5 Cool Things To Do In Portland

Posted on November 27, 2016 by Josi

foxyandthefox_portland

Portland Oregon

With no plans for Canadian Thanksgiving and a nice long weekend ahead, we decided to take a road trip and head down to Portland Oregon which is one of our favourite cities in the US. To our surprise Portland was hosting their annual marathon and the hotel prices were through the roof! Luckily we were able to find a great deal at the Kimpton Vintage. It’s super cool boutique pet friendly hotel located in the heart of Portland. Staying downtown with our fur ball, Costa the super dog, was great, and a little more challenging than expected. The pee spots were scarce and the vibe at night felt a little sketchy. Lucky for me, my wonderful husband volunteered to do take Costa out!

The trip was short and packed with good times and here are the highlights:

1) Kimpton Vintage Hotel for its level of service, amazing welcome for humans and furry friends, free wine tasting for you and your dog, cool décor and great location.

2) Mother’s restaurant for breakfast. Be prepared to wait in line and just know that it will totally be worth it.

3) Ground Kontrol for a few drinks while playing vintage video games to the sound of a local DJ.

4) Voodoo Donuts. I think I love the names of the donuts more than the actual donuts themselves. Chuckles guaranteed.

5) Cannon Beach for its pure natural beauty. It’s a short drive from Portland and well worth it. Take a long walk on the beach, bring your surfboard and definitely a wet suit!

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Posted in Cool Shit, Travel | Tagged cool things to do in Portland, holiday, Portland, travel, weekend trip
Country: USA

Wishing you an Awesome New Year!

Posted on December 25, 2013 by Noel

Wishing you all a very Merry Merry Christmas and an Awesome New Year!

Posted in Cool Shit, Uncategorized

Teahupoo – Tahiti – Saturday June 1, 2013

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Noel

Being from Montreal Josi’s childhood dream was to one day visit the French tropical beaches of Tahiti. As a little kid I loved the soda pop called Tahiti Treat… Thus we chose Tahiti as our last stop of our around the world surfing/ honeymoon/ adventure. We knew the odds of Teahupoo breaking big when we were scheduled to be there were very slim and we decided well before hand that if it did we would do what ever it took to be there.

For those who don’t know, Teahupoo is a legendary big wave surfing spot in the South Pacific on the island of Tahiti. When it gets really big, it’s massive size and punishing thick lipped barrel are so fearsome that only a select few are crazy enough to risk their life’s in exchange for whatever it is that motivates them to ride it. Professional big wave surfers, dare devils and mad men follow the storm swells online and when the conditions are perfect they fly in from all over the world to brave it’s insane power.

As fate would have it, a massive swell started brewing off the coast just after we arrived in Tahiti. Everyone on the island was talking about the monster swell that was on it’s way and that pros are flying in to surf it. Josi and I watched it carefully online and when the the swell was about to peak we plotted our trip to Teahupoo. All of the boat companies who take surfers from the beach to the outer reef where it breaks had been fully booked for some time so we weren’t able to secure a water taxi to watch from up close. We had been told us to choose a water taxi carefully because on many occasions the less experienced fishermen who take people out to watch make the mistake of miscalculating the wave and quickly finding their way to the shallow reef below. We didn’t have a boat reserved, but we had faith that it would all work out so we went anyway.

Thanks to a tip from our good friend Skip, we chose to stay on the island of Moorea close to a great left breaking wave called Haapiti. Teahupoo is on the Tahiti which is the island next to us so we had to get up at 5am to start our journey. I awoke with a mix of excitement and fear, which made no sense to me seeing that I was only a spectator and not on the field of play. Having lived action sports my whole life, on seldom occasion I too have played on the edge where one wrong move would prove to be my demise. You can do everything exactly right, making no mistakes at all and still, if mother nature decides otherwise, even the most flawless performance can find you at it’s mercy. Not to mention that human error can strike even in the most perfect and compassionate of conditions.

