San Martin de los Andes and lots of fish!....

Bariloche was a city stretched out around a great lake of about $30,000 population. It's grown fast and furiously with tourism.  Our next stop, San Martin de los Andes, is a bit smaller, is a tourist town too, but sure felt better to me.... it still felt like a town, with different neighborhoods..better laid out, with the town folks putting restirctions on high raises etc.   It's a town with lots of roses and gardens and stone and timber houses, and all the food we had seemed to have more care taken in preparation.... again lots of wild game and berries and great locally brewed beer...

this was just too much like Oregon, no?  but there is far more variety in trees and plants due to long hard winters and less chance of one species taking over (like the variety you see in Northern Alaska). This house was right across the street from our old classic hotel, Hotel Tourismo, $30 dollars a night with breakfast.

We signed up to go fishing with these two brothers (pic below,http://www.caleufutrip.com.ar/ )  in the Lanin National Park....about an hours drive from San Martin de los Andes.  This is the volcano in the park, taller than Mt. Hood. 

yeah, well this is one of about forty fish caught.  rainbow, brook and german brown.  we were in a 12 foot pontoon boat and it was blowing a little much for heading to the middle for deep down trophy browns.  trolling the shallows - with great huge wet fly streamers -  was great. we pulled over in wind protscted coves and were equally succesful with dry stuff.  nobody goes to this lake. There are 50 lakes and 50 miles of stream within a half hour of the city, so, why drive far?

On our drive to the park, I saw my first authentic gauchos at work.....  4 or 5 batches of cowboys and maybe 200 head movin´on up tp the high ground summer grazing.

...just another regular fish.  our guide fishes some very southern argentine streams that empty through chile into the pacific with his dreams on the really big chinook.  felt bad about not having some show off photos.

Dave was in heaven.  jamye still caught more fish

da lake, looking towards chile, yes it´s summer and cold.

art is maybe best when it´s fun. 

 

so, this is the red deer of south america, of course, a life size likeness, but seems to me to be a smaller elk.  saw some huge racks on retaurant walls.  it is also available in restaurants.  some are farm raised, some hunters with special licensing shoot, process and sell to restaurants.  same with the wild boar.  and is that a great taste treat.  on the way to the south coast for, hopefully, giant prawns and langostinos caught the same day.