MRO Chronicle #4: Patagonia, Chile
by Brian Flechsig
“Fly fishing rewards those who learn, those who are patient, those who preserve, those who are adventurous, those who love nature and above all, those who can find themselves alone in the middle of a river with a rod, with the whisper of the current and a thought: in this precise movement there is no other place I’d rather be.”
“There is a place in the world where the special beings that are fly fisherman, find their answers. There is a place where you can travel hundreds of kilometers, wade entire rivers, and float lakes from one shore to the other, and not see another human being. This place has a name………it’s called Patagonia.
“Fly Fishing Patagonia- The Lake District”-
Francisco Bedeschi/ Juan Pablo Reynol
It’s Monday………back to reality? I just got back in town from the Chile trip yesterday around 3:00 p.m.
I left the lodge in Coyhaique on Saturday morning around 10:00 a.m., and sat at the airport in Balmaceda for a while before boarding the Lan Chile flight back to Santiago. Took about 3 ½ hours with a stop in Puerto Montt.
I have never had such trouble, in my heart and in my mind, leaving a place before.
It was a tough flight, and I almost felt as if I was holding back tears. I have been to a ton of great places in my life but I don’t think that I have ever felt as “connected” before.
Our flight out to Atlanta was not until 10:40 on Saturday evening so I wound up renting a car……..although it didn’t make much sense. I wound up driving for about 2 hours…..then turning the car right back in. I just drove around Santiago…..just to soak in a few last drops!
After a 9 ½ hour flight from Santiago to Atlanta, my dad and I boarded a Delta connection to the Greenville/Spartan airport in South Carolina and then finally (for him) a last leg to Cincinnati. In Atlanta the remainder of the group that we were with split up for the trip………. always a memorable part of the trip for me. Andy and Locke were headed to Columbus, Lisle on to Lexington. We all shook hands and said “Adios”.
Rough math, it took my father and I about 27 hours to get home….the other fellas probably got home a few hours earlier at least. Better connections!
My mother picked us up and drove us to their house, picking up a rental car for me along the way.
My stolen car was found about a week before I left. (See the “Filming of the Walker’s Cay”) The cops didn’t call me until the day before I left! Then they wanted to charge me for storage in the impound lot! We won’t go there………but I still don’t have a car, so I had to rent one and drive the hour and a half home.
Stolen car, insurance issues, purse snatching (more on this), new store and build-out issues......not to mention spring is just around the corner and business has been nuts……..there was a whirlwind just ahead……..as always.
My dogs were happy to see me.
By the way, I would make the trip next week if it took three times as long!
I didn’t sleep much between Thursday night and last night, yet I woke up right at 5:30 this morning, which is 7:30 there. I had oddly become accustomed to Valeska, our “hostess”, knocking on everyone’s door and saying “Good morning!” in that beautiful voice of hers. It was a wonderful way to wake up!
Her English is fairly good, but she has still inspired me to learn the language.
By 6:30 this morning I had ordered the “Rosetta Stone” 2-CD course on speaking Spanish. I remembered seeing the ad in a SkyMall magazine and made sure to track it down on the flight home.
I can’t wait for it to get here. Once again, I haven’t felt as excited about an “experience” like this in a long time……..maybe never before. I will learn to speak Spanish and I will be a better host, and guest, because of it.
Today at work, I couldn’t stop talking about the trip. I couldn’t say enough about it! Several people told me that they could tell how inspired I was by the look in my eyes. A few people told me that I looked tired. I had a week of work to “rest-up” between the Andros Trip and this one! How could I look tired?
There was some discussion about how crazy 2004 has started out………..sport shows, aggressive class schedule, then the Andros Trip, The Walker’s Cay Chronicles aired, then off to Chile. Can’t wait to do the 2004 “Year-in-Review”!
I was also reminded of the way that the trip started and what had transpired in Columbus while I was gone.
Bill Conlon said to me “Man, your life sure does involve a lot of drama doesn’t it?”.