With a quick cup of instant coffee we had our hosts Tama and Marie, from Moorea Surf Bed and Breakfast, drop us off at the ferry. Our crossing in itself was exciting as our big catamaran navigated the massive swells. The boat handled the swell with ease while we all watched in awe as the massive waves rolled by one after the other. Once we got off the ferry we were picked up by our rental car company and taken to their office. In no time we packed into our tinny French car and high tailed it down the coast in search of this legendary wave.

Along the way we came across countless fishermen who had set up road side stands where they proudly displayed their freshly caught tuna. I’m not sure how long they would last hanging there in the tropical sun while waiting for someone to buy them? Regardless, it made for a interesting sight and we drove on with out stopping to take a photo. Mixed in with the palm trees and bright turquoise lagoons were endless poorly painted graffitis and tags that littered every brick and cement wall in sight. It’s such a shame that main stream culture can ruin such a tropical paradise. To me the real Tahiti is better found on it’s outer islands where life is slowed down and less effected by main stream culture.

As we pulled into the parking lot at Teahupoo there was already a small crowd watching the waves breaking way out on the outer reef. You could see small boats crowded close to the wave bobbing up and down as the house sized swells rolled in. In the parking lot another surfer told that all of the boats were totally full and that they were only taking pro photographers out. I have my big camera on this trip so I was ready to pull the photographer card if needed. “International adventure photographer and blogger for the esteemed online publication Foxy and the Fox.” It sounds good, but I’m not too sure how it will fly?

Regardless we had come too far not to see what magic we could work so we drove to the marina to find us a boat. The parking lot was abuzz with cars and people of all shapes and sizes, anxious to get out to watch the surf. The most professional looking boat operation that was there was taking people out for an hour at at time, but they were fully booked all day. Josi and I decided to split up and ask around to see what we could find. In short order I found a small man with a little boat who was open to taking us out in an hour. OK, that sounds pretty good I thought. Over the next few minutes I watched as he packed people into his boat to the point of being well overfull.

I didn’t like the look of it, but I was stoked because I knew that we were going to get out. Luckily Josi did better than me and found a guy who was willing to take us out right away. $30 each for two hours. He looked like a bit of a drunk, but he didn’t smell of booze, his boat was big and clean and we were the only ones on it so we headed out. To our surprise he only took us as far as another smaller boat that was half full of surfers from Venezuela. Josi had second thoughts because of the size of the new boat. I was more worried that the captain and his first mate looked like pirates with missing teeth and all. They didn’t speak English and they barely spoke French, which made no sense, but by this time we were committed.

The difference between watching surfers at Teahupoo vs Jaws or Pipeline, is that at Teahupoo the spectators are also the participants, each playing their own game of roulette. There were about 12 boats sitting abstractly close to the breaking wave, each packed with jubilant spectators. There was also a number of support crew for the surfers on high powered jet skis, along with several spectators sitting on surfboards. At one point there was even a helicopter filming the action.

Time all but stopped when we saw the first guy get toed into the massive wave. The jet ski powered up when the wave was only a bump and like a wake boarder the surfer popped up behind and was pulled into the wave. He looked Hawaiian with long curly hair and a friendly face and he pulled hard away from the jet ski, down the face of the wave rocketing toward us. The growing wave rose from the depths of the sea quickly becoming a mountain of water. In contrast, the surfer started a mountain of a man and quickly became a speck of sand holding on for a greater glory. Like those who have full mastery of their trade, he made it look so easy as he surfed his way down the vertical wall of the wave. After making the drop he seemed to find a place of inner peace and as the massive barrel threw over him he waved to the crowd as if to say this was just another day. As the wave roared by, he disappeared into the barrel and the crowd awaited in anticipation to see if he would make it out. As the final breath of the wave was squished out of the hollow wave, so to was the surfer, still with his hand in the air. The crowd was in awe as they cheered and his dark Polynesian face beamed with happiness. The second he was off the wave his trusty partner on the jet ski was there to pick him up and in no time he was being toed back to catch another.

