When the going gets tough, just go fishing!

Many of you readers are probably concerned about the political situation here in Bolivia. Yes, we are too, but the unrest along with the inflation and a myriad of political situations that are creating havoc here are becoming all too common. Not to say they are not serious. I often comment to people that the situation today is similar to the situation we found ourselves in when we left the country 22 years ago. But back then we had 3 children to raise and a 4th on the way. Now it's just us and we can keep our heads above water much more easily.

So what to do? Just go fishing! It has been hot, too hot to play raquetball as Daniel usually does on Saturday mornings, and besides he had the opportunity to plan tennis in the cook of the evening. So we grabbed out poles and headed out 3o minutes to the town of Warnes to a great fishing site. Yes, manmade, but a very lovely setting with landscaping and flowers and quaint little 'thatched huts' for personalized fishing - and very huge fish. No cost to fish, but you pay market price if you decide to keep any you catch. The last time we went we caught one big enough for a meal for the two of us.

Well this time, they were really biting! We got there early, in fact were the only ones at the place.

In less than an hour we had 7 huge 'pacu'. Several were so big, they broke our lines and got away. But a good thing becuase we couldn't have paid for all of them! My mom and dad would have loved to see me battle away with such huge fish, trying to reel them in and land them on shore. We selected one for the staff to cook for us while we finished up. Fresh fish grilled with parsely, garlic and lemon! A great lunch. The other six fish we had gutted out and wrapped in ice. These we brought home weighing a total of 8 kilos which is aprox. 17 1/2 pounds of fish! I sqeezed them into the refrig; we called several family members to come over tomorrow afternoon to help us enjoy the catch. We'll fire up the grill and cook them whole! One fish serves two people!

You will be happy to know, that "yes" i held the fish! but only after they were fully dead! we forgot our camera so had to wait to take pictures here at home. You can see how large they are.