He said it with a quirky smile, as if he sort of enjoyed that aspect of his new job!
I can’t help it……..I think that Michael is involved.
Here’s some more drama:
I drove to Cincinnati in a rental car and picked up my dad at home on Wedenesday, March 3rd. We dropped the car at the airport in Northern Kentucky and made the flight to Atlanta. We were flying south to Santiago around 9:30 from Atlanta and only had a short time to make the flight.
As we were coming up an escalator to the terminal, I thought I heard our last name on the intercom. Sure enough, my dad did too! Delta airlines was paging him. He pissed and moaned a bit, assuming it was “work” trying to track him down. I told him to check his cell phone.
There was a message……
I could tell by his response, and body language. You know that feeling when you just know that something is really wrong! He said “That was your mother and there has been an emergency” as he hung up and started to dial, calling her back.
Here we go again….
My heart started racing, my mind reeling. What the hell now!?!?
I can remember my dad saying “Oh no….” There was that feeling again.
What? What?
“Your mother was just robbed………..on your front porch” he said to me as he was still talking to her.
I can’t really remember exactly what happened from there.
I spoke to her at some point within the 1st few minutes but I don’t remember whether we had called her back or what.
She said the cops recognized her from when the store was “cased” earlier this year. The cops felt that this may be related! They may have followed her home. They may have known that I was going to be gone. They may have had something to do with stealing my car a few weeks earlier.
I was FREAKING out!!
My mother, my dogs, my instruments, my fly rods, fly tying, boats, motors, my life!………..if I was being targeted……
I was a dead duck. I was leaving the country!
My mother, who works at the shop and stays at my house while in town, was coming home that evening and as always, had a load of stuff with her to carry-in. Bear, my older chocolate lab, had strangely stayed in her car. Moose was in a kennel in the house where I had left him. She set stuff down on my front porch and turned to un-lock the front door.
Some S.O.B. came running up behind her, grabbed her purse and took off running!
…….. My head was spinning………I may have lost control at one point.
I called Jim Andrix at the shop, he was finishing up teaching a fly tying class. I told him to go straight to my house.
I called Neil’s house and spoke with his wife Nanette. She got word to him immediately and he was on it.
I also spoke to Jim Lenardson and George Russomanno and they said they would do anything to help.
I remember yelling into my cell phone a lot. I also remember saying some hateful things about people that do things like this. I was extremely pissed. Some freak just jumped my mother on my front porch!!!!!!
I told my dad to pick up my bag in Santiago………I was going home.
I turned around and went to the Delta ticket counter. They said they could get me on a flight back to Columbus at 11:00 or so. They could pull my bag off the Santiago flight but I had to hurry. I told them I had to think for a second.
I’m glad that I didn’t do it.
My mother called me back when she heard what I was doing and begged me not to.
……….She could handle the situation herself, not to mention with the help of our great friends/staff.
When I got back into the states, I got the messages on my cell phone from that night. It was Neil calling to assure me that everything was O.K. George has the name, case # and anything you want to know about this idiot. I wouldn’t be surprised if George went to court just for kicks. (I get by with a little help from my friends….)
I couldn’t leave my dad hanging like that. 10 other clients to meet and not knowing what the hell to do or where to go. The show must go on, right? I learned that from the Grateful Dead didn’t I?
The next morning, after a 9+ hour flight to Santiago, we called home.
They caught the guy! What a relief! Probably not “targeting” my home as he had stolen other purses that evening after my mother’s. Lighting had struck the same place twice! Stolen car and stolen purse.
What a relief. I know that both my dad and I were thrilled to hear that and now felt like we could enjoy where we were………..enough drama!!
Santiago baby!!!
What a great town! Santiago rocks! I can’t wait to go back! I don’t know that I could handle the air pollution long term, but other than that it was one of the coolest cities I have ever seen.
My dad had some credit built up with Marriot or something like that and we wound up with two free nights at the Ritz Carlton. What a place! They were waiting for us when we arrived!