The viewing boats dance back and forth rallying for the best position to watch the surfers before the wave closes out on the reef. On more than one occasion, the massive sets would shift to the right and like a school of small fish fleeing from it’s prey, the boats would find themselves racing up and away from the oncoming waves. When the big sets come in, the boats make a run for it and in that moment everything is pure chaos. On one occasion our boat was one of three deepest in the pocket when the biggest set of the day rolled in. The inner workings of the barrel was so big that you could build a house inside of it. I whistled to let our captain know something was coming, as he seemed more interested in the surfer than his crew. The moment he saw what I saw he put on the gas and we climbed up the steep face of the hugest wave I have ever seen. I was busy holding on with one hand while still taking photos of the boats below with the other. By the time we crested the peak, the bottom boat had long fell out of sight and must have been 30 feet below us. This boat and another were always the two deepest as they were full of professional photographers who were capturing both stills and videos. Their captains were either the best boat drivers in the world, or they were getting paid so much that they were willing to risk everything to get the shot. Perhaps it was both? I was positive that the last boat wasn’t going to make it up the wave because in my eyes we barely made it. At the last second they came vertical through the top of the lip just in the nick of time. I didn’t take the video as I was only shooting stills, but in the video below you can see footage of the boat in question.

There were about 8 teams of surfers, surfer and jet ski driver, and each was as amazing to watch as the other. As one fearless surfer dropped in we could tell that he was too far back to make the section. Thanks to the help of a life jacket he finally surfaced with enough time to take a deep breath as yet another even bigger wave came down on top him. This time he didn’t come up as quickly and his partner on the jet ski raced back and forth looking for him in the white wash. At one point the jet ski driver turned to the crowd to see if any of us had spotted him. We had a much better vantage because with each wave that rolled in, we were raised up so that we could look down over a much larger area. When he finally popped up he was about 70 meters away from where he started. Within seconds the jet ski was there and the driver strong armed the surfer onto the back of the ski, jetting off seconds before another huge wave took them both. The guys on the jet skis don’t get the cover shots or the fame, but they are indeed equally as fearless and brave as the ones ridding the waves. With out them there is no way that half of these guys would still be alive.

When we made it back to the wharf both Josi and I were in awe of what we had just witnessed and our hearts were still racing. We sat on the beach eating a small picnic and watching from distance as the surf continued to roll in on the outer reef. I could have watched for days but we needed to catch the ferry back to Moorea so we drove off with huge smiles on our face and a memory that will last a lifetime.

If you are ever in Tahiti and the buoy readings hit the 20+ foot mark with a good swell period be sure to check out Teahupoo. I promise it’s something that you will never forget.

Here is a video that was shot by one of the photographers on the same day as we were there.

Posted in Adventure, Cool Shit, Surfing
Country: Tahiti

The Dream Continues – Byron Bay

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Noel

There is something magical about surf towns the world over. Byron Bay is one of the more specials such towns for me as it has everything a surfer is looking for including great waves, tasty cafe’s and cool people. The lack of photos I took in Byron, and in this post, is a testament to how much surfing I did.

Going to Byron for only eight days I knew that we weren’t guaranteed waves. Even the extended wave reports weren’t offering much hope, but we paid for the trip so we are here. Turns out that we got lucky because even though the reports weren’t so good, we managed to have really fun waves for all eight days! Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t catch it on a day when legends are made with the outer point barrelling all of the way into the bay, but still, there were lots of really fun waves to be had. Best of all was the the water is warm enough that you don’t need a wetsuit unless it’s a cloudy and even then, a shorty is more than enough to keep me warm.

When we first got to our hotel I was bummed because I thought that we had booked a place way closer to the point, but it turned out it was pretty great regardless. The point was an easy 15 minute walk down the beach and right out front was a really great and pitchy wave that breaks off of an old ship wreck that’s still sticking up out of the ocean. The crowds out front aren’t too bad and the vibe in the water is super chill.

