A tiny fly shop with a big heart
Friday, October 14th: Buenos Aires, Argentina
It was graduation day at Vamos Academy. Matt took his post-class test and passed with flying colors… well, he at least learned enough this week to be able to comprehend the questions and have a chance at getting them right.
After class, we walked to El Parana Pesca Fly Cast shop – it was a small, narrow store that was about the size of some walk-in closets. We were there to purchase new sink tips or fly lines and wire leader for our upcoming dorado trip. Silvio gave us his recommendation, so we decided to get a 9-weight and 8-weight 250 grain sink tip fly line and overweight both our 8-weight and 7-weight rods. As he started to pull out dorado flies – big heavy tarpon-style streamers tied on 3-0 hooks – we were intrigued, but also not in the mood for the usual up-sell attempts. Then Silvio said the magic word “regalo.” He was gifting us the flies. He gave us four beautiful hand-tied flies, including a top water mouse. Then he threw in three homemade wire leaders.
Silvio quoted us at the average blue dollar rate (288 pesos per $1 USD), so we were totaled at $155 for two Rio fly lines and a roll of Scientific Anglers wire leader, which is a steal. At that point we were tempted to buy more. The retail inflation is still very confusing because the Patagonia hats had jumped in price overnight to over $100 USD. Silvio pulled out the newest Sage R8 for us to handle and admire. It was a 7-weight and light as a feather. I know what I want for Christmas this year.
We passed by a candy shop and popped in for a look. We ended up walking out with two boxes of bon bon candies (one dulce de leche and the other Oreo) plus a bag of bulk gummies that never lasts more than 36 hours, no matter the weight.
After our shopping spree, we met up with Matt’s classmates for drinks at Back Door in Palermo: Jasper (Netherlands), Marina (Spain), Nicole (Netherlands), Anton (Denmark), Julie (France), Lucas and Julian (Germany), Zolan (Switzerland), Olaf (Netherlands transplant to Argentina). After several hours, the wait staff was fed up with us. Our party kept growing and we moved tables four times, back and forth between the inside and outside tables. It was getting late, and we had to leave the group for our tango performance at Senor Tango. With our Spanish still a bit rusty, Liz asked to pay for our three lemonades and one latte. Instead, she doubled our order, and we had drinks on the way. Thankfully, Marina, the only fluent one in Spanish came to the rescue and explained the situation – though the waitress was clearly irritated. Oops.
We drove to Senor Tango and took our balcony seats for the performance. We spent two hours mesmerized by the theatrics, live musicians, singers and professional tango dancers. The show had a balance of styles from traditional to contemporary.
Accommodations: AirB&B, Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
