Summer Break Part 4: Colombia!

After Brazil, Matt headed to Argentina to go fishing with his dad and his brother, while Adrianne and I headed to Colombia.  I have been wanting to visit for years, so I was really excited to finally find someone who wanted to travel with me.  We spent our time on the Caribbean and in the mountains of the east.  We had tropical beach time and cool mountain air, both things that these girls from the Pacific Northwest were missing terribly.  We ate well, relaxed, and spent a lot of time outdoors.

Playing tejo, a Colombian game that is equal parts drinking and gunpowder.  

Overlooking the city of Bogota.
Unfortunately, there was a large forest fire this
day and we couldn't see much. 

We went on a biking tour of Bogota and saw
many examples of its famous graffiti 

We spent several nights near the Parque Nacional Tayrona, on the Caribbean coast.   The water is clear, but a little cold.  There are no cars, so you hike in for a couple of hours and have access to many beautiful beaches.

Colombia's most picturesque city, Cartegena. 

One of my favorite things about Colombia was the fresh fruit
available everywhere for cheap.

The beautifully preserved colonial town of Villa de Leyva, east of Bogota.

The mountains around Bogota have been the sight
of many archaeological finds

My adventure buddy, Adrianne. 

Bogota Beer Company.  Finally, a South American country with decent beer!

Florianopolis, Brazil

We spent our spring break road tripping with our good friends Julia and Neil and their daughter Juniper to Florianopolis, Brazil.  It was a week of sun and delicious food. 

The beach near our rental house in Campeche

While we enjoyed the sun immensely, it can be kind of tough with an infant and you have to find shade where you can!

We took a trip out to an island preserve for a day.  The trip back was on rough seas and we all got a pretty soaked and a little sea sick.  This family of girls, with their screaming and laughing, provided our entertainment for the trip.

Floripa is famous for its culinary scene, and we were not disappointed.  

We visited Iguazu falls in Brazil on our way home to Paraguay.  These coatis are everywhere.  Just moments before this shot, we watched them tear open a plastic bag full of treats that was in a tourist's hands. 

A picture perfect day! 

Signs at the park warning visitors of potential dangers

Summer Break Part 3: Fishing in Paraguay

After traveling and fishing in Patagonia with my dad and brother, I convinced Ben to come spend some time fishing with me in Paraguay before he flew home. The first component of our trip was a camping and kayaking trip I had been wanting to do for a long time.

We and made arrangements to rent some kayaks and get dropped off on the Río Aquidabán near Concepción.  (Contact El Roble for more info)We camped and fished on this river for two nights before entering the Paraguay river and paddling to Concepción. This river featured beautiful beaches which were ideal for camping, swimming, and fishing.

Paraguay offers some interesting places to travel for adventurous outdoorsy people. However, there is little infrastructure for tourism compared to many other South American countries. Fishing is one activity that will keep people occupied while exploring rural Paraguay. Another good activity for the outdoors would be bird watching. Generally, we focus on fly fishing, but living in Paraguay has taught me that there are also times to fish with bait. 

The most exciting fish of this trip was a good sized stingray.

The afternoon of our third day we entered the Río Paraguay. As is often the case, the river was high and the surrounding forest and grassland were inundated with water. This mean there were few places to camp and swim once we left the Aquidabán.

With limited options and limited daylight we pulled over on a river island to ask a subsistence fishing family if we could camp next to their house.

The family was super friendly, the also had two pet coatís.

Our last day of the trip consisted mostly of a long hot paddle to the port of Concepción.

On the way back to Asuncíon, we stopped to camp for a couple of nights at my friend's ranch land in the Chaco.

Many places in Paraguay offer opportunities for Wolf Fish, or "tere'yi." This fish thrives in many types of water. When heavy rains flood the land, fish move all over the place and any farm pond or road side ditch could potentially hold a number of species. Tere'yi in particular are ambush predators that will definitely attack a fly.

We borrowed some horses to access some of our friend's more remote farm ponds.

In addition to Wolf Fish, Ben took down some other toothy fish; Pirañhas. 

Rural scene in the Paraguayan Chaco.

Ben gets Pacu happy at the "pesque y pague" (pay and fish) near Areguá, Paraguay.

Moto garden on Ruta 9. Motos are a popular inexpensive mode of transportation in Paraguay. However, often people do not want to pay to licence them properly and large collections of derelict motos accumulate at many police checkpoints.

Tres Puntos catfish, Río Aquídaban.

Clouser Minnow, before and after the Pirañha.

While fishing a roadside ditch along Ruta 5, Ben takes on the philosophy: to catch the Wolf Fish you must become the Wolf Fish.

Our last Paraguayan adventure was a quick trip to the Río Tebicuary.

Small Dorado, Río Aquídaban