The famous point break is a right hander that peaks off of a rocky point and peals over a beautiful sandy bottom right into the bay. When it’s working it peals all the way though and must be about a 300m ride. On smaller days it’s still a long wave, but it tends to section which allows people to line up all the way along the bay making for lots of waves for everyone. It’s a super crowded wave, but if you are willing to sit outside of the main peak there are lots of waves to go around.

Most days Josi and I walk down the the point and I surf closer to the rocks where it’s a bit bigger and Josi hangs on the inside and catches the smaller waves. Then on the way back to our hotel I go for a surf at the ship wreck which is a much shorter ride, but it pitches both right and left and is heaps of fun.

The beauty of the set up in Byron is that there are surf beaches that point in all directions which pick up most swells. Yes, the point is epic, but even the beach breaks right out front of town spit up super hollow and are loads of fun. I rode into of a lot more barrels then I made it out of, but I did manage to ride out of my first back side barrel which was super cool. When the water is warm and the bottom is sand, you feel fearless and tuck into everything, even if you know you aren’t going to make it out. Of course the camera never comes out when the waves are the best, but Josi was nice enough to take a few snap a few shots.

On top of the great waves Byron Bay offers lots of really great restaurants, cool people, and super chill vibe which is always great. I even managed to catch up and go for a surf with my old friend Alvin who came to visit Byron in 1996 and never came back to Vancouver. He is basically living the dream because his work is flexible enough that if the swell is great he can surf, and his wife and two kids love to surf as well so he logs lots of water time.

Our next stop is New Zealand which is going to be fun. We have rented a camper van at the bottom of the South Island and we are driving up to the North Island. I have been told that the water is freezing cold, but if we find some perfect waves I’m going to brave it in my shorty for sure. In the very least, I’m looking forward to getting in some fly fishing which I know I will do regardless of the swell.

Posted in Adventure, Cool Shit, Food, Surfing, Travel | Tagged Byron Bay, Foxy and the Fox, Noel Fox, Surfing
Country: Australia

Melbourne and Beyond

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Noel

Seeing as we are in Australia for only 3 weeks we almost left Melbourne off of the list. Luckily for us my long time friend Juliet and her son Ben were keen on having us come to visit so we jumped on a plane and flew down. When I lived in Australia way back when, I likely may have chosen to live in Melbourne over Sydney had it not been so far from the surf.

It’s great here because there’s a cool mix of European architecture and fashion mixed with a casual Australian vibe. Lots of great cafes, trendy boutiques, free museums, cool street art, easy to use train system and really friendly people. Juliet and Ben live in a trendy community called Yarraville which is just outside of the downtown core. While Juliet was at work Josi and I had fun eating out at cool cafes, shopping in the neighbourhood and exploring the city and taking photos for Orb Clothing. I find taking photos for Orb when we go to a new city I get to see it differently that I would otherwise. Cool buildings, interesting textures, light, street art all come to life in ways I might not otherwise have noticed.

One of the things I have noticed about Australia is that their packaging tends to be far cooler than it is in Canada. Everything from beer to yogurt mostly all have edgy and hip creative elements to them. It’s almost as though all of the old guys who create boring packaging here have died and that all of the young hip kids making cool art are running the show. Another campaign that’s super prominent at the moment is Dumb Ways to Die. It’s promoting stain safety and everyone from kids to their parents are singing the song. It’s print creative is quite fun as well.

After a few days in the city Juliet took us to Wilsons Prom, which is a national park on the open ocean to the east of Melbourne. We stayed at her friends cabin and had lots of fun exploring the park’s rugged coast, as well as chilling at the cabin. We also managed to have a great day of uncrowded cold water surfing. The waves were overhead and the winds were hard off shore which made for lots of fun and uncrowded waves. I surfed until I couldn’t feel my feet and then had to come in. I was impressed with Josi as she managed to surf for as long as I did and she did great.

Unfortunately our time in Melbourne was a bit rushed and we didn’t get to see too much, but we still had a great time. We are super stoked because we are going up to surf the warm waters of Byron Bay for 8 days.

