Back Again And Getting Ready For The Fishing Season

We are now in mid November, and this makes it that time of the year again - the time for some good, and hopefully extraordinary, trout fishing.
First some basic facts:
Location: Latitude - '0' degrees
Altitude: 2800 meters
Country: Ecuador
River: In the Andes mountain range, before reaching the Rain Forest.
Climate: Normally this side of the mountains it would be the rainy season - which means raining everyday. On the rivers side, it may occasionally rain, but it is the dry season.
State of River: Very little water. It hasn't rained, not even in the Amazon basin. Rivers are nearly dry.
Potential Fishing: Should be good this year, unless the locals have been using nets, poison or "Dupont" lures. It sounds terrible and it is, but it is a reflection of both the educatio0n and the lack of control. Hey, sometimes it is the military who use the dynamite.

Having said all that, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. When nature is on your side, and it usually is, the river, the mountains, the birds (some extraordinary river ducks and parrots) are there to guide us.

So it is time to find my fishing tackle boxes, get my tackle, check it, replace some of the stuff and maybe tie a couple of flies.

This year I will be posting about my fishing on a "day by day" basis.

Magi Of The East

The biblical Three Wise Kings are celebrated on the 6th January. The Gospel of Mathew tells us that they found the baby Jesus by following a star. Along the way they came across King Herod, who tried to trick them into telling him where this new king was.

They came bearing gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh. Warned in a dream about Herod's intentions, they left following a different route. Herod followed this up with the massacre of young children of Bethlehem.

Not much more is known about them, though popular myth gives them the names of Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar.

So on Tuesday we decided to begin our own family tradition (based lightly on the Mexican one) of celebrating the Magi from the East.

We prepared a cheese fondue, and my wife made a ring shaped loaf which after slicing became an excellent piece for scooping up the cheese.

Before eating we shared a brief prayer and talked about the Magi, not only about the biblical reference, but also about their possible journey.

We all decided this would become a yearly tradition as we had great fun (after the religious side of things it became a moment of sharing, joking, laughing and overall healthy fun).

We all had a glass of wine (a very small sip for the two youngest) and fed to our heart's content.

This is something to be repeated as it also provided an interesting alternative to the typical New Year Resolutions.

As we invented different adventures for the Magi, we realized that though the religious view has always stressed that they came to adore the Messiah, to get there they had to have had a vision and the strength of mind and dedication to follow that star.

So we shared our vision for the coming year - one particular point each. Travel, spending more time together, work and school related, and so on.

In all a moment of great joy. And a great lesson for all, but especially the children (5).

The lesson: the importance of having a vision (a goal) and the willingness to go for it.

Let's see what happens next year.