We hung out there the 1st day. I think we took a few walks around the area, maybe crashed a bit, and did go check out the awesome exercise/sauna/ pool area. I worked out a bit and mostly soaked up some rays on the roof.
We went out and had some seafood, of course, that evening. It was really great even though I don’t think either of us really knew quite what we were ordering. Interesting note that people really don’t start thinking about “dinner” until well after 9:00 p.m. and sometimes not until much later. We got back to the room around 10:30 and things were just getting started on the streets.
Friend and fellow traveler Steve Gaubert had been in Santiago for a week (as if a week of fishing wasn’t good enough). I finally called him………”Hey…..you wanna go out?” is all he said.
“Yeah,” I said…..”Orly hotel?
“Yeah, I ‘ll be out front having a Pisco sour”
“Give me fifteen minutes……….Adios”. It was that easy.
I hopped in a cab and found Steve exactly where he told me. I quickly ordered the same.
We sat and chatted for a while…….I was very interested in how his week had been. I reminded myself a few times that I hadn’t been to sleep in Chile yet! It felt like I had been traveling for weeks! My dad said he felt the same way throughout the trip…….it was weird.
Anyway…..we wound up going out……and of course…..Steve had the town dialed in. Right down the street was one of the biggest party scenes I have ever witnessed. It was awesome……blew my mind…… and we had a blast! Steve pointed out a few spots that he said were featured on “Wild On E!”. We saw some really cool stuff.
Next thing I know………… it’s 6:00 a.m.!
My dad had wanted to head out of town and see some sights. He had mentioned leaving around 8:00 a.m. I didn’t want to let him down and also wanted to check the place out.
I grabbed a cab and snuck into the room around 6:30. He got right up and went to work out.
I think we finally hit the road around 10:00 but I still only got and hour or so of sleep.
My dad and I drove about an hour and a half to a town called Valparaiso. It is on the coast. We basically drove into town, parked and had lunch, then drove back to Santiago. It was cool to see the place though.
Back to the gym upstairs, out for seafood later, call Steve around 10:30.
Turns out that Steve was born in Chile…….Valparaiso I understand. He had some relatives in Santiago that he hadn’t seen in over 30years! Some he had never met!
Long story, but we went out with these folks on Friday night and had a blast! They were some really great people and I will be tempted to look them up when I am back in town. I know that they would welcome me!
We had another awesome night in an awesome town!
Snuck into the room around 6:00 Saturday morning……..knowing that my Dad would want to leave about 8:30 to get to the airport for the Lan Chile flight.
We knew that Locke and Andy had been cancelled out of Columbus, they called Friday night. They would be down on Sunday. Charlie Dalton lives in Santiago and was going to meet his dad, who was coming from Lexington, at the airport. The rest were coming in from Atlanta and Dallas on the 9:30 and 9:45 flights. We had a tight connection on Lan Chile but we could do this!
Even on a few hours of sleep. I was just hoping that Steve would make it.
We didn’t make it! Neither did Steve.
Several of the flights were late and we couldn’t get the guys all the way through customs and checked into Lan Chile on time.
No problem though, we all made it down on the next flight and all was good. We were in Balmaceda.
Guides Pat, Brent and Jason met us at the airport and threw us and our luggage in the trucks and we headed for Coyhaique. It was cold, overcast and rainy. The wind was huffing hard. I remember hearing a story from one of the guides about a door being blown off of a truck the day or so before.
But we were there!
Of course, you know by now that my father was with me. We had a great time together and he fished his ass off. We did some rough stuff too. He made me proud!
Let me go ahead and introduce the rest of the cast:
Allen Carnes- oral surgeon from Upper Arlington who has been a great customer for years and has been on several trip with us. He is a blast to be around and one of the coolest guys I have ever met….I love traveling with him!
Walt Dennis- came to the shop via Allen, they have been friends for years. Walt is a really cool and interesting guy also. He manufactures interior components for automobiles and apparently does very well. I look forward to fishing with him often!
