San Antonio de Areco, Argentina

I was just in Argentina for a few weeks and spent a majority of my time in Patagonia. In lieu of spending my final three days in Buenos Aires (I spent my first two and a half days of this trip in Buenos Aires) I was told about a great little town a few hours drive from Buenos Aires. I found a hotel in San Antonio de Areco and canceled my room in Buenos Aires...

My hotel was, Posada de la Plaza. It's a charming hotel and San Antonio is a wonderful small town. Men, older generally, went out of their way to start conversations with me when I was out in town and often either asked me to join them at dinner or lunch or joined me for a cafe con leche in the late morning at an outside table in front of a bar.

Argentine food is also a real treat. With Spanish and Italian influences, the food in Areco is fantastic.

It was a surreal experience. From the architecture to the people, I left San Antonio de Areco absolutely blown away and wanting to go back...

Here are images from my short time in San Antonio de Areco:

Empanadas & Malbec

A feast with Diego and Antonio. They are kind and gracious men who went out of their way to show me their town. Antonio (pictured on the right) owns this restaurant on the outskirts of town and hosted me to an asado lunch. Empanadas as starters followed by a tortilla (think quiche) and then asado...

Asado

Hotel Posada de la Plaza

Argentina 2017

I just got back from a two week trip to Argentina. It's fall down there and a great time to visit. I was on an assignment for a publication for a story on Jorge Trucco. Jorge is a legend in the Argentine world of fly fishing and it was an honor to have spent time with him at some of his favorite places and rivers (A lot more to come on Jorge).

It was also an honor to work in collaboration with Val Atkinson on this piece. I traveled with Val and his partner Susan Rockrise along with Jorge to 4 different lodges in Argentine Patagonia: Limay River Lodge, San Huberto, Tipiliuke Lodge, and Arroyo Verde.

I'll be posting images from the trip here over the course of the next week or so. Outside of the fishing, I discovered--was directed really by someone from there--an incredible small town pop. 24,000 (approx.) called San Antonio de Areco located about 2 or so hours west by car from Buenos Aires. It was a great surprise!

The people of Areco could not have been kinder. The architecture is also stunning. It's an old world gaucho town. I did not come across another American in my three days there. I befriended a man by the name of Diego, he invited me one night to join him and three others for dinner. He ended up taking me all over the Areco area. He's a kind man and I was really blown away by the overall kindness of everyone I met there.

Many more images to come...

Diego Kelly of San Antonio de Areco sits in a bar during a typical Argentine lunch of Malbec and asado.

Boliche Bessinart. An historic old gaucho bar in Areco.

A West Coast Face

Whataroa, New Zealand.

Lots of stories on this particular evening in a West Coast pub on the South Island. Each time he walked away from my table he'd go to another table and laughs would fill the room. He was drawn to the table I was at though and told stories until the two of us, after walking 18 miles on this day, hobled into our our room down the hall. The best part was the open window in my room looked out at an outside patio and this guy had a large group of people laughing until well past 2am...

New Zealand 2017

I recently got back from a great trip to New Zealand's South Island. This trip was met with a lot of wind and rain, but over the course of 20 days there were a few gems.

My trip was divided in two: The first part I spent with a good friend and fellow Ketchum area guide, Zac Mayhew, hiking into backcountry streams and drinking jugs of Speights at any local watering hole we could find. We both made a critical error on day one and bought a couple of meat pies each and put them in our pack to eat later for lunch. Not a great idea unless you like cold and smashed and six-hours-from-the-oven pies. That same day, we spent a rainy night in a tent full of hundreds of sand flies and mosquitos. We were out of the tent very very early making coffee in the rain...

We flew into Christchurch and fished the Canterbury, West Coast and Nelson / Marlborough areas. On at least four or five of our days, we walked a minimum of 15 miles, often putting ourselves in beautiful backcountry settings with no angler in sight. Long walks meant a little less fishing time as we often ended our fishing around 3:30 or so to give us time to make it back to the car by dark.

The second part of my trip was spent at River Haven Lodge near Murchison.

New Zealand People Black and White

One of my favorite parts of traveling is meeting people along the way and if I'm lucky, getting a portrait of them.

I just got back from a trip to New Zealand and am in the midst of editing through images from the trip.

Here are two black and white images of two different people...

Jimmy. Owner of Wilsons Pub in Reefton, New Zealand.

I spent 4 nights at Wilsons in Reefton (eating dinner and drinking jugs of Speights two years ago with my dad) and Jimmy joined my father and I each night for dinner and then of course beer. We got to know Jimmy as well as one could over the course of 4 nights. I even took a portrait of Jimmy two years ago and sent it to him which he still has and showed me on my recent trip. 

In any event, I was lucky enough to spend two nights with Jimmy at Wilsons on my recent trip. He immediately remembered me when I walked in on a rainy and cold summer's evening (New Zealand summer) and while I wasn't with my dad this time, he remembered him as well. Jimmy is a kind and dynamic person who will share plenty of great stories to any willing patron.

A Whatoroa native. 

This guy, man, character, cranky old codger, is a tried and true West Coast man. He had a table full of us laughing into the wee hours in a small pub in Whatoroa on New Zealand's West Coast. He was proud that his father served with American GI's at Guadalcanal. He called me, "Yankee Doodle Dandy" with a big grin. He told stories that went on and on in great detail about dynamiting and shooting.

More images to come...

Anglers Journal

I have a featured piece, both words and photography, in the current issue of Anglers Journal. Last January I spent three weeks with the Salas family at their family owned and operated lodge, Los Torreones, in Chilean Patagonia.

Pancho Salas, the patriarch, blew me away with his work ethic, kind heart, sense of humor and genuineness. He has passed those traits on to his four children as well, three of whom are fantastic guides.

A big thank you to John Mullen for introducing me to Pancho and his family. I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to stay with the Salas family in their home and lodge for the amount of time that I did.

I am looking forward to getting back there and hopefully sooner rather than later.

Deadbeat Dam

A deadbeat dam. It's very surreal but no longer serves a functioning purpose. It's a cop out to me--albeit a time honored tradition in the west--to retire dams or mines or anything for that matter and leave them as de facto corpses.

Fish Creek Dam. Idaho.