Viva Santiago

 

Friday October 20, 2023

So much for my grand idea to post a blog every day.  The cellular service at the bottom of the world is non-existent, and Wifi is very sketchy, unreliable and expensive – only available via a slow satellite uplink and downlink – so here is a summary of our last few days.  I hope this comes through.  It is so painful to try and post anything. I still am unable to upload any photos from the Falklands.

In the morning Henry and I made our way over to the Pablo Neruda house, Las Chascona.  Along the way we bumped into Sarah Montgomery and her daughter Vivian from Baltimore whom I met the night before at the hotel.  We had a nice chat on the walk.  The Neruda house and its history was quite moving; a beautiful oasis in the bustling city.  From there, it was a short walk over to the San Cristobal Park where we rode the funicular to the summit. 

The grounds were well manicured with bright blooming spring flowers in vibrant colors.  For my birding friends-- it was amazing to spot many new species such as the Monk Parakeet, Puna, Austral Blackbird and the Rufous-Collared Sparrow.

 

In the afternoon, we made our way to Plaza des Armas where I needed mail some postcards.  At the main post office (la oficina de correos) it was comical trying to figure out how to take a ticket for a place in line – similar to waiting for cold cuts at the supermarket deli counter. A kind security guard helped us register for a ticket then we waited for over thirty minutes to be called to the counter.  There a smiling attendant offered me various styles of stamps before I happily agreed to the solar eclipse series!

After a quick snack and a couple of Pisco Sours, we toured the Metropolitan Cathedral and the grounds of the plaza where groups of men challenged each other in games of chess surrounded by numerous spectators. In the evening we enjoyed a delicious classic Chilean dinner at Chipe Libre across the street from the hotel, including a sampling of various Pisco varietals.  Henry enjoyed the exotic conger eel soup while I feasted on the traditional Chilean Christmas meal of braised beef.

Saturday, October 21, 2023

We had to wake up at 2:30 AM to catch our 3:30 taxi to the airport for our 6:50 AM Latam flight.  We were about to begin stage 2 of the expedition in the Falkland Islands that included a layover in the Chilean outpost of Punta Arenas.  We arrived in the Falklands’ Mount Pleasant airport in howling winds that almost knocked us off our feet.  Apparently, this is why they advised us to remove all hats and glasses prior to climbing down the rickety stairs they wheeled out to the plane.

We expected to jump into a taxi to take us into the capitol of Stanley, but we humorously discovered that it was not an option.  Thankfully a very nice tour operator offered us a ride on one of their buses and just told us to pay them at some point during our stay on the island.  We were not in New Jersey anymore!  😊

After settling into our room at the Malvina House Hotel we made a quick trip to the local market for some provisions of whiskey, then took a long walk along the bay waterfront.  It was a beautiful sunny, albeit brisk day with steady west winds (which we have since learned were rather mild by Falklands standards!)

On the return trip we stumbled upon the Rose Bar where we found a huge, raucous crowd.  They were all there to watch the Rugby World Cup match of England v. S. Africa. We arrived just as South Africa defeated England by scoring in the final seconds to win by a single point.  It was clear that everyone was wasted, so we quickly ordered a couple of drinks to try and catch up. At one point a guy came over to chat with us when he saw me looking at a local map.  His name was Simon, an engineer from Wales working on the island on a three-year contract. He also introduced us to Liam, a native Falklander and Jim, and Englishman who serves as the Head of Customs on the island and is also a huge NFL football fan.  Soon they decided to move on to their local dive bar – Deano’s – and insisted we come along!  We had a great time and exchanged numbers so we could reconnect upon our return to Stanley from the camp region.

Sunday, October 22, 2023

We drove ten minutes out to the Stanley FIGAS Airport for our 8:00 AM flight to Port Howard.  But we learned that their schedule is not necessarily precise.  They are definitely on “island time” here and the FIGAS schedule is only approximate.  After weighing our bags--and each of us--we passed the time chatting with locals about lambing season, right whales, shipwrecks, soccer, and penguin eggs (which are said to be delicious). We were eventually escorted to the 8-seater, twin engine BN Islander plane where we met our young French pilot, Mary Lou. After stopping at the main airport, Mount Pleasant, to pick up another passenger, we cruised west and landed on the grass airstrip of Port Howard.  Our lodge proprietors, Wayne Brewer and Sue Lowe picked us up in their Land Rover. It was interesting that they had to back their vehicle up to a shed and connect it to a trailer.  They explained that was the fire wagon, loaded with a mixture of foam and liquid in the event of a potential plane crash. They are required to do that every time a plane lands or takes off!