Posted in Adventure, Cool Shit, Design, Photography, Surfing, Travel
Country: Australia

Blissology Yoga Retreat

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Noel

Taking part Eoin and Insiya’s yoga retreat here in Bali was like going to summer camp, and as a kid I loved summer camp. Arriving at Desa Seni both Josi and I were super stoked to see how beautiful it is here. The cabins where the guest stay in are made of vintage houses that have been relocated from all over Indonesia. There is a huge pool with comfy chairs in the centre of the resort which was the perfect place to chill in the afternoon and the people that work here are so nice. Many of the guests at the resort are people who now live in Bali and come in the day to take yoga classes and hang out by the pool. They are mostly young new age affluent healthy types, some of who were super cool and others perhaps a bit over the top.

We started every morning at 7am with a fresh fruit and tea breakfast. From there we spent a few hours practicing and learning the fundamentals of yoga. After morning yoga we all enjoyed a delicious brunch consisting of amazing organic delights. Between brunch and our afternoon yoga was free time which Eoin and I used to go surfing at a local Cangu surf break which was a lot of fun. Then we did another amazing afternoon yoga session, followed by a great dinner, followed by hanging out with the rest of the people taking the retreat.

There were a few days where the routine was mixed up so that we could visit ceremonies at temples or to have dinner and watch the sunset at the beach which was really great as well. The people taking the retreat were all at different levels of yoga abilities and they came from all over the world.

Best of all Josi and I met some amazing people who we will continue to stay in touch with and see on future adventures. If you are interested in getting into yoga, or if you are a season professional looking to deepen your practice I highly recommend taking one of Eoin’s retreats. They are action packed, full of yogic knowledge and really a lot of fun.

Posted in Adventure, Cool Shit, Surfing
Country: Bali / Indonesia

Thanks Orb Clothing, You Rock!

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Josi

I want to give a huge shout out to Orb Clothing for being a such wonderful and important part of our world adventure!

Noel and I are forever in debt to Orb because without them we would have never met. Our meeting is a long and awesome story or true love that’s best told in person so the next time you see us ask us about it.

You have likely noticed that in 99% of the shots of me I’m wearing the latest, and super cutest Orb clothes. That’s because our good friends at Orb Clothing are supplying me with a full travel wardrobe for our adventures. It started from a conversation with Glen about how great Orb Clothing is for traveling. It always looks great, you can wear it anywhere, it packs easy, hardly wrinkles and is super comfy. We were talking with Glen about our upcoming world adventure and he came up with the idea of me blogging and Noel taking photos for Orb while on our adventures. Of course we said Yes, Yes, Yes!

Everywhere we go Noel and I take these amazing photos in some of the best locations in the world. Every week I’m sending both my blog posts and Noel’s photos back to Orb and in turn Orb is telling our story of love and adventure on their website. There is nothing better than working for and representing a company who you totally believe in and respect. Thanks Orb, you guys rock!

Once we have finished shooting all of the clothes that we have with us, they send a new batch to our next exotic location. Not only am I excited to be going somewhere new and amazing, I’m also super excited to see what new clothes they have sent me.

If you love what I am wearing in any of our blog photos, we invite you to have a look at their e-com website: http://www.orbclothing.ca Use our personal coupon code FREEBIRD30 and you will automatically get 30% off your entire order when shopping online!

Did I mention that Orb Clothing is totally cute, super comfortable, travels really well and it looks great when worn casually and dressed up. As you can see, I totally love Orb!

Noel Fox Photography

Posted in Adventure, Cool Shit, Photography, Shopping
Country: Canada

Jeffery’s Bay & Addo Elephant Reserve

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Noel

Jeffery’s Bay is one of those places that every surfer dreams of going. The mystique of Africa combined with an epic right hand barrelling wave in the cool sharky waters of the Indian Ocean. It’s considered to be one of the best right hand point breaks in the world and all of surfing’s legends have surfed it. I wasn’t expecting to rip it up like a pro, but I knew that all of my years surfing the southern part of Vancouver Island and it’s many right points that I was well prepared.