Rick Dennis- Walt brought his son Rick who was on spring break from college. Rick was a really cool kid and was very patient and understanding. He and his father had really never fly fished before and they had great attitudes about it. Rick will do well also!
Joe Kapanowski- from Detroit. Joe has been on a bunch of trips with us including several stints at the Wilds and in Montana. Joe is a great guy…also very interesting……. and has a great attitude towards fishing.
Lisle Dalton is a Doc from Lexington who I ran into a number of years ago when I was speaking at their local TU meeting. His son Charlie lives in Santiago and when he saw in our newsletter that we were going down there, he signed them both up. I’m glad that he did. They were both great guys!
Charlie is kind of a hippie dude that is really into music and such………really sharp too! We hit it off right away. He runs an orphanage in Santiago that does some really amazing things for kids. I really envy his dedication and drive and I know that I am a better person by getting to know him. I would hope to stay in touch and will also be sure to contact him when I return to Chile.
You already met Steve. He has been a staple with us out at the Wilds and been a friend and customer for years now. He is also a great angler.
Andy Jensen- has been a customer of the store for years now also. Also around my age and way of thinking etc……..it has been cool to watch Andy grow, both in the sport of fly fishing and personally. I really enjoyed traveling with him and wish that I could have hung with him more.
Locke McKenzie has been on virtually every trip that MRO has ever offered. You name it over the years, he has done it with us. Sometimes he brings his lovely wife Joy and we really have fun! I have a feeling that Joy will be seeing Chile soon. Locke has become a great friend and a pleasure to have on these trips. I hardly couldn’t imagine a big trip like that without him! He and my dad get along well also.
We also had a new friend from Texas with us, Edward Dominguez. He booked through another shop but we welcomed him with open arms. He was a great guy and added a lot to our week.
We got to the lodge, which is basically a bed and breakfast overlooking Coyhaique, and got settled in………a.k.a. “had a few cocktails”.
We also went out into the yard and did some casting. My dad got one of the new Winston B2X rods for the trip, the 9’ 6wt. We were dying to try it! I also love to show off the SAGE TCRS.
We had a lot of fun casting, ate a great dinner, and retired fairly early. At dinner the guides came in and introduced themselves and told a little of their background. It was a nice touch! Chef Nick, as always, prepared a wonderful meal.
I think I did a little chat on leaders and tippet and tied a few flies. Everyone seemed very content, including myself although I don’t think that my brain fully appreciated what my eyes were seeing.
Tomorrow we would fish. Locke and Andy would arrive…….and the world would be right.
My dad got up early on Sunday morning and walked down the mountain to town and then back up to the lodge. Little did he know…….
That was the last time he worked out on the trip.
Brent Taylor was me and my dad’s guide for the week. I think I heard somebody refer to him as a “fishing gazelle”.
He is one fishy dude I can tell you that. He worked our asses off all week. I also learned a ton, maybe more than I have on any trip! He is a freaky awesome caster! A great photographer too! Many of the photos you’ll see here and in the shop were made by him. I truly enjoyed fishing with him and thank Jay for employing such a guide.
Turns out that Brent and I will fish the Keys together in May. I am going to put him on a boat with Bruce Chard for three days and let him be the client. He and “Brucie” will get on great!
I also hope that we get to fish this summer at the lodge in Montana.
We hopped in his truck, with his dog Red in the back, and drove for a while.
Parked the car off of a gravel road, rigged up, hopped a fence and walked.
And walked.
And walked.
I remember along the way that Red was “skunked” and Brent was none too happy with him.
We walked some more.
When we did get there, it was more than worth the effort! What an awesome creek! What an awesome walk! What an awesome valley! I couldn’t believe where I was. Patagonia!
Seems that my life has been surrounded by Patagonia. The company, the products, the logo, the dream, and the legend. Now I was living it!
Patagonia!
We caught so many brown trout that day I couldn’t believe it. And I couldn’t believe the setting. We simply “leap-frogged”, and “crik-picked” all day long! Like trout fishing would be in your dreams.
