As I have caught up on all my more recent adventures it is time that I finish up on our trip to Argentina. As you recall Steve and I traveled to Argentina in February and March. His goal continues to be to catch a fish each month until he drops dead or can’t jerk anymore fish lips; whichever comes first. Steve is off fishing every day and I am reading and blogging. You need to recall that due to my being on blood thinners due to a clot in February 2017 I didn’t do any horseback riding at Arroyo Verde as the nearest hospital is over two hours away. If I were to fall and hurt myself, well it might be “Goodbye-Linda” and my loyal fans would not like that. Or at least I hope they would not like that! For the superstitious I have just knocked wood and spat three times. 
I started my day with my normal breakfast of scrambled eggs with two slices of bacon. 
Steve opted with his usual mushroom omelette.
We said good bye at breakfast to my friends from South in the United States. They were a lot of fun, and the guys caught some great fish. The Crazy Male Argentinians contingent was still going to be here for a few days, and a wife and daughter would be coming Wednesday. I was looking forward to meeting them.
I was also excited as new guests were arriving late in the day. A Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Hmm. Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Now even I can recognize a fake name. Who might our new guests be? Hollywood royalty like Brad Pitt and a girlfriend? You will have to wait until dinner time for the answer to that question!
There was a lot of talk at meal time about a beautiful fishing spot near Kilometer 9. The road from the gate to the estancia was ten kilometers, so this marker was only about a kilo from where we were staying.
Here is my guide, of course I have forgotten his name. He is from France, and had a delicious accent. You can see here how big the rocks were that we had to scramble over. 
In the spring time the water levels really rise, you can see some of the sticks and brush that have accumulated up the banks of the river.
It was very interesting to see the erosion of the rocks due to water over thousands of years.
We had spied Dennis, one of the other guests, and his guide on the way to look at the stream. They had started to pack up and look for another spot to fish at, as the fish were not biting here. Dennis loved looking the part of an Argentine angler with his cap. The cap has a special name, I don’t think it is just called a beret! 
This is a close up of the fly box the guide had. And Steve will tell us what the flies are when he edits this post for me. Jump in here Steve! editors note: clockwise from upper left : Zonker, Foam Beetle, Fat Albert, Prince nymph, Parachute Adams, Argentine mystery fly.
I had enough traipsing over the rocks by now, and I suggested we head back to the Estancia. 
Soon it was time to have lunch and look at another pretty place setting. Looks like ham rolled around some kind of spread, with fresh tomatoes. 
Katrina had to go into town to get her Toyota truck an oil change and service. I was granted the honor to push the button to notify the wait staff that we were ready for the next course! You can only imagine how thrilled I was to push the button. I am being serious here. Those that know me, know that I am thrilled by the simplest things in life. I may like to go to exotic places and meet interesting people, but give me a chance to be the hostess and push a button -Whoa!
I think in my next life I am going to come back as a hostess of a lodge. I love meeting people and entertaining. Unfortunately it’s not all fun and games. You rarely have time off, and sometimes there are difficult guests that need to be entertained or subtlety told to shut up. And sometimes their checks bounce.
Here is a picture of our lunch. I can identify the salad, carrots, a grilled onion, and what appears to be a piece of mystery meat.
As a reminder, at Arroyo Verde we had breakfast at about 8:30, and then the anglers would go out for the first fishing session. They would return and then we would have a full lunch at 2:30, followed by a siesta. Around 5:00 the anglers would go out again, and then return at 9 or so. Each evening we had a full dinner at candlelight, with fine china and linens. Those guests who did not fish could hike, ride, read or nap. I did a lot of blogging and reading, with some walking. 
This was a great place to sit and blog and read. 
After Steve went fishing in the late afternoon the dogs joined me on a walk. They were very protective of me.
We went over a stream and guess what happened? 
Yes, The Labrador’s ditched me to go for a swim! 
Soon it was time for me to return to our suite. This is where all the trucks are parked when the guides are back from fishing. No one is back but me! 
Soon it was evening and time for some canapés. These little hot dogs were difficult to skewer! 
These guys were much easier to pick up and eat!
Soon it was time to sit down for another elegant meal. By this time Katrina had returned and I lost my spot taking care of the buzzer! 
Here is a closeup of the first plate, it shows flies used to catch the fish here.
This is the dinner plate. They were all hand painted and were from 1953!
Dinner is served! Looks like we had potatoes, salad, tomatoes and salmon. 
We needed a scrumptious dessert, and here it is! 
Cheesecake with strawberries!
Now to tell you about Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I was waiting all day to find out if they were someone truly worthy of their own LindaExcellentAdventure post. Well, they ended up with a paragraph. Our mystery guests arrived after I returned from my afternoon walk.
Mr. And Mrs. Smith, were actually the Smiths. They were not famous, just regular people. He had recently retired form the government and they had homes in South Carolina and in Washington State where their adult daughter lived. Mrs. Smith was an executive recruiter. Of course I googled her, and she had about ten jobs in the last seven years. I think people found her difficult to work with. The Smith’s did not like Donald Trump, and alternated between making the sign of the cross, shaking their heads and spitting if the President’s name was mentioned. Not really, they just pouted.
Their financial advisor told them they didn’t have to work anymore and could retire and travel. Sounds like they had listened to Dean Witter years ago! He was an angler, she was not. She was going to go out with a bird guide the next day. Steve thought they were nice, I did not like them at all. She was a bit snooty for me.
They loved South America and were looking forward to renting an apartment in Buenos Aires next spring for six weeks. They felt that you needed that long to truly see the city. That sounded like a lot of walking and museum touring for me. Not exactly my cup of tea. I prefer a little of this and a lot of people watching. The Smith’s were planning on inviting their friends to stay with them in Argentina for a week or two next year.
At this point I started laughing to myself. Remember my post about Tipiliuke and the house by the river? I was entranced by that house along the Chimehuin that was for sale. 
I was also envisioning buying it and inviting our friends down to stay for a week next year. Then I came to my senses, as Steve and I have problems getting our friends to visit us in Lake George. How in the world are we going to get them to take a 10 hour plus flight from NYC to BA, plus another flight to Tipiluike? No way that was going to happen. Well, I wish Mr. and Mrs. Smith good luck on their adventure next year. Perhaps, they may have friends visit them after all.
Do you like cheesecake?
Are you retired?
Are you snooty?
