.

Here we are cooking with a world-class chef. Ruth is executive chef and culinary adviser for Concha y Toro winery and a former Peter Kump's New York Cooking School instructor. She's a wonderful teacher! She cooked for us every meal for the last 2+ days, and it was like eating in heaven every time! Seriously, some of the very best food we've ever tasted, and it's in the middle of nowhere in central Chile!

Spanish classes

Nothing much going on since the weekend. Clay passed his first step of Spanish classes, so he is in a different level now. He is still learning a lot and slowly speaking more and more (and better) Spanish. We're heading about 160 km south of Santiago for the weekend to take cooking classes (traditional Chilean and also other foods). We love you all and hope everyone is doing well. We'll try to update with some pictures after our culinary expedition. Ciao!!!

Drinking wine at 10am

Yesterday we went on our first wine tour. We visited the two oldest vineyards in Chile: Undurraga (est. 1885) and Concha y Toro (est. 1883). They were very different but both very interesting. Because Undurraga is the less "touristy" one, they allowed us to roam free, and we enjoyed that one more (we visited in the morning, and that's why we were drinking wine at 10am). Concha y Toro is more well-known, so there was a lot of security, and we were limited in where we could go. We did, however, get to go down into "El Casillero del Diablo". Overall, we liked the wine at Concha y Toro better, but the whole tour was great.

Pinot Noir grapes ripening on the vine at Undurraga.

Esma next to some of Undurraga's barrels in one of their bodegas.

Here we are at the "Casillero del Diablo", which got its name long ago. Don Melchor, the founder of this winery, kept his best wine in this underground cellar. One day he noticed that some of his best bottles were missing, so he spread a story that the devil lived in the cellar to try to keep out the locals. His ploy worked, and he never had bottles stolen again. Today, Concha y Toro's finest barrels of wine (Don Melchor) are still kept in this underground cellar.

Food, flowers, Frida, & fotos

This morning before Clay's Spanish classes we went to El Museo La Moneda ("The Coin" Museum) in downtown Santiago to see a visiting exhibit of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo's art. These two were Mexico's greatest artists of the 20th century and also husband and wife until her death in 1954. Some of you probably recognize Diego Rivera's name because he is Mexico's most famous muralist. He also painted a few murals in the U.S. (NYC, San Fran., Detroit). Of course, we couldn't take pictures of the paintings, drawings, etc., but we did get a photo of us outside the museum.

Clay surprised Esma with flowers after Spanish class today. The street vendor happened to have the same colored rose that we used in our wedding (light yellow/off white with peach trim).

This is the view off our balcony in the evenings. This photo was taken yesterday just before sunset (which is very late here; it doesn't get dark until almost 10pm). The peak on the far right is ~20,000 feet above sea level. Not far from this peak is one called Aconcagua that is the highest peak outside of Asia at 22,841 feet.

Some mornings Esma goes to a little neighborhood cafe that she has fallen in love with. They serve pastries and drinks, and the drinks are made with local fresh fruits. The lemonade pictured above was the best she has ever had.

Speaking of fresh fruits, Esma bought Black Mission figs from a street vendor a couple of days ago and fixed one mean late afternoon meal (more on Chilean meals in a coming post). The meal included: 2006 Portal De Alto Grand Reserve Cabernet Savignon; fresh Chilean red grapes; Chilean pepper cheese; and toasted bread topped with jamon serrano (a Spanish ham), mint, figs, olive oil (also from Chile and the 2nd best olive oil we've ever tasted).