25 del Febrero - Bohemian El Bolson
Bohemian El BolsonWe are two months into this trip now and our Spanish has improved so much since we arrived. We are feeling much more comfortable with the language now...of course, we are still in Argentina and we have about a week or so left here before we move on to Chile where they speak a very different version of Spanish, so we`ll be back to the drawing board again in a new country soon.
We`ve been traveling with Pete and Rachel for a little over a week now. It`s been nice to catch up with friends from home, reminisce about city living in SF, and speak in English about familiar things. We`ve spent many nights around the dinner table enjoying good food and good company. We are on our way to meet up with them again in Mendoza for a wine festival that kicks off the harvest here. How weird is it that harvest is in March here? That seems so odd to us. Things like that make us realize that we are not at home here. It is hotter than hades here in Febrero too...another anomaly. Anyway, we will have a few more days with Pete and Rachel in the Argentine wine country before they head home and we head to Chile to see Santiago and Valparaiso.
We loved El Bolson. The town`s name means big bag, because it is nestled in between two sets of steep mountains on opposite sides. We stayed at a really sweet little family home/hostel that was a bargain. The family that owns Los Helechos is three generations under one roof with cutest little black dog named Peter. They had a 3 day old baby the day we checked in, so the place felt really family-oriented and homey. In the hot afternoons we sat outside in the shade on the cool grass for siestas. El Bolson is a small town with a very bohemian feel and a lot of hippies live there. There are tons of good restaurants (vegetarian and otherwise), natural food stores, artisanal beers and other homemade products for sale in town. It has declared itself a non-nuclear zone.
Our first day in El Bolson was spent searching around town for a fly fishing guide. We finally found a tackle shop owned by this wonderful guy, Jose, who agreed to teach us the basic technique and take us fishing at Rio Chubut. The next morning we got up early to meet him at an empty field, where he had us practicing the casting technique for 2 hours. The language barrier was difficult at first (he didn´t speak very much English), but he was able to teach us without many words, just by showing us what to do. The motion of your arm when casting is very mechanical, contrary to what you might think if you´ve seen the movie A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT. It is actually much more difficult than it appears. You keep your wrist straight (as if your arm is an extension of the fishing rod), with your arm extended away from your body, and you move your arm back and forth from 11 o`clock to 1 o`clock until your line has enough momentum to propel itself into the fishing hole 100 feet in front of you. Once you´ve casted the line, you use your other hand to reel the line back in and keep the hook constantly moving as if it were a real insect that moves organically in the water. When you are casting, your line flies around like a lasso in the air. After our lesson, our arms and wrists were tired and Pete even had a blister on his hand. Jen was worried about casting with a hook on the end of the line, because it seemed that the hook could easily fly into your face and take an eye out. Jose assured us that if we followed his guidelines, we would not hook ourselves or break his equipment and we were told to wear sunglasses as a safety precaution.
That afternoon we went to the outdoor market in the center of town, where all the artisans set up booths to sell their wares. We feasted on roquefort cheese pizza, homemade beer, belgian waffles topped with creme and raspberries, licuados (which are like smoothies blended with fresh fruit, milk and ice), and chocolate covered cherries. We walked around for hours looking at handmade jewelry, leather wallets, purses, and belts, wood carvings, candles, incense, toys, liqueurs...just about every kind of good that you can imagine. There was music in the center of the square and various types of entertainers.
The next day we woke up at 6am and embarked on our first fly fishing adventure at the river. I can see why fisherman fall in love with fly fishing. The method is more artful than trolling and it`s an incredible feeling to be in the water up to your waist as you try to fool a fish into thinking that the faux fly on your hook is a savory insect. It was early in the morning and the wind and the river were cold, but we jumped right in and tried our hand at this strange sport. Jose was decked out in all of his gear with a wetsuit, waders, and boots, while the three of us were in tennis shoes and shorts. Billy caught the first fish, reeled it in and released it. This river was full of rainbow trout, but they were small. Jose said that if our fly fishing skill level was more advanced, he would have taken us to another river (Rio Mansa). Rio Mansa is much more difficult to fish, with faster moving water, rapids and rocks to negotiate...but the fish there are much larger and harder to catch. We all enjoyed the experience and we needed the practice anywhere we could get it. Pete caught the next fish and released it. Jen accidentally hooked two baby fish and let them go. She got one other bite, but the trout got away. We continued walking downstream and casting into various holes as we advanced. Jose was catching fish left and right and soon hooked a beautiful rainbow trout that was about 35 centimeters long...big enough to take home.
The surrounding area was gorgeous. There was nothing around for miles except for green grass and rolling hills with sheep and horses roaming the land. Jose told us that the area around this river is owned by the Mapuche Indians who are currently tangled up in a land dispute with the Italian clothing company, Benetton. We had heard that Benetton purchased a huge plot of land in Patagonia from the Argentine government, but we didn´t realize that the money that exchanged hands was not given to it`s rightful owners. Jose told us that many wealthy British and American citizens have purchased huge plots of land in Patagonia over the past decade, which has helped fund the political corruption of the government. Very sad, and not unlike how we drove the Native Americans off of their land under the guise of manifest destiny. After several hours of fishing, we had lunch with Jose under the shade of a tree and we talked with him about his life in Argentina and his passion for fly fishing.
That evening at sunset we went paragliding off of the mountain at the foot of El Bolson...Pete`s idea. The hard parts were taking off and landing, but the time spent in flight was peaceful and calming. Como pájaros (like birds). We went two at a time with a guide who did all the work, while we enjoyed the ride. We had to run down the mountain to get our sails to fly, and once we were up in the air, it was amazing to look down at the town below. All the buildings and houses looked like little toys at that height. We touched down as the sun was setting on a small green field on the outskirts of town. It was a unique ending to our time in El Bolson.
posted by The Blaus @ 12:42 PM
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