South America, Jan 12 2023

Fly fishing and golf share some common attributes.  Both coax you into the great outdoors, both require time and money, and both can be frustrating as hell.  I gave up the latter some years ago.  I found the only thing I really liked about golf was walking the fairway and having a beer with my friends afterwards.  The golfing part, well it just wasn’t fun for me.  I quite honestly would rather be chopping wood in my backyard, in the cold rain, with a dull ax, naked, it goes on.

Fly fishing on the other hand I somehow enjoy.  I’m no better at casting than swinging a club, but it just doesn’t seem to matter.  With this sport you find yourself not just outdoors, but immersed in nature.  You can be standing in a stream without any sign of humans and feel part of what’s going on.  Fish trying to feed and avoid danger, birds strafing about from hawks to heron, and insects following their life cycle that begins and ends in the waters of the stream.  Unlike a golf course, man made and static, the stream transforms and fights back.  Fish evade, waters pull at your legs and the insects can rudely harass you.  There’s a game to play.  What type of fly will work today?  How do I get it to behave like a real one?  Where are the fish hiding in the heat, and how do I use the wind?

Catching fish is nice, but it’s a small part of the experience, at least for me.  I think of fly fishing as more of a great way to spend time with your friends.  You compete against the environment and not each other.  As you travel from spot to spot you talk about all matter of subjects, laugh at yourselves and make an earnest effort to make each others experience enjoyable.

My first fish of the trip, many more to go

Now if you’re lucky enough to have friends that are well into this sport and willing to entice you along to more exotic destinations, then all the better.

Patagonia is one of the more remote and beautiful spots on the globe.  It’s name given by Magellan’s entourage who described the natives, the Patagón, as giants.  Most of the expanse of Patagonia lies further south than either Australia or South Africa, and as you might expect it’s no easy commute.  A fourteen hour flight via Houston to Santiago, another three hour flight to Balmaceda, followed by a five hour drive to the lodge, half of which is over unpaved backroads.

Dinner on arrival at Santiago with Curtis and Dave

The road trip in was a bit tight

The lodge sits in the middle of a 360,000 acre ranch near the Argentine border.  For perspective that’s about half the size of the state of Rhode Island.  The ranch is on the leeward, arid side of the mountain spine of the Andes.  As we drove in from the airport, we traveled through the rainforest up the coast and then crossed the divide into the drier valley pastures of the ranch.  The ranch itself is laced with streams and spotted with numerous mountain lakes.  The only residents include some 30 Gauchos, 45,000 sheep and 12,000 cattle.  You can drive for hours and not see any signs of humans beyond an occasional fence in place to help control the grazing.  A vast open landscape framed by the Andes, blanketed with wide valleys and waiting to be challenged by only eight of us fishermen.  No one else allowed, and in pairs with a guide we set out each day to have a go.

The rainforest on the western side of Andes

The arid eastern side

As recently as 21,000 years ago, all of what is now Chile and most of Argentina was compressed under a mantle of ice.  The glaciers would gradually recede and now the Southern Patagonia Ice Field is all the remains.  Still today, the field is one of the largest non polar ice fields in existence.  A highlight of which is the Perito Moreno glacier which you can see up close by boat tour, but that’s another trip.  When the glaciers receded the Andes mountains were scoured, plucked and reshaped into he present terrain.

As we drove to our fishing spots, we were treated to diverse geologic sights.   Moraines of various types, giant U shaped valleys framed by the sides of mountains cut neatly as if by a giant knife.  We didn’t hike the mountainsides but were told the rocks are extremely sharp and their obsidian peaks form a strange and beautiful horizon.

All dressed up for the day ahead

Setting out in the morning

As you’d expect throughout this big ranch wildlife coexists with the ranchers, albiet with some difficulty as it includes some formidable predators.  Occasionally  pumas are spotted, and more often foxes that known to be as big as large dogs. They can kill sheep hunting alone.  There are numerous birds, flamingos, heron, giant condors and hawks.

The ranch is called Estancia de Los Rios, and the lodge was created a few years back with an agreement between the ranch owner and a fly fisherman friend who together intended to take full advantage of the area’s potential.  The ranch owners agreed to build the lodge, then lease it to the lodge management and include exclusive fishing rights.  The lodge itself is a modern but rustic building with six guest rooms, an expansive dining area, and a large comfortable den that is built around a wood fireplace.  Three meals a day, all prepared by a talented chef, local wines and of course Pisco cocktails.  These Chilean cocktails, made with a type of local brandy look like a foo foo drink (maybe a Grasshopper), but are surprisingly refreshing and addictive.  One was waiting for us on our return each day.

Lodge dinning room

A great spot to tell fish stories

Round of Pisco Sours

There were optional overnight excursions included as well.  One was a three hour horseback ride to an overnight campsite under the stars.  Another (which I went on) was an overnight at a small cabin built next to a stream.  Either way you couldn’t go wrong and everyone decided on a night at one option or the other.

The tranquility of the cabin setting

One of our fabulous lunches

We fished different water every day, and were fortunate to enjoy unseasonably warm and clear weather.  Our last night included a dinner with the entire staff where a complete lamb was barbecued on a spit in a special round dinner hall constructed for just the purpose.

The larger trout could be found in the glacial lakes

It was as good as it looks

Since we were traveling a long way, we originally wanted to see about including another stop on the way back.  So we carefully planned a three day extension of our trip so we could see Machu Picchu.  Everything was in place when the news broke over the holidays that Peru had erupted into demonstrations and the park was temporarily closed.  In a judgement call right before our hotel became non-cancellable, we backed out.

A detour to Brazil, the Mercure Hotel

In an effort to make the most of the mess of flight credits and connections home that remained we looked for alternatives.  Dave and Curtis headed to Argentina, adding on a few days fishing for some river monsters, Dorado and Piranha.  Having been to Argentina prior, I decided to take the opportunity to see Brazil, which was high on my list but not on Candy’s.  I reached out to a Brazilian friend about where to visit with just the few days available.  In conversation, I realized Brazil’s cities can be a bit precarious for a naive wanderer like myself.  I decided to head to Salvador, where I’m lucky enough to know people.  Now informed on where to go and where to avoid, I felt more comfortable.  Camile took me on an afternoon tour of the old city and following that we all met at a local spot, the Porò Restaurant for cocktails and dinner.  The food was great and the drinks even better.

Great lunch spot Casa de Tereza

Salvador or better said Salvador de Bahia, is the region’s capital and dates to the 1500’s, it is one of South America’s oldest cities and the first capital of Brazil. The city has a heavy African ethnic and cultural influence that shapes is population, it’s cuisine, it’s music and dance. Its people are a well blended fusion of European, African and to a lessor extent native Indian groups over hundreds of years of interracial marriage. The city is busy, vibrant and in every direction seems to look out on the ocean. I felt safe but the number of security personnel at the hotels, restaurants and the ever present military police gave one pause.  Also, for the record, English speakers in Salvador are a rarity.

MJ shot a music video in the historic center and made an impression that hasn’t faded

Dinner with Hielo, and Camile

Reflecting on this trip and further back to the one Candy and I took to Argentina a few years back, I think of just how much culture, wild nature and diversity exits south of us. Something to think about as you go about your dull dark winter weeks up in the northern hemisphere. Why wait for an August vacation? Within the gap of a few time zones lies a vast beautiful continent at it’s Summer peak.