Later that afternoon, we were fishing up the creek, and on the other side, we could see two men coming down the bank. They had guns, and I could sense that both my dad and I were a bit unsure of the situation.
Brent said “Hola” and ran right up the bank and shook their hands.
Next thing I know he’s checking out their guns and laughing with them.
About 15 minutes later, he came back. He said the one owns that side of the river.
They were interested in us because they had never seen anybody fishing there before.
They had NEVER seen ANYBODY FISHING there BEFORE!
Later that day, on our way out, we saw the same guys. They were hanging out around the back of a pickup truck drinking mate. We chatted with them for a while and turns out that one of them flyfished and tied flies. One of them was a dentist and one an engineer I believe they said.
Mate is a highly nutritious, highly caffeinated herb know as yerba mate that is traditionally served with a gourd (mate) and a metal straw (bombilla). Drinking mate is a social event with very specific rules: the host pours the water and passes it to the guests, who drink it dry and pass it back to be refilled. Nobody but the server moves the straw, and you don’t say gracias until you don’t want any more. Just FYI!
On the way to the creek that day, Brent told me that my dad and I were one of the few to fly fish this stream……..ever!
At one point during the day, Brent pointed North and said Ohio was “That way…….about 7,000 miles… that way!”
Now it was starting to register. What my eyes were seeing……….what my heart was feeling. Where I was and what I was doing.
Chile.
Wow!
It only got better!
Locke and Andy showed up no problem and even got to fish for a while in the Rio Simpson before we got back that evening.
The world was right! Really right.
The next day we floated the Paloma. Brent rowed us up the stream and we had some great action in an incredible canyon. When we got downriver, and in the open, the wind blew like hell and we struggled. We still managed to catch some incredible fish though.
This was the 1st day I had seen one of the orange breasted Kingfishers. They were awesome birds. We also saw some parakeets.
Taylor wound up loaning me his guitar for a night or two. I was “jonesing” to play.
I had also heard that another of the guides, Beau, had a mandolin with him. He and I wound up doing some picking on Monday night and it went pretty well. He seemed to need it just as bad as I did. I brought my overalls too! Really couldn’t have been more perfect!
Little did we know that we would be “on stage” by Friday.
The fishing was absolutely fantastic the entire week. We did some more “crik-pickin” including just stopping at a few buckets and catching some quality fish on the way to other waters. One day we took the jet boat up the Paloma to the unbelievably beautiful lakes above. I hooked my fish of the trip up a creek that day that took me under a log and broke me off just like he was supposed to. The lake fishing was spectacular also!
We also floated the lower Paloma and then walked up a “Rio Sin Nombre” and caught some crazy amazing browns. We were smack in the middle of a bamboo forest that was like a dream. My dad said that it reminded him of Jurassic Park.
He caught a great fish that day. I don’t remember much about how big it was but what was memorable was that he didn’t give up. He kept working this fish, even putting on a caddis, and working him, until he ate. I would have given up! I believe we got a picture of that one.
One day we got so tired of catching rainbows that we quit at lunch. This was the same day that Brent made Ol’ Red hold a rainbow on his head. My Dad will tell that story for years. We got a picture.
“Let’s go see something” my dad said to Brent.
“No problem with me”, he shrugged his shoulders.
“We could be to Cerro Castillo in about an hour, let’s go”.
We undoubdetly cranked up the Chris Thile CD. Tunes became a big part of the trip and we quickly became addicted to “Those That Wander are not Lost”, a fantastic work from the 22 year old mandolin wizard. We were also digging Johnny Staats “Wires and Wood”. It was a mandolin sort of trip although I did have old reliable “Tattoo You” from the Stones. My dad even got into the mando tunes! I put the Chris Thile CD on the other day and it brought the feelings right back……..especially song 3. Seemed like he wrote the music for Chile. I hope that feeling never goes away.
On the way to look at one of the most famous peaks in Patagonia, we saw a young girl at a “bus stop”. Brent quickly pulled over and I rolled the window down. He muttered a few sentences in Spanish and the next thing you know she was hopping in the back of the truck with the Red dog.
