Argentina Report Trip

Argentina Repor Trip by NIM - Wednesday 5th March to Thursday 20th March 2008


Having finally decided to take the plunge and book a fishing and shooting trip to Argentina, the following log is a record of what I thought of it and is intended as a guide to those who are “teetering on the brink” so that they can make an informed decision to visit this fascinating country.

My wife, Tiggy and sons, Freddie and George were on the team, although George could only be there for the second week so missed out on the sea trout fishing.

29th February

Visit from Vincent York who had just returned from Tierra del Fuego.  He reported a lack of water and few fish.  He also lent me one 8wt 200 grain sinking line and put the fear of God into me with a list of tackle requirements which will make John Norris smile!

1st March

Having gone through my fishing tackle I realised that I needed to spend some more money.  Visited John Norris with Tiggy – new stocking foot waders and boots for her – much lighter than boot foot type and easier to pack, new wading jacket for Freddie, and 2 x poly leader wallets with full range of interchangeable tips.  Various dry flies with exotic names and rubber legged sea trout flies.  Seagur leader material 8lbs for the brown trout (lots of weed) and 15lbs for sea trout.  Sport tube to carry rods – waders etc.

3rd March

Put all the fishing kit in the hall.  Tiggy wisely observed  “we are not going to Scotland you know …..”  Packed sport tube very cleverly with 5 rods and 3 pairs of waders.

4th March

Panicked that I had not got the right kit and spoke to the very helpful Jeff Robinson at Fawcetts who told me that what I really wanted was a technical rod and a shooting head system – nice one Jeff.  Now I am really nervous that I have packed all the wrong kit!  However I bought a 300 grain Teeny line from him so feeling a bit happier!

Spoke to an old friend, Simon who is an old T.d.F hand and shared mutual rod tube packing experiences.  He also said that a shooting head system was a nightmare to cast – so I now feel a bit happier.  Squeezed suitcases shut and wedged sport tube into taxi.  MAN-LHR.  Transfer to Terminal 4 (will all our kit make the connection….?).

Met up with Freddie at LHR and felt more relaxed after a couple of sharpeners with Piers who we bumped into on his way to Hong Kong on a wine selling trip.  Overnight flight via San Paulo and met another team who were going to T.d.F on the plane.

6th March

Arrived in B.A. feeling a bit shell shocked – about to change money at bank in the luggage reclaim hall but told by helpful local that the exchange rate was rubbish.  Tried to download emails and make my phone work without much success.

All bags arrived, with the exception of rod box.  Could the other team have picked it up in error – made contact and they had not.  Reported missing bag – cleared customs and met the very patient Leticia who had been waiting for over 1 hour for us to clear.

After an all too brief lunch at hotel went to meet Santiago at his office to discuss the fortnight ahead.

Dinner at La Cabrera with 3 of Freddie’s friends from Cumbria.  Bed at 2 am (Freddie @ 5 am!).

7th March

After an excellent breakfast, off to Metro Polis on Florida to change some money into Pesos.  Shopping and sighseeing.

Picked-up at 1.45 pm by Leticia and taken to the domestic airport, Jorge Newbery.  Leticia has adopted the rod problem even though the fishing had not been booked by her.  She was in contact with Santiago at Nervous Waters and Prana Turisimo the agents who book internal flights in Argentina, and Alexandra at the BA lost luggage desk.

Arrived Rio Gallegos airport after a fairly raucous flight with Malvinas veterans returning for a 25th anniversary celebration.  No car to collect us at airport so got taxi to the Santa Cruz Hotel which was a bit of a come down after the Regal Pacific in BA.  No contact from Santiago, who was celebrating his sister’s wedding. Rang Leticia although my phone had the irritating habit of cutting out after 3 rings – it nearly ended up in pieces…..

After buying a digital camera for Freddie in a surprisingly good hardware store we had a very good supper at Puesto Molina although vodka and tonic translated into a tumbler of vodka and no tonic!

Sleepless night due to street celebrations and vehicles of all sorts without exhaust pipes.  However all this was tempered by the sound of traffic driving on wet roads – perhaps this is the rain which will bring the river up!!

8th March

Picked up at 10.30 am by Gaston in his Toyota pick-up and after putting our bags in bin-liners to protect them from the mud, we headed off to meet some of the other members of the party at the airport.  Gaston, or ‘Tonga’ as he is called by the other members of the team, is one of the guides at Bella Vista and a marine biologist.  His wife, who lives in Rio Gallegos is an agronomist and works for the government.

Great excitement at the airport where we met Richard, his two sons, Nick and William and his Australian son-in-law, Will.  They had very kindly brought my rod box down from B.A. and there it was in all its glory about to be loaded into the Toyota.  Huge sigh of relief – why does one get so attached to fishing rods?!

Interesting 1.5 hour drive on dirt road to Bella Vista Lodge.  This is being paved at the moment so next year the journey should take less time.

 

Greeted by Valentin and Marionella, fishing and lodge managers and later met 3 North Americans who had stayed over to fish for a second week.  C.D., Judith and Tom.  Delicious lunch; the chef had come from El Bulli in Barcelona and after the fishing season was going to the Fat Duck in Bray.