As we drove into this clean little beach town sprinkled with surf shops and ocean views we knew right away we liked it. It still had a little of the sketchy feeling that one gets from South Africa, but it’s laid back vibe made it much less of a worry. We booked a room on the hill overlooking the main surf beaches and I was amped to head down to one of the more famous breaks called Super Tubes to check the surf. It was the weekend and unfortunately the swell that I had been watching online had yet to show up so it was small and a little bit too crowded. Monday was sure to be less busy and I figured that if I’m going to put on my wet suite to surf a super shallow reef break in famously sharky waters I want to be able to at least get a wave with out having to battle for one. The week that we were there the big swell that was forecasted never showed up, but I made the most of it and caught some fun little waves. My brother Jason would have ripped it up here even when it’s small, but for me on my back side I really needed a little more size to surf it with any real style.

Other than getting to surf one of my childhood dream breaks, the highlights from this trip were eating daily at a great little restaurant called Nina’s and driving up to Addo Elephant Reserve on Valentines Day.

Nina’s Restaurant was so great in fact that we ate there twice a day for the entire time we were there other than missing lunch the day we went to the elephant reserve. If our hotel had not come with breakfast included I’m sure we would have eaten there three times a day. For about $12 both Josi and I could eat a great healthy dinner and be fully stuffed. They have old surf boards and locally taken surfing photos on the walls and the staff were all really friendly which we found to be rare in SA.

The Elephant reserve was super cool and if you are ever in the area you have to check it out. It’s a huge National Park that you pay to gain entry and then you drive yourself around while checking out all of the wildlife. The only advice they gave us was to not get out of our car. Within a few minutes of our drive we started seeing animals, big and small, everywhere and we were stoked.

At one point we were driving along a skinny dirt road and around the corner came a heard of about 15 elephants. There were big ones, baby ones, old ones, ones with huge tusks. At first we thought that it was really cool as they marched slowly towards us. As you can see by the photos that I was happily snapping away, they took up the entire width of the road. They came closer and closer until Josi told me, with slight urgency in her voice, to stop taking photos and to start backing. They were coming right at us and our little rental car with no sign of clearing out of our way. As I started backing up another huge bull elephant came out of the bushes directly to our left. I watched in surprise as he got closer and in doing so I backed into a bush on the side of the road and got us stuck. I’m blaming the backing up into a bush 20% because I wan’t used to driving on the wrong side of the road and 80% from the shock of being ambushed by the massive tusked elephant coming out of the bushes to our left.

I would have pulled a little forward and corrected myself, but by this point the big heard of elephants was really close to us and they were pissed. Right about the time they started nodding their heads up and down and shooting their ears out to their sides, which made them look even huger and meaner than they already were, Josi went into a panic. Every few seconds between her hyperventilating Josi was able to squeak out “I’m scared”. Shit, I was too, but I wasn’t going to let her know it because I think that she would have passed out.

Josi had visions of them not veering from their path and walking right over us or getting really pissed off and tossing our car around and smashing it to pieces. It was like a scene out of a bad horror comedy where the couple get trampled after the first few minutes. If there was a shower near by I’m sure that she would have gotten naked and jumped in.

They were visibly pissed off that we were in their way, but rather than going Rambo on us they decided to avoid the blood bath and pass us by. They were so close you could smell them as they pretty much brushed the car as they walked by. As the last one finally passed us by he bent his big old head down so that he could give me a stinky, eye to eye, look of disapproval.

It’s not every day that you get to be so close to the largest, wild, land mammal in the world. The rest of our drive through the park continued to leave us in a perpetual state of wonder as we saw one strange and exotic African animal after another.

A big thanks to Skip and Paula for the great recommendations in and around Jeffery’s Bay.

We loved our time in Jeffery’s Bay and it’s surrounding areas, but seeing all of the crazy animals at Addo makes leaving lot easier knowing that we are on our way to bush camp in Madikwe Game Reserve in Northern South Africa.

