Puerto Varas
We continued down Chile deeper into the lake district of this beautiful country. We traveled by bus from Pucon to Puerto Montt which is basically a big shipping port and not much else. From Puerto Montt it was an easy 30 minute bus to the beautiful lakeside town of Puerto Varas.
This picturesque town has grown to be quite a sophisticated stopping point in Central Chile. Beautiful hotels, fine restaurants and big fancy casino all line the streets with lake views. On the other side of the lake sits a magnificent snow peaked volcano. This time however, instead of climbing the thing, Danna and I were quite satisfied just watching a magnificent sunset that lit up the lake and sky with a neon magenta.
The other thing this area is known for is fly-fishing for trout. Now, Patagonia is world renown for have some of the largest trout in the world. The rule of thumb is basically the further south and the more remote you get the bigger fish you get to catch. We knew that probably would not have time to get to one of those really special fishing holes since winter was fast approaching as was our flight back to Miami from Buenos Aires. So, we settled for a half day on a small river near the city.
To access the river, we had to drive about 35 minutes through a private farm over dirt roads and strategically placed planks of wood over mud. Our captain did really speak English so I had to rely on my limited Spanish and sign language. The morning was very cloudy and damp (that is the unpredictability of the weather in this region – it literally changes day-to-day). But we slipped onto the river fly-rod in hand.
Did he just say fly-rod? Yes. I have never gone proper fly-fishing but have used a fly rod two or three times in the past. Let's just say I needed a refresher course. Within the firs 20 minutes I got the hook stuck in my pant leg, the anchor rope, the back side of the boat and had countless near misses with Danna's head. It was a disaster. Luckily, I had the foresight to tell the captain the day before to bring a spinning rod just in case... he did and then we actually started fishing.
We floated down the river casting a spoon (a type of lure) along the bank of the river trying to find trout. We found them and a good number of them too. I ended up catching five rainbow trout and one very nice size brown trout that required the aid of a net to get into the boat. Then Danna stepped up and and took the rod. This was the first time she ever took the rod and did the entire process herself. She was casting at different holes and points and she landed two beautiful rainbow trout – no husband has ever been so proud.
As always the case with fishing, we were also to observe some beautiful nature as well. We saw many types of birds including a rare kingfisher that seemed to follow us for a little while. It was not the most beautiful day for fishing but there is never a bad day when your day is on the water.
We only stayed a few days here as we planned to fly further south into the Chilean section of Patagonia.