Siesta, although too excited to sleep!

Met guides at 7.30 pm and assembled rods.  They rejected my expensive Seagur leader material and put their own Maxima 15lbs test which they preferred – you live and learn! (I noticed that there was even a road sign Maxima – so that’s where they got the name from..!) Tonga explained the dynamics of the Rio Windcutter system, which had always been a bit of a mystery to me – now I understand what the grey ‘compensator’ line is for.

English contingent arrived at 8.30 pm having overslept and got tackled up.  They had quite a stressful time getting down to Rio Grande as their taxi crashed on the way to pick them up at their hotel at 3.30 am and they only just made the internal flight (and carrying my large rod box as well!)

Unable to curb our enthusiasm any longer we set off on the 15 minute walk to the Home Pool where we thrashed about for a couple of hours with the aid of  Tonga’s map which Freddie had memorised – sort of. Interesting that the guides used ‘white boards’ to explain not only the lies in the pools on a plan basis but also a cross section of the pool, showing the geography of the bottom.  It was a beautiful windless evening and I thought a collie dog would do the trick but the fish thought otherwise.  We stumbled back in the half light and a saw a fox.

Dinner was preceded by Mojitos, whisky, lentil soup in glasses, egg, bacon and banana nibbles – strange!

Good bonding party although C.D had gone to bed early to save himself for the fish.

9th March

Woke up to a grey day; it looked like rain.  Set off at 9.15am with Michael our Swedish guide for the day and drove for about 40 minutes to Beat 3, having passed by a gaucho’s house “puesto” and cliffs which contained some very ancient cave paintings.  Saw a lot of wildlife.  Rheas, skunks, foxes, kestrels, snipe, falcons and carra carra birds.  This really is a haven for wildlife of all sorts and sizes “…just like Jurassic Park!”



In the first pool of the day, I started the day badly with a zinger malfunction; the plastic shell fell to bits and quite apart from the retractable cord birdnesting, I heard an ominous plop as my forceps disappeared to the bottom of the rio.  Overreacting, as one does in these situations I plunged my arm into the water and just managed to save the tool from disappearing, although I got a soaking in the process and my camera was submerged for a second or two – what an error!  However, I had a small pull in this pool and we then proceeded, with Toyota heater working overtime, to Mandela’s flats.  I fished this pool and Freddie dropped down to Harry’s Bar.  Tiggy fished the pool above Mandela’s flats and caught a beautiful fresh 8lb sea trout on a G.P.S.  When Michael tailed it the hook point fell off the main shank – an Allelulia moment if ever there was one!  As this was the first fish to have been caught in this pool it was named Tiggy’s Pool.  Fame at last!!

Tiggy later caught a feisty 2lb brown trout which had Michael running along the bank to help!  Very cold water 10ºC.

Water temperature the week before had been fairly constant 15ºC and now that the weather had changed and water temperature dropped so dramatically, Michael explained that it would take a couple of days for conditions to settle down, and for the sea trout to start taking again.

We returned to lodge for lunch.  Lychees and meatballs, ‘deconstructed’ tortilla followed by lunch of pasta and goats cheese with pumpkin and an exploding pudding which did not live up to expectations!  Much hilarity, bought on by an excellent Argentine Malbec!

Good siesta and uneventful afternoon.  Saw a lot more wildlife and good selection of wildfowl, Magellan geese, mallard and teal.  Bed at 2 a.m.

10th March

On beat 4 today with Argentine guide Patrick Green ‘Packet’.  Water rose slowly all day which brought plenty of hope and sage predictions of running fish.  Brilliant clear day and delightful picnic which was completed with very special crème caramels in individual glass jars, but no action on the river.  Saw Andes in the far distance.

 
11th March

Fished with Tonga on beat 1 and tried his Sage T.C.R. which felt like a pole.  Changed back to Sage 14’ 1410 which behaved much better.  Bitterly cold easterly wind and no action which was rather depressing.  Cheered  up at lunchtime and bought a new rod and reel which I had promised myself for ages – the exchange rate for American kit working in our favour for once.  Also a fleece jacket for Tiggy and one for me.  Freddie borrowed C.D’s flame orange hunting vest (and Tom’s spare waders as his had sprung a leak).  Tonga kindly prepared the equipment for me and put loops on all the Rio heads.

Started the afternoon session in Carr Park and Freddie had a good pull just before the large rock.  We had seen a fish show here a couple of times earlier in the afternoon and it looked an impressive beast.

Moved, or rather dragged away to Chinook and Bridge and were met by the chef Dante and his assistant Laura, both in chef’s whites, with a hot chocolate – very welcome, but a bit bizzare.  Frustrating pool to fish with not a lot of flow in the low water.  I had a pull while talking to Tonga as I lengthened line at the start of the session, but apart from that no action.

When we got back to Bella Vista, Tim arrived beaming having caught an 18lb fish in Carr Park on a yuk bug after we had left the pool….***********!

