Dinner at Butch & Sundance's place.

Woke to a clear sky so the wind must have shifted and taken the Ash with it.Bit of a muddle over the fishing so didnt get to fish until the afternoon & went for a stroll around Bariloche town centre.

I dont think i have mentioned it before but the Argentinians love their chocolate. There are shops just serving chocs with seating areas so you can sit in and order your favs as if in a restaurant. These are in every town and normally more than one or two.

The maintenance man was veryhelpful when he saw me trying to fix the light that fell off in Mar del Plata. You try explaing epoxy resin glue in Spanish. He just said in Argentina we use wire & promptly brought me some. I seems to work! I would have tried the Duct tape but there just was'nt anywhere to put it securely.

Got to the river at 2:00 to meet the guide Guillermo. Nice guy, ex motorcross racer but broke too many bones so stopped.We were to fish the Limay which is the river that flows out of Bariloche's lake Nahuel Huapi. I had high hopes of getting my rod out but no. yes we needed a bigger rod (5 weight) but not that strong - that rod is for southern patagonia. Sulking, i put it back in its box.

This time we were going to raft down stream (Guillermo keeping it in the right place with just the oars). It is a fast flowing river with some modest rapids and it gets very wide about 10 kms downstream. For those fishermen amongst you here is one of his many fly collections. The fly that turned out to be the best was Gordo Alberto (or Fat albert):

I found it tough to cast just where and when he was saying, I got the impression that i was missing all the best spots. It brings back memories of when fishing with Mike Burrell and i cocked up the one cast at a shoal of Tarpon.

Despite the wind and the lack of talent I did manage a few good size Rainbow trout (bigger than the day before). What was fun was also catching some Brown trout. These are even bigger (but not the monsters that lurk in the waters somewhere).

Notice the lack of hat - after being called John McCririck by Richard B

Then i thought jibes are less harmful than sunstroke - how is the weather in the UK?

I can now bore for England on another topic: - a Rainbow is very aggressive when it takes the flie and then jumps about all over the place. The Brown however, takes it very quietly so much harder to time it. They dont fight either, they head to the bottom until you persuade them to the boat. so you can actually tell which type it is long before you see it. Sorry, I wont go on about it anymore.

I managed to forget the camera so these are from the phone.

We drifted about 10-12kms in about 4 hours. I am glad i tried it but I prefer fishing from terra firma.. Where Guillermo dropped me off, he pointed out a ramshakle building, on the outskirts of Bariloche. Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid stayed there when they were on the run from the US Marshalls and went to find some grazing land further south in Cholila..

Thanks to a lovely book (Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin), kindly given to me by Rachel at work, I knew something of the background of their time in Patagonia. It is a restaurant called El Boliche Viejo. I wandered in. There was the chef and two guys setting up sound equipment for that evening. The Chef showed me the walls, covered in seppia photos from the turn of the century & most importantly a picture (a copy) of Butch, Sundance & the 3 other members of the Hole in the Wall gang. According to history, they robbed a Bank near Fort Worth Texas and decided to buy some new clothes with the proceeds and have their picture taken. To add insult to injury they sent it to the Bank Manager they had just robbed! They look pillars of the establishment in there bowler hats etc. If you liked the film then you should read the book as the closing scene in the film, where they are gunned down by Bolivian soldiers, is almost certainly not the real story - the book is really worth a read anyway!

As i didn't have anything better to do i got a taxi back there for dinner. The place filled up quickly and it was clear it was all family and friends of the two nervous musicians. The only "non hispanic" people in the place were the owner & his wife (they had the look about them of a couple who had sold everything in the UK to run a bar in Alicante but reality wasn't the dream) and me. The waiters and Chef were good fun and i got my family size steak as ususal.I think i have been here too long as I am now getting picky - this wasn't as good as other steaks i have had - still good but not great).

Eventually the music started and i have to say they were really good. Apart fromt the fact they were good, it felt bit like folk night down at the Helyar Arms in Coker (excpet in Spanish not Wurzzle). I had arranged with the Taxi to pick me up at 11:30. I polished off my wine, paid the bill and went outside - she (for it was a woman Taxi driver) was stood in the doorway clearly enjoying the music. So i said did she want to stay and listen for a while - well she was in the door and sat down in 2 nano seconds. not a problem, I will have another wine.
"Would you like one"?
Si!
"Some taxi driver" I thought!
Evidently this was the great and good of Bariloche there to support their boys. The Taxi driver knew them all and was having a lovely time. By this stage i had also inherited the Chef - only because i gave him a glass of wine earlier. I carry Patagonia to dinner with me as it is such a good read and i am about to visit some of the places named in the book (a lot oit to do with Butch etc). I showed him the page where it describes the photograph I mention above. He sort of understood & ,with apologies to Rachel, I tore the page from the book for him & wrote a few words in Spanish (thanks for a nice meal sort of thing). It now adorns the walls of the restauranct with all the other bits and bobs. I will buy another copy when i get home.

During the stilted conversation i had explained that i have not heard or seen tango once. Is this Tango? No, but we will get them to play some for you! And so the night went on with more of Mendoza's finest. I must have been a good client because they kept bringing dessert over which I didn't want. It wasnt a problem as the Taxi driver demolished them! I also enquired about the men kissing each other (once on the cheek). I did'nt get an answer but the laughed a lot.

Eventually I asked, of my Taxi driver, if it was ok to go now? Reluctantly she agreed to call it a night. I paid my second bill and got up to leave, but then the Music stopped and the singers played one more Tango for the Gringo, a couple of speeches - not sure my Spanish is up to that but the red wine helped. To cap it all, a couple of blokes kissed me goodbye (much to the ammusment of everyone in the room) - no tongues and one cheek only (Laidlaw would love it)!