Monday, August 06, 2007
Fishing for Trout in the Ecuadorian Andes.
Wow! What an experience. My trip to the East Coast ended because of a schedule conflict. I was feeling down for not completing the St. John's section in Canada. Well, I guess I'll complete this section some other time. Instead, I decided to go to Ecuador and visit some of my relatives. I wasn't expecting to do anything exiting, just having coffee and enjoy a chat with my brother and my three 85+ year-old aunts. My cousin Mauricio talked to me into a trip high into the Andes for trout fishing. What started like a casual conversation ended up as the highlight of my trip to Ecuador. Sunday night Mauricio (I was named after him) prepared the fishing gear, including a Zodiac-like inflatable boat with an Evinrude motor, boots, rubber pants, jackets, and food. The next day we headed to the mountains and drove up to about 4,000 meters/snm (snm - sobre el nivel de mar). Needless to say, this is an altitude at which most Americans are not used to. My body was not up to the task and I got a bit dizzy while we gained altitude. Once I started rowing, all the discomfort went away and my body heat came back, right on time for some of the most spectacular fishing I've ever done in my life.
I came to live in the United States almost 20 years ago, just when I was about 21 years old. I was wondering how in the world I missed all this beauty. I guess at that time I was busy studying and I never gave me the chance to visit these beautiful parts of Ecuador. It seems though that today was the right time to go and fish. I got to appreciate the serenity of the water, the silence of this distance lake, and the visual treat of colorful plants and orchids growing along the shoreline. After begging my cousin for mercy, he took over the rowing and at he same time he showed me how to fly fish. He gave me the black small fly-fishing rod and an impromptu 101 class on fly fishing. Mauricio was really enjoying our chat about fishing. Suddenly, our talk turned to a little story about how our pasts are connected. Mauricio tells me the story about how he learned to fish. “When I was about 7, your dad Temistocles (Timy for short) used to take me fishing everywhere in El Puyo (A Town in the Ecuadorian Amazon)," he tells me. "Just the way your dad taught me fishing; now I'm teaching you." It shocked me for a minute. The last time I saw my dad was when I was 4 - 1/2 years old. Then my dad went to work in the United States and soon after he died in a factory accident in New Jersey. Although people tell me I did go fishing with my father a few times, I don't remember it. I thanked my cousin for this, and after his short chat we started fishing like crazy. We got 40(I got only 5 ) trout but we had to release 13 because they were too young. At around noon we stopped for a short lunch with bologna sandwiches, pop, and toasted corn, an Andean delicacy. Here are some of the pictures from that part of the trip:
Wow! What an experience. My trip to the East Coast ended because of a schedule conflict. I was feeling down for not completing the St. John's section in Canada. Well, I guess I'll complete this section some other time. Instead, I decided to go to Ecuador and visit some of my relatives. I wasn't expecting to do anything exiting, just having coffee and enjoy a chat with my brother and my three 85+ year-old aunts. My cousin Mauricio talked to me into a trip high into the Andes for trout fishing. What started like a casual conversation ended up as the highlight of my trip to Ecuador. Sunday night Mauricio (I was named after him) prepared the fishing gear, including a Zodiac-like inflatable boat with an Evinrude motor, boots, rubber pants, jackets, and food. The next day we headed to the mountains and drove up to about 4,000 meters/snm (snm - sobre el nivel de mar). Needless to say, this is an altitude at which most Americans are not used to. My body was not up to the task and I got a bit dizzy while we gained altitude. Once I started rowing, all the discomfort went away and my body heat came back, right on time for some of the most spectacular fishing I've ever done in my life.
I came to live in the United States almost 20 years ago, just when I was about 21 years old. I was wondering how in the world I missed all this beauty. I guess at that time I was busy studying and I never gave me the chance to visit these beautiful parts of Ecuador. It seems though that today was the right time to go and fish. I got to appreciate the serenity of the water, the silence of this distance lake, and the visual treat of colorful plants and orchids growing along the shoreline. After begging my cousin for mercy, he took over the rowing and at he same time he showed me how to fly fish. He gave me the black small fly-fishing rod and an impromptu 101 class on fly fishing. Mauricio was really enjoying our chat about fishing. Suddenly, our talk turned to a little story about how our pasts are connected. Mauricio tells me the story about how he learned to fish. “When I was about 7, your dad Temistocles (Timy for short) used to take me fishing everywhere in El Puyo (A Town in the Ecuadorian Amazon)," he tells me. "Just the way your dad taught me fishing; now I'm teaching you." It shocked me for a minute. The last time I saw my dad was when I was 4 - 1/2 years old. Then my dad went to work in the United States and soon after he died in a factory accident in New Jersey. Although people tell me I did go fishing with my father a few times, I don't remember it. I thanked my cousin for this, and after his short chat we started fishing like crazy. We got 40(I got only 5 ) trout but we had to release 13 because they were too young. At around noon we stopped for a short lunch with bologna sandwiches, pop, and toasted corn, an Andean delicacy. Here are some of the pictures from that part of the trip:
# posted by Timy Gonzalez @ Monday, August 06, 2007 
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