We took her all the way to Cerro Castillo. I’d say about 20 miles or so. Along the way, we took a few pictures of her which I will post. When we stopped, Brent offered her some Pan and some Aqua.
We dropped her at our turn around point which was a little town in the middle of nowhere. Turns out that there was a little “bus stop”, so “She will be fine”.
She was heading way south. Brent said even if she traveled straight through, she wouldn’t be there until late at night.
She was young, I would say 13-15. She was also cute as heck…..just a perfect example of the beautiful Chilean women. And she was friendly………she had one of those smiles that I have fallen in love with. Chilean women are gorgeous!
I had to ask. In our country, if we were to leave a cute girl in the middle of a desert like that……….she’d be history. This girl had no purse, no extra clothes and I assume no money.
She’d be chopped up and put in some freak’s refrigerator.
Brent said that she would be fine…………. and I believed him. “Not in this country” he said.
“She’ll probably get a ride no problem…….if not……..someone will put her up.”
On the way out of town she was sitting at the “bus stop”. When we went past she waved and smiled.
The people of this country are great. They were incredibly nice. One day we came across a man riding a horse and trailing one behind. We took a few pics. He actually offered to go get a saddle and let us ride his other horse! He was serious!
This was it. It could get no better.
I really never imagined that trout fishing could be like this. And DRY FLY FISHING at that! We threw nothing all week but large beetles and hoppers and they just killed them. Actually, I caught a ton of bows one day on nymphs trailed off of a foam dropper hopper, but all the big fish came on beetles. I’d have to say this was the best, most consistent dry fly fishing I have ever seen. The fish were not always the biggest, but these were the best, most beautiful, stream reared trout that I have ever seen……..and there were a lot of them! Every place that you imagined should hold a fish, held that fish, of your minds eye………..along with his eight brothers and sisters!
We did catch plenty of big fish, it just really didn’t seem to matter, once you looked around.
“Montana on steroids” I heard more than once.
“More than I ever imagined”
“What Montana was 100 years ago”
“Unbelievable”
“The Olympics of fly fishing”
“The Holy Grail”
The list goes on.
Early in the week, several of the guys came up and commented on what a great group we had. An eclectic mix, but it was working great! Every night there seemed to be a card game going on! Turns out that Locke, Allen and Walt knew each other from high school. Allen’s last memory of Locke was his forearm in his face on the football field!
Everyone was raving about the trip.
Locke made the comment that he had caught more fish the 1st day than he had on any other trip. Allen was having a blast. My dad kept saying how much he enjoyed Allen’s company. Joe and Edward had been catching a lot of fish. Joe was already talking about next year. Lisle and Charlie were extremely happy. Andy had stars in his eyes. Steve was an assassin and had his game face on! Walt and Rick were trying………and having fun doing it. I think by the third day, they had some great fish under their belt and I look forward to fishing with them again.
Wow!
I can’t say enough about this group. Most have told me that they will go again next year………I am awful happy about that and hope that they do.
Wednesday night I got a ride down into Coyhaique to the guides’ house. Brent and I had talked about going out. Beau and I wound up playing for a few hours and we sounded much better than we had on Monday. He sang a tune by Steve Earle that we just rocked on! We had fun.
Later, Brent and I walked into a bar right around the corner to have a beer, and there they were. The Greatest Rock and Roll band in the world!
Up on the very wide screen was Mick, Keith and Ronnie.
I come all the way to Chile and find my boys on the video screen. Footage from the Bridges to Babylon tour that I don’t think that I have seen before. Who are the Rolling Stones and why do they keep following me?
It was good to see them. They were the only ones other than Brent in the bar that spoke good English.
Earlier in the week, Brent had suggested that I ask Valeska whether she would come “out” with us after the party on Friday night. She said that she would.
