Rafting and flyfishing (just like the commercial)

Alright. Then I will try another blog post in english. The name of the post: "Rafting and flyfishing"! It is what is on every poster in all the bus terminals I have seen so far.

The ranch by Rio Manso.

Last friday I went rafting for the first time in my life. Since I was canoing this summer, and canoing was a lot of fun and really challenging, I thought it was about time for a new river challange.

I bought the trip from one of the tourist stores in Bariloche. A tourist store is a store were they sell tours for tourists, not tourists. The reason tourists are called tourists is actually because they like to buy tours! How logical the world is sometimes.

Very well. And the rafting was going to happen in Rio Manso. The river starts in Argentina, and ends out i Chile. Which means that this day I got to visit a whole new country!

The buss trip took about one and a half hour. We got to a really nice ranch in a beautiful valley in between the Andes. There we got our equipment, and also breakfast. Breakfast in Argentina means medialunas (really sweet bread) and coffee or tea. There after we were handed the rafting equipment. The reason I say we, is because there were five other guys going rafting. And they were from Israel.

I learned in Bariloche that a lot of people from Israel come to South America. The reason is that they have mandatory military service in Israel, not that we don't have it in Norway, but in Israel it is three(!!) years for the boys and two years for girls(!!). Which after they want to travel before they start studying and getting ready for the serious grownups life.

I lived, as before mentioned (read my last post), at Freedom Hostel. 90 % of the guests were from Israel. Which is ok. But there is one big drawback when most people are from only one country. They speak mostly their own language, and they take up the whole hostel. So it felt more like being in Israel than being in South America. Most people around spoke hebrew.

Anyway. I was going rafting with five guys from Israel (from a different hostel than the one I stayed at). When we got into the boat our rafting guide at once started telling us how to act if something happened and different commands for the rafting. A very important part of the "how to react" was how to react if you fall of the raft. Which I thought was mandatory, if it happened. Like, what are really the chances to fall out!? Later on I learned to rethink my thoughts.

It was obvious that the israelis had almost never been on a river before, and surely never used a padle before. Most of them used the padle like a nine year old girl might use it. Already in the second rapid one of the israelis fell off. Since it wasn't an especially dangerous rapid, the guide got to show us how to get someone up of the water.

Before

It was a good thing it happened, because after that everybody was really focused and the rapids went smoothly.
Until we got the the most difficult one.
Everybody was supposed to row the fastest and hardest they were able to. But unfortunately, the ones on my side of the raft did not manage as well as the ones on the other side. So the raft turned right before the fall. I was the behind rower on my side. And in the rapid I was most vulnarable. Even though I used my padle as tough as possible I had no chance. I fell off the raft.

I fell backwards in the water, and turned upside down and all the way around. Everything around me was dark. I was under the water. In the middle of a river. A river with high current. I couldn't breathe and all I could see was bubles.

Alright Carl-Gøran. Keep calm, soon enough you will be up. And I was, suddenly my head was above water! But I drew breath too soon.. Which means I swallowed a lot of water, and of course I started caughing. But also I saw the raft, it was just beside me. And the instructor reached out his padle, and in the manner of seconds I was onboard the raft again.

After

The rafting guide told me that for a couple of seconds I was under the raft itself. But all went ok! And suddenly the adrenalin started to pump through my vains and I could do nothing but smile! I had fallen in to a fast running river, and gotten up from it without much fuzz! This trip is amazing! And the water wasn't even nearly as cold as they had told me.

The rest of the rafting trip was an adventure. Rio Manso is truly beautiful. I'm sad to say that I don't have a water camera, or else I would have taken a lot of pictures. Because it was truly beautiful there. Crystal blue water. Andes shooting up in the sky on both sides. And the river shore was made out of incredible rocks and an amazing forest. Truly one of the most beautiful rivers I have seen in my life.. I loved every minute of it! One of my best experiences in Argentina! Maybe in my life!

Last sunday I finally got to try flyfishing in Patagonia. Mostly thanks to my mother and father who bought this trip as a christmas present for me. And to that I am really grateful. Rio Limay is truly amazing. Limay means clear. And the water was really clear. Clear and deep. And the scenery around the river was incredible.

Rio Limay

One thing lacking though was hungry trout. the day I went out was a day when the trout wasn't really eager. My guide Carlos took me 28 km down the river with a boat where I could stand and cast. I have never fished so intensly in my life. Because for every corner there was one better spot than the other.

Finally a fish!

At least I caught two trouts, the last one I thought was really big. But it turned out to be a little over 500 grams. It took the fly so deep and so hard, that is what fooled me.

Other than that the service was incredible. For lunch I had a gourmet meal. For starters smoked veal ham, smoked cheese, a different smoked cheese, smoked boar ham, ham of deer and one more cheese, in addition to salad, homemade bread, good wine and gin & tonic. Main course was an incredible tender steak. And for dessert I had flan, which Argentina is famous for. A perfect day, except that I didn't get as big fish as I had hoped for, and there was a lot more wind than the weather forecast had predicted.

The dream trout, 7.5 kg!