My first attempt to fly fish

I wasn't sure whether I should invest in hiring a fishing guide as they tend to cost a bit. As I was on a backpacking trip, I wanted to keep my budget low. So I decided to try my fishing luck on my own. I was to stay in Junin de los Andes for 3 days (Monday - Wednesday) and I figured that I should be able to learn on my own during this three days.
So, I headed out early on a foggy Monday morning, with all my equipment packed the night before. I had also bought some empanadas for lunch (more about that later).

I asked at the tourist office, where you could go fishing and they gave me some advice which I wanted to test  this day. So I went to Rio Chimehuin to try my luck. What I also learned was that much of the land is private and you can not access the river by trespassing, but what you can do is to enter the river shore where the land is private, and then you can just walk your way in to any private land (a couple of meters from the river can never be private) - interesting fact.

Finally cought a "small" trout - can barely be seen

After an hour, the fog disappeared and I could look forward to a sunny day - everything was perfect, except my skills; As beginner in flyfishing, I had difficulties in handling the rod, doing casts, understanding which fly to use ( dry fly, nymf, streamer), how to know where the fish is. As you can tell, this was a challenging day for me; my casts were terrible, despite taking two classes a couple of months before and watching several youtube clips on how to cast. I didn't reach more than 5-6 meters which of course is not good enough. More over, I managed to scare away all the fish. I did manage to catch 2-3 (extremely small and confused) fishes during the whole day I was spent and frustrated.

The only positive thing was the extraordinary taste of the empanadas I bough the day before. I don't know if it was because I was hungry after a day outdoors, but they tasted incredible! Later, asking around, many locals thought the excellent taste of the empanadas was thanks to the pure water they have in Junin de los Andes :)

Never the less, this day decided that I would call The Old Viking!

The day of fly fishing in Junin de los Andes, Patagonia

Finally, the day came, my excursion to fly fish in the famous fly fishing spot, Junin de los Andes. My guide, Christian, picked me up with his 4x4 Nissan and a boat at 8 in the morning. We had some medialunas (Argentinian croissant) in the car and went to rio Alumine.

The day was fantastic, I learned a lot about fly fishing..

More about to come..

 

Fly fishing in junin de los Andes

Beautiful weather and good fishing and Junin de los Andes.

Again, I hooked up with my hitch-hiking buddy that made me good company!

Day 6-7 Bariloche and the seven lakes route to Junin de los Andes

Just arrived to Junin de los Andes and too tired to write, just posting pics this time

Day 4 - Bike ride to Punta Loma

I definitely brought the wrong clothes to Puerto Madryn - I was expecting windy and grey autumn days but instead I found marvellous sunny days, apted for shorts and T-shirt. The great weather was perfect for a bike ride to another reserve, Punta Loma, reserve of sea lions, which lies 16 km from Puerto Madryn, mostly on no paved roads.

I rented a 2010 year model mountain bike, as recommended by the bike rental lady, as the 16 km bike ride to Punta Loma needed at least 2010 model bike to cope with the tough conditions on the road. Off I were, towards a new adventure. The sun was already hot (around 28 C) and my skin started to burn - well prepared as I am, I quickly addressed the problem by applying the sun cream, packed specially for occasions such as this one.

The bike ride was tough but at the same time pleasant, giving me time to think and enjoy the sceneries from the Atlantic ocean and the landscape, which to be honest was a bit dusty. Arriving to Punta Loma quickly made my mood rise - in this natural reserve, it was possible to get closer to the sea lions and enjoy their beauty (and hearing their sheep alike sound) even better.

I also got opportunity to interact with the reserve guard and another fellow bike rider, directly from Malaga, Spain. What used to be a great source of shame for me earlier, I nailed this time; I was able to recognize the Spanish accent in a second, and proudly ask: You are from Spain right? So the conversation continued in Spanish and even an episode of drama was served when a cyclist appared, making his exerice in protected area. When the guard pointed that out, we were all stunned by the rude reply from this fellow, saying that he doesn't care it is protected area. MALO!

On the way back, me and me new spanish friend hit the road back together, which brought a couple of new words in my spanish vocabulary. GUAY!

Day 5-6 Tren Patagonico Viedma - Bariloche

According to my fail safe plan, I managed to get from Puerto Madryn (bus ride, seat number 1) to San Antonio Oeste, just in time for the train, which was to take me to Bariloche. The only then that went wrong is that I forgot my fishing rod on the bus!!!! So clumzy!
I called the bus company, Central Argentino, I spoke to very nice lady working in the San Antonio office, and she was very helpful, so, I will follow up today how I can get the rod to Bariloche or Buenos Aires.

The train
The train is operated by Tren Patagonico, departures from Viedma each friday around 18, arriving to Bariloche at 12.30 on Saturday. Along the way it makes 16 stops, mostly briefs and it passes through some magnificent sceneries, starting from 9 in the morning, as the train advences Bariloche.

I hoped on in San Antonio Oeste, and with the help of excellent Lucas, working as the host on the traing, I quickly installed my self in my sleeping carriage, where I had all the commodities needed. Two beds with clean sheets, a towel, running water, mirror, somewhere to put up my feets while looking at the landscape and a little desk where I could do the writing from.