Posted in Adventure, Cool Shit, Surfing, Wildlife
Country: South Africa

The best comment wins a cheesy post card from Africa!

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Noel

Stick it on your fridge, impress your friends, feel loved! In this digital age there is nothing better than receiving actual hand written mail from friends and loved ones.

That’s why we are sending the person who writes the best comment an actual old school cheesy travel post card from us, delivered to your door, all the way from South Africa.

Enter your caption in the comments section below and the best caption wins. We leave Africa on Feb 23rd so get your comments in by Feb 22 and we will send out the winning post card the day we leave.

We snapped this shot while we were flying from Bariloche to El Calafate and thought that it was just too funny so we had to document it.

Posted in Cool Shit
Countries: Argentina, South Africa

Deeper into the Wilds of Southern Patagonia

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Noel

As you drive up to El Chalten you can’t help but be amazed by how massively towering the jagged mountain peaks are as they make for the most magnificent backdrop above this little town. Everything becomes more and more miniature, yourself included, as you slowly draw closer. Their peaks look like someone took them into Photoshop and stretched them vertically into unrealistic proportions.

Everywhere we had been prior was a little more built up and touristy than what we were expecting from Patagonia so we were stoked as we pulled into the small town of El Chalten and the rugged peaks that tower over it in all directions.

Before being let off at the bus stop we were taken to the the parks information centre for briefing of do’s and don’ts. It was like when I went cat skiing and before they let you have your fun they tell you the dangers, give you some very basic survival tips and then set you free to be as extreme as you choose to be. Having packed for a 6.5 month surfing trip around the world rather than a one month trip to Patagonia we weren’t prepared to push the limits as far as we might of otherwise. Hearing stories of people who have climbed to the tops of the biggest peaks with no visible way of possibly making it up. Not to mention that the weather seemed to change on a dime with the winds going from none at all to firing in one direction so hard you would almost fall over and then changing it’s mind and firing the other direction with even more force. We did some pretty big hikes well over 20k that took us to some amazing alpine places that few will ever have the opportunity to witness so in our own way we did feel pretty extreme.

While we did have the ocasional clouds that blew in here and there the locals told us again and again that we were in luck with the weather. The days were mostly warm enough that I only wore a tank top and pants. For the first time in our trip I actually felt chilled at night and would go out bundled up in my hoody and long pants. The town of El Chalten was built in the mid 80’s as a tool used to win a land dispute with Chile. Both countries laid claim to this remote and undeveloped part of the Andes and Argentina. Before that there was nothing there, not even a road and now there is a bustling little town that caters to hard core outdoors people. There is construction on every corner and we have been told that it bustles in the summers and then slows right down in the winters. The one thing that amazed us is that most of the structures are built out of either cinder block that seems very fragile, or particle board. In an extreme location like this that has all kinds of weather I would never imagine that anyone would build a home or a business out of particle board.

The hotel where we were staying had photos of the owner holding huge rainbow trout in the 20 to 25lbs range so I knew that we were in a good area. I was considering getting a fly fishing guide, of which there were two in town, so that I could finally catch some bigger trout. The main guide in town told me that for almost $300 CAD he would provide waders and flies, feed me lunch and take me fishing on a river for the day. He told me that we would catch 40 fish in a day which seemed pretty great, until he told me that most of them were going to be around 7 inches with only a chance of a bigger fish. We went to the other guide and the girl working at the front desk told me that for the same price we would fish a lake and would likely catch 2 or 3 trout about 2lbs each. I knew that I didn’t want to pay for a guide to catch loads of small trout as I can do that back home for free. I also knew that I didn’t want to pay to fly fish from shore on a lake because I knew that I didn’t need a guide for that as I could do it on my own.

