So I took off again heading south down to meet my new friend from the Internet cafe, not really knowing what to expect. It was much better than the other option of going down there blind. I got to this tiny town of Rio Pico late at night and that is where I attempted to download the pictures of the last blog and almost punched out the computer. I ended up finding a nice street in town to make my campsite where I parked the tattoo for the night. The next day I had to wait until around 11 for the gas station to open before I took off to find Augustin´s cabin. The service down here is terrible and they have no sense of urgency with anything. I think they would rather just lose business than put any effort forth what so ever. I guess since there is very little tourism in this area they have not adapted to the change yet.
It ended up being like a 30 min drive to his house. As I pulled up he walked out with his some fresh bed head and a big smile on his face. I think he was pretty surprised I actually came. Right away we went over to Miguel's house to get my cabin lined up. It was a pretty nice pad and only 40 bucks a night. You could have up to 5 people in there too. That afternoon, Augustin took me down behind Miguel's house about 30 min to the Rio Pampas. On the way he showed my all of the wild strawberries all over the place. There really tiny, but really tasty.
This was my cabin on Lago 4. It was the only cabin for rent on the lake and very solitary. I loved it. After sleeping in my car the last 5 days it was a pleasant change.
When I was done fishing I took a break and eat like 100 of them. The fishing was great and all on dry flies. The fish weren't to big, but it was a gorgeous setting and a pleasant day to be on the water. On the way back I ran into Miguel herding up some calves which I refer to in the pictures. That night I went down to the lake by my cabin and tried casting for some trout right before dark. I didn't manage to catch any fish, but I was able to break the tip of my fly rod it typical fashion. I always seem to break these things on all my fly fishing trips. Its like a curse or something
This picture is Miguel the Gaucho. This guy was the real deal. When I was coming back from fishing he was rounding up cattle with his dogs.
Augustin is the local chef and has his own restaurant which made my meal situation really convenient. I would just roil by the house after fishing and he would have a nice dinner already prepared for me to take back to my cabin and eat by the fire. All day I was thinking about starting up that fire. God how I loved that fire. Its such a nice feeling to be literally in the middle of nowhere with that fire as your only companion. As it crackles through the night and the warmth puts you right to sleep.
The next day I slept in a bit and met up with Augustin around 10 as we headed off to the Rio Pico. It was a much larger river and way more remote than the Pampas. We had to cross the pampas in his truck and go down a very rough trail for over a hour. This area is remote fishing in Argentina at its 
best and most of these streams aren't fished more than once a week. We caught quite a few fish again, but mostly around 8 - 12 inches. Nothing to call mom about. This area is just starting to be discovered by more and more tourists, but they all come with guides. Augustine has lived here for 5 years and he said I am the first non Argentine he has ever seen come down here to fish or travel without a guide. He said all locals got a good kick out of seeing me and hearing that I came down there alone. Stuff like that makes me feel good. I love going into situations you aren't suppose to and prevailing in the end.
Me Reed...me make fire. Oh how I misst sitting by that fire at night. It was a real treat. Every night I would stoke her up as I ate dinner and read short stories by Ernest Hemingway.
As we were fishing on the river we came across a family grilling out and having some beer. They invited us over and we had a beer or two with them as we shot the shit. On another day we met up with the owner of the land and one of the guys that was grilling out on the Rio Pico that day. We went in his house and he had a huge Russian Boar head on the wall which immediately struck my interest. It turns out that there is a lot of wild ones in the area along with mountain lions. They hunt them in the winter going out on horseback
for days with dogs. At first the hunting with dogs thing didn't amuse me much until I asked what type of gun he uses to kill them and out of his belt he pulled out a huge knife and showed me what they really killed them with. Now I was into this type of hunting. I guess while the dogs distract the boar you jump in and stab the thing and try and not get nailed by there 6 inch tusks. Can you imagine what a rush that would be. I gotta try it. He told me he would take me anytime I would like. I may have to plan a ski and boar hunt down here this July.
Fishing on Lago 5 with no gas. After taking a 1 hour drive to get to this lake the boat had no gas. I wasn't really surprised as I have come to expect things like that down here. I did manage to catch this one nice Rainbow though.
When I was fishing the Arroyo Pescado I ran into that guide named Larry and he gave me that pack of Winston's for his buddy Quito on Lago 3. When Augustin had to go to work around 5 that day I thou gt it would be good to go track this guy down and give him the cigs. After about a hour drive I found some cabins that said lago 3 and started knocking on doors and asking if anyone knows
Quito. Now keep in mind no one speaks any English in this area except for Augustin so ever conversation is a experience in itself. I ended up being directed to a cabin where I found the old man named Quito. I gave him the Winston's and he gave me a really perplexed look as I tried to explain to him who they were from and what they were for. The words Larry the Gringo seemed to do the trick as he erupted laughing and happily took the cigs. The next thing I knew this guy took me in his cabin with his two grandsons and we put down 4 bottles of wine and they fed me dinner.
(This picture is the Rio Pico. We tried to fish this river one day and ended up catching a lot of small trout. There were salmon in the river but really tought to catch this time of year. In December you can cach Salmon up to 40 pounds in weight.)
It was a great time even though the conversation was difficult, but fun. One of the kids went and got his guitar and busted out the song by greed day called wake me up when September ends. Its pretty funny...these kids know no English but they sure can sing the American songs perfectly. I ended up stumbling out of there around 11 and made it to the cabin at 1230 and for once didn't bother to light the fire that night as I needed no help getting to bed.
The next 3 days were spent fishing with Augustin and waiting for the wind to die down so we can finally fish the lakes that I came here to fish. The fish in the lakes average around 3-4 pounds and 20 inches and 5 pound plus are very common. I guess this time of year the wind blows hard one of 5 days, but during my stay it blew everyday. The last day we went out on lago 5 anyways and ended up having to troll with my fly rod which is rather embarrassing from a fly fisherman's point of view but fun none the less.
(The toughest baby I have ever seen. This was Augustin's son. Here was one of a kind, let me tell you. I saw him take numerous diggers in the gravel out side and I was just waiting for him to start balling and he never did.)
This was an amazing 5 days where I made some great friends and experienced a very virgin part of Patagonia that people rarely see. Theres no doubt I will be back here some day to visit my friend and his family once again. After the last morning of fishing I was anxious to hit the road again and
try the most difficult and desolate part of my drive down route 40. The worst stretch has around 600 miles of rough gravel road with winds around 60 mph consistently. I was getting pretty arrogant in my Argentine driving skills as I have driven many gravel roads up until this point with no problems what so ever, but I had another thing coming on this one and never would of imagined what the next 2 days would bring for me and the tattoo.
(Putting my cooking skills and ingenuity to the test. Here is the meal that I perpared in the cabin. I ended up cooking the steak over the fire Gaucho Style. I had to jimmy rig a couple boards and the stoker to hold the meat above the flames.)
