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!