We drove back to lodge to get settled, then headed off to the Warrah River to fish for brown trout. We drove about six miles from the Settlement, then turned off the road to head to the river along a combination of worn tracks and fresh underbrush.  It was well over a mile before we arrived at the section called “freezer hole.”  I quickly landed a couple of relatively small fish on a spinner but no takers on the fly.  I did catch one large sea-run brown trout which was bright chrome fresh from the salt.  Henry also landed a couple of fish before we decided to head to another section upriver, Cox Pool. Henry quickly landed five fish on spinning tackle.  I stuck to the fly rod but could not cajole a strike despite many casts and various fly patterns.

Back at the lodge we met Inga and Adrian from Switzerland who were traveling throughout the Falklands to hike and enjoy the wildlife.  We were the only four visitors, so we sat together at dinner and enjoyed a vibrant conversation late into the evening.  Adrian was a historian who spoke at least four languages and wrote a thesis paper on the Cold War focused on the US, Greenland and Denmark.  Adrian clearly loves his native country but is frustrated by the current state of affairs including unchecked immigration, gentrification, extremely high real estate prices, and a feral wave of green leaning cyclists that are choking the roadways and making their streets deadly for unwary pedestrians.

Monday, October 23, 2023

We awoke to an uncommon calm in the morning.  There was absolutely no wind.  Even the windmills stood quietly without even a light spin.  Henry took advantage and walked down to the nearby inlet to cast for some of the local mullet while I slept in.  He had success and excitedly returned with a report of many large fish within casting distance.  After breakfast I joined him, and we made our way onto the mud flats.  It was an absolutely glorious morning and various creatures came out to join us including beautiful night herons, oyster catchers, upland geese and the local tabby, Yoko.

It did not take long until Henry was into a fat mullet.  I decided to break out the fly rod and tied on a small shrimp pattern.  It was very similar to fishing for bonefish on tropical flats as you could see the fish circling the area moving from the depths back into the shallows to feed.  In short order, I was hooked up with my first fish on the fly in the Falklands.  It was a lot of fun and Henry and I could have stayed there all day if Wayne had not called us back to begin our trip to the northwest side of the island.  We were heading about 50 miles to the Blackburn River, near where it meets the sea at the settlement of Hill Cove.

Along the way we stopped at the wreckage of an Argentinian fighter jet that had been shot down in a dogfight with an RAF pilot during the Falklands war in 1982.  It was hard to imagine thousands of British and Argentine forces roaming and battling on these small islands so far off the beaten path.  But that image was quickly faded in the rear-view mirror as we made our way over endless sheep pastures and cattle grid towards the coast

The Blackburn estuary area was really spectacular and the weather was even better – bright sunny skies and very light winds.  I setup along the bank where a flat led to a deep drop off and had a strike on my second cast.  The third produced a nice fat Falkland Island mullet.  The wind picked up into our face making it challenging to cast a fly, so Wayne took us across the river to a point where we could wade onto a small island and cast with the wind at our backs.  This did prove effective, and we were able to connect with several sea-run brown trout on spin tackle.  Henry did connect with a hog on the fly later in the day – the only trout we were able to land on a fly that day.  It really was a spectacular and memorable experience for us.

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

In direct contrast to Monday morning, we woke to a howling wind of 25 – 30 knots.  We were relieved this was a travel vs. a fishing day for us – but still a little concerned about the ability of the small FIGAS plane to fly in this weather.  We later learned, however, that the air service continues until the wind speed reaches 55 knots – and not because of the difficulty of flying in those conditions, but only because the planes get tossed around the tarmac at this level!

Wayne drove us back out to the primitive airstrip a few miles from the settlement where he drove up and down the grassy runway honking his horn to clear it of all the upland geese that were feeding and resting on it.

Then he reconnected to the fire brigade trailer and waited for the incoming plane.  I joked like Tattoo from Fantasy Island as we saw the plane bank towards the field – “It is zee plane!”  Our passengers included a doctor, a young Asian man who was on the West island for 8 weeks and a young 10^th grade boy named Dillon who was extremely knowledgeable and talkative.  It was a quick and relatively smooth flight back to Stanley.  Yet it was wild how the pilot had to angle the plane sharply at about 45 degrees to minimize wind shear as we neared the runway for landing before he straightened out right before touchdown – pretty nutty!

Today is a transition day as we checked back into the Malvina House and organize our gear for our next two days of fishing this region with the renowned Adrian Lowe, a local homesteader and Falkland historian.