Train is a relaxed way of travelling, you can strech your legs, depending on the service, sleep in a bed and have a meal in the restaurant carriage. All that while enjoying the beautiful scenaries, not otherwise easy accessable. The only drawback is that it take some time but if you have the time, it is perfect, and inexpensive. I had all the time in the worlds, and together with me excellent equipment, I really felt like home. As Tren Patagonico is by the way much more comfortable than Ferrobaires (Buenos Aires - Bahia Blanca) I was able to update the blog and I was able to get ok sleep and will be ready for adventure in BARILOCHE!

Hasta Pronto!

Day 3 - Puerto Madryn and Peninsula Valdes - extended version

Gaston, my life saver at the hostel Hi Patagonia, welcomed my at 7.00 in the morning despite the check-in was suppose to be a number of hours later. Gaston had booked me a tour to Peninsula Valdes that was to pick me up at 8.00 so I had some time to relax and update the blog before heading out.

The Hi Patagonia hostel seemed to be a private house, turned into a hostel. Hi Patagonia hostel looked like a typical suburban house, made of bricks, with a small but well maintained lawn separating it from the street. The lower floor comprised of reception, social areas and staff kitchen, from where breakfast was served. The rooms and bath rooms were on the first floor.
Behind the main house, there was a backyard with a small bar, implying that this place knows how to party.
Next to it lied an annex house, where the common kitchen and the mandatory Parilla (Argentinian barbeque facility) were residing. All this contributed to a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.

The excursion to Peninsula Valdes is a full-day tour, covering a total distance of about 400km, mainly on Makadam roud, which is in very well maintained, allowing cars to drive around 60-80km/h. Going on a guided tour is of course convenient and informative, but this tour can also be done with an own vehiacle, which I would recommend if you are 3 persons and more. As Peninsula Valdes is a provincial (Chubut) natural reserve and there is a entrance fee of 130 ARS (about 25 USD). The fauna to found is depending on the season, but typically, whales, dolphins, orcs, sea lions, sea elefants, lamas, number of bird species and Magellan pinguins can be spotted. As I was out of season, it wasn't at all sure that I was going to spot so many of the above mentioned.

The reason for the rich fauna is the gulf of Peninsula, where warmer currents from the north and colder ones from southern Patagonia meet - making this a nutrituis place for fish, crabs, shrimps etc. Access to food makes it a perfect place for all the sea lions, orcs, whales etc.

The terrain it self is more or less a dessert, even though it is possible to have sheeps on it, but you need a lot of land to be able to feed a descent amount of sheeps. My guide told that about 100 years ago, the land in Peninsula Valdes costed 1 USD per hektar (10000m2) and that you usually bought square kilometers of land. Now this land is worth much more because of the reservate.

The Atlantic ocean however, is blue as the sky and in many places transparent, looking like a paradise. There was exactly what we encountered at our first stop was Punta Norte, about 90 km from Puerto Madryn. The sight and the sound of the sea lion colony strucked me at once, although from a distance (visitors are not allowed near), the sight looked amazing. Seing sea lions babies playing with eachother in the crystal clear water is an incredible sight. Swimming in the water joyfully, makes you want to jump into the water and cuddle with them. On the land, they don't look that elegant though, basically dragging them selfs around and sounding like sheeps. I wonder is sometime, a confused sheep is attracted by that sound? You know, sheeps are not that smart..

Before heading further to look for pinguins, I was lucky enough to get a glimse of an orc, which is a gigantic dolphin but many times mistaken for a whale. Arriving to the usual spot where the Magellan pinguins were, to our guide surprise, there were still some pinguins left in the colony. This time, we were allowed to get really close and I was finding myself only a meter from a pinguin - it was fantastic and they looked exactly like on TV. The wonderful thing, is that they weren't afraid of the humans, the just stood there, soaking the sun, occupied by themselfs, not caring about what's happening around them.

One of our last stops was the pitoresc (I am on a train, without Internet to check the spelling) city of Puerto Piramides, which lies within the reserve. During season June-Mar it is filled up with people wanting to spot whales and dolphins and there are a number of companies providing boat tours for a close encounter. There is also a beach, which many times can be a good place for spotting whales - so why no combine a beach hang out with whale spotting.
By the time we arrived to Puerto Piramides, at 16.00 I was starving, after having an apple for breakfast. Living in Buenos Aires makes you miss good seafood, and I was curios to try the seafood and Puerto Madryn, which is suppose to have one of the best in Argentina. Being a low season, many restaurants were closed and the one we found was empty. I took a big chance ordering seafood, but the restaurant owner was assuring that it was all fresh, and catched in the reserve, where only traditional fishing by traditional methods was allowed. I wasn't dissapointed - it was like being in heaven, my sea food abstinence was bigger than I thought. This made me even confused; Argentina HAS good seafood but for some, for my completely mysterious reason, it is not easily to be found in Buenos Aires. Now, I have a good memory, that I can live on for a while.