Fishing Hike

April 14

After three tries, I think we finally remembered all the right hiking gear: the right layers, bottle of water, and hiking poles!  We got going about 8 in the morning and were taken up a very narrow twisty windy road – one vehicle wide.  We, being a car full plus two motorcycles following behind.  The driver left us off at a bridge across the Cañete River which flows down to Vilca, and told us he’d pick us up somewhere downstream at about noon.

Before we knew it, our friends had pulled out the most amazing breakfast picnic spread:  quinoa drink, coffee, local cheese, bread, and roasted corn.  And this wasn’t in picnic safe ware; it was china mugs and large carafes.  After everyone was satisfied, the dishes were packed up in bundles, left behind with the motorcycles and the hike began, looking for that ideal fishing spot.

 It was such a woderful place to be on a Sunday morning, enjoying God's beautiful world.  We clambered over rock fences, crossed small streams, walked along the cow paths following the river, sometimes down at river level and other times along the cliffs.  Along the way we saw some natural bridges where the river disappeared underneath and reappeared on the other side.

The river disappears under the bridge and reappears on the other side.

The farmers add stone fences in between the boulders to keep the cattle herds apart. 

We passed a rock fence enclosure where the women were milking cows.  The one was competing with the calf for the milk!  It’s a long walk to the village from here so they process the milk into cheese right on site and they may also camp there for a time. 

Eventually we came across a wide meadow and the river was flowing slowly.  Our guide, Mario, pulled out a reel of fish-line from one pocket and a jar of worms from the other.  He flung the line into the water and immediately pulled it out with a trout on the end of the line.  Dave was eager to give it a try, but didn’t have the right technique.  Soon the rest of the group arrived and one of them was using conventional fishing equipment.  Dave gave it a go, and before long he too had the right bend in the rod.  A little rainbow trout!  He was a happy man because trout fishing was the one thing he’d wanted to do here in Vilca.