The last day of fishing, we floated the lower Paloma river. In the late afternoon, my dad stuck a pig of a brown and brought it in. I think that it was well over 24”. We got some great pics of Brent and my dad with this fish. What a poetic way to end the trip. Will the circle be unbroken? I was happy that my dad got “the fish of the trip”. He deserved it………he was in Patagonia.
Friday night came….usually a somber evening……..fishing is over……time to go home.
Not this trip.
The guides had dinner with us. There were plates of Empanadas waiting for us when we got back from fishing as well as a lamb on the spit. We ate like kings all week………..we ate like super kings that night. What a feast…..and what fun.
Best I can figure, some sort of Asado Al Palo, a whole or half-lamb (cordero) cooked on a spit over an open fire. Also a Curanto, which is a hearty, steamed dish similar to the New England clambake, which is a most characteristic dish of the Chiloe archipelago.
After dinner we made a few toasts. To the group. To the staff. To Mad River Outfitters. To the Guides. We actually gave Nick the Chef a round of applause. He deserved it……the food was freakin awesome. Envelopes were passed around for tips.
We then retired to the main room. The guides were there, Greg Herbert and Cassandra were there (from Monana).
Beau and I wound up playing music for the group for maybe 45 mins to an hour.
We had fun, and I think the group did too. There should be some pictures around.
I was thrilled when Valeska finally finished working and joined the group. She sat just behind me alongside Beau’s girlfriend.
Most of the group then headed down to the town. We went to the same club that Brent and I had gone to on Wednesday. I got a beer…….and of course…..asked them to change the video from Madonna to say…..the Rolling Stones.
Done. Within minutes, life size Mick Jagger.
We danced, drank, talked and had tons of fun. I remember seeing most everyone at some point that night but it was somewhat fuzzy. We wound up at another club later in the evening. It is always somewhat fuzzy when you don’t know the language….the music……the money……etc. I do remember that I had one of the best nights of my life, and I can’t remember exactly why……and it wasn’t alcohol or drug induced!
I think that Jason took Valeska home around 3:30. She also works at Lan Chile in Balmaceda and had to be there around 8:00 if I remember correctly. She works for them on the weekends. I really enjoyed her company and remember walking her out to Jason’s truck. She is a great dancer.
Once again……..I think that I got back to the lodge about 5:00 or maybe later. Jason drove me. I don’t quite know how the rest of the group made it home but most were ready for breakfast at 8:00 on Saturday morning. We had to be at the airport around 10:30 or so.
It was a tough ride to Balmaceda. I didn’t want to leave.
Valeska met us at the airport and had all of our boarding passes ready. It was great to see her….but also tough. She looked incredible! I didn’t want to leave.
It is now over 10 days that I have been home as I sit and finish this “Chronicle”. I was kind of waiting to see if the deep rooted feelings would change. They have……….they are deeper.
I simply cannot say enough about “Cinco Rios” Chile. Patagonia is everything that they say it is and more!
Very rarely, if ever, are your expectations exceeded on a trip like this. This one was X 10!!!
I never dreamed that I would ever have a fishing trip like this. I never knew that “fishing” meant this much to me.
I would love to thank Jay Burgin and Mary Jaques, Jim, Jennifer and the staff of Five Rivers Lodge and Cinco Rios Lodge. Nick the Chef! The staff and servers. Valeska! The guides: Brent, Jason, Beau, Jim, Pat, Nick, Eduardo………you guys were awesome. The dogs, the town, the country, the people………and most of all……..the more-than-willing fish!
I will be at the lodge for two weeks next year, 2005. The 1st group will arrive on Saturday, March 12th and the 2nd group will come in on Saturday, the 19th. We will also be at the lodge in Montana starting Saturday, July 31st of this year and I am sure for many summers to come.
I can think of no better way to “win friends and influence people”.
Each and every person that experiences this great place with our groups, will be telling their grandkids about MRO and the trip.
I can leave no greater legacy…………..
Let me know if you would like to join me!
Brian Flechsig
March 2004
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Trips and Outfitters for Patagonia, Chile
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