I ended up going to a small outdoor store that also sold flies and the old guy that worked there showed me a few dry flies that he thought worked well in the rivers. I was stoked to see that they looked a little bit similar to the multitude of flies that I had brought from home. I bought two flies from him in exchange for his helpful knowledge and the next day we set off on a 1 hour shuttle bus trip to a lake that buts up against the boarder of Chile. Right when we got off the bus there was a sign that we translated as no fishing for 200m. I wasn’t sure so we asked the bus driver and he explained that we were not aloud to fish on the lake side of the sign for 200m. I was stoked because there were trout jumping everywhere so I quickly started casting into the crystal clear river. Within minutes I hooked a big rainbow trout about 3 or 4 pounds. It was funny because within minutes there was crowd of about 20 Argentinian tourists watching me fight this fish. I got it right up to the shore and as I was about to release it it snapped my line. I was surprised because I had just bought new 6lb tippet which should have been more than enough as to not snap. It felt good to hook into such a big fat trout and I was a little bummed that we didn’t get a good photo before I released it. I was also bummed that I had only bought one of the particular flies from the guy and that it was now gone. Before I was even able to get a new fly on, a military/ parks guy came up to me and asked for my fishing licence. In all of my years of fishing I have never been asked to show my licence so I’m happy that the one time it cost me $100 to buy it it actually got put to use. On top of wanting to see my licence he also informed me that the sign read that I could not fish within 200m in any direction of which I was clearly within about 5m. Luckily there were a few locals there who were with me when I was asking what the sign meant and they backed me up and let him know that a local had told me is was OK. He was cool and pointed out where I was aloud to fish and let us go. Josi asked him if we were aloud to keep fish in the river and he said no we had to let them go. He then said that he would make an exception and if we were to bonk it and put it in our bag quickly he would let us keep it. It seemed a little fishy to me, kind of like a story a surfer friend of mine who was in Mexico who bought a joint off a local, who’s friend was a police officer that just happened to be around the corner. The cop busted my friend, took the joint and gave it back to his friend and then took $100 from my buddy to let him go. Regardless of being a trap of not, as soon as we knew that it was all catch and release river we decided to not keep any.

Having just lost my one fly that hooked a big trout I went straight for one of the flies that I tied. I’m not sure if its just me, but I love fishing with flies that I personally tied way better than store bought flies so I was stoked. I was even more stoked when I started getting bites on almost every cast and catching fish after fish. The biggest fish I caught that day was a brown trout about 20 inches and I lost a rainbow that was much larger. The river was packed with fish. I caught about as many browns as rainbows. The thing I noticed about the rainbows is that they were really fat in compared to the ones back home. There was a glacier hike that we were planning on doing that day, but I was so excited to be fishing, and catching fish, that I couldn’t leave. Josi was a sport and sat in the chilly breezy sun and read while I had my fun.

A few days and a couple of really big hikes later we came back to the same spot for another day of fishing. This time Josi did the glacier hike on her own and I stayed and fished the river once again. The water had dropped quite a lot over two days and this time I was able to wade out into the small cold river allowing me room to cast to the banks on the far side. There I hooked into a really large rainbow that got off and shortly after that I hooked into another really big brown. This time I was determined to get it in and fought it more gingerly because I knew that I didn’t want to snap off again. Right when the 4lb brown was at my side and I was about to lift it so that I could take the hook out it snapped off. I couldn’t believe that another one snapped off. I tested the line that I had bought and it was strong so I’m not sure what was going on? Perhaps the pull of the river was adding a few pounds to their already large size, or perhaps it was because I wan’t handling them in like I do when I want to keep them. Either way it was great to hook into some really decent size trout on a beautiful river using a dry fly.

After spending a week in El Chalten I started to hear about more and more spots with great fishing, all of which are off the beaten path. When we come back to Argentina we will be sure to bring full trekking gear and will spend way more time way off the grid in search of some of the really big trout that I have only heard about in this part of the world.

Argentina and specifically southern Patagonia was a wonderful adventure that exceeded my expectations and I’m sure that one day we will be back. I’m writing this blog post from my big oversized, business class seat that fully reclines into a bed as we fly over the Atlantic on our way to Cape Town. I have never been to Africa and I’m super stoked for what adventures lay in wait.