As a matter of course, if fishing on beat 4 during the day, guides like to move their clients closer to the estancia for the evening session so as to spend the maximum amount of time on the water at dusk – a peak time for sea trout.  Beat 4 is about 1.5 hours drive from Bella Vista, and ‘poaching’ on another client’s pool is only done with the guide’s consent.  On returning to the estancia, we also discovered that C.D. had caught an 18lb fish in Heaven at 3.00 p.m. when we were all sleeping!

After dinner, C.D. gave a fly tying master class aided by Tiggy’s pink nail polish!  Bed at 2.00 a.m. – perhaps this will be a fly full of ferramones?

12th March

Valentin, the head guide and camp manager looked after us today and we headed off with great expectations to beat 2.  30 mph westerly wind was tossing white caps off the waves as we waded into Fox Rocks. Valentin told us of a famous fishing journalist who had caught a fish – on camera in the same pool on his second cast, so our spirits were raised as the spray hit us in the back!  Snuggling down inside a good wading jacket hood is surprisingly cosy while the wind is making the water ‘very nervous’.  Certainly when buying a jacket one should put the hood up and make sure there is enough room inside for a cap or hat; there is nothing more irritating than a small hood which pulls a cap over your eyes when you move.  I made a mental note to bring warmer trousers next time as my chinos were too thin and also a thick fleece jacket

Valentin brought us coffee in mid river in splash proof mugs.  Very welcome and an alternative use for the large ‘bellows’ pockets on the front of a good wading jacket.

We then moved to Monica’s 1 & 2 where both Freddie and Tiggy caught good brown trout 3-4lbs, one without a left eye – is this a congenital defect or simply a consequence of trout jumping onto the grassy bank and cutting their eye on sharp grass – which was Valentin’s explanation?

After lunch, conscious that time was running out, Freddie and I set off to the Home Pool with Nick who caught a nice 7lb fish on a rubber legs at Sherrif Rock.  Freddie helped him land it and took an archive photo as well!  

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As we were making our way to Abbot Pool, Valentin bravely said that he always catches a fish in Abbot!  After about 15 minutes his prediction came true and I hooked up with a lovely 15lb fish on a ‘rheanator’ the large leech pattern tied by C.D. and embellished with Tiggy’s pink nail polish!  It was a great fish to christen my new equipment and to see the backing run through the rod rings for once.

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On returning to the lodge, C.D. had caught a 15 lb fish, Richard a 9lb fish and Tim an 11lb fish.  Will had also lost a good fish.  It just proves that once the river has settled down and the wind blows to stir up the water, these are the conditions one wants on this shallow river.  C.D., who was on his 9th or 10th visit to Rio Gallegos had been telling us the night before, of the river’s ability to ‘turn on’ suddenly and this session more than proved his theory.

C.D. came into breakfast having caught a 6lb fish on the home pool - Sherrif Rock.  Great expectations were had by all of us as we set off to beat 3 with Michael.  Quiet morning and we returned to the lodge for a delicious Asado lunch cooked to perfection by Packet’s brother Mark – a professional snow boarder.

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Back to the lodge to hear that C.D. had lost a big fish of 20lbs + in Flamingo.

14th March

Tiggy and Freddie fished Junction and I went to Aquarium with a single handed rod.  Packet taught me the ‘double haul’ and how to skate a bomber over the surface of the pool using a hitched fly. Once your brain can convince your hands to do what they are told, one can cast a great distance with this technique, but it is a bit like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time! Very enjoyable morning but no fish.

After Tiggy had fished Thunder again, we set off to Junction for a repeat of the morning session.  However I fished a most attractive and interesting corner pool, Surprise and had a couple of good taps.  A flight of teal flew very close by; this is a really beautiful time of day.  Changed my fly to a ‘Sunray Shadow’, which felt really lucky, but sadly no result.

Both Tiggy and Freddie had good pulls but I had no action here.  My casting went to pieces and I got more and more frustrated.  Lost Packet’s leech fly.  Got back to the lodge late at 11.30 and then had to sort out and pack away all the kit whilst the guides had arrived for a farewell party.  A chance to thank them all for all their hard work on a difficult week (2nd worst on record!).

Up at 7.00 a.m. and left for the airport at 8.30.  At the airport Valentin took care of all the baggage and we then had an impromptu party in the café joined by John T and his wife who had been staying the night in Rio Gallegos and were going to fish the following week.  A shame we couldn’t have joined up – perhaps next year?

Long Johns / fleecy trousers

Fleeces, gloves, woolly hat

Reel bag/cover to protect reel/line from dust whilst driving from pool to pool

Presents for guides

Single barbless hooks, leeches, rubber legs, G.P.S. and Collie Dogs

Eye drops

Head torch

Photos of other fishing destinations to show guides.

We took far too many fly boxes – there is a very well stocked cabinet at the estancia and next time I will take just a couple of fly wallets and buy extras from the well stocked shop.

We were very lucky with the group with whom we ended up fishing; the Americans were very knowledgeable – C.D. in particular about Rio Gallegos and spey casting techniques as he runs his own courses.  Also the ‘Rheanator’ fly, tied with Rhea feathers was a winner.  The English contingent were great company and the Aussie completed the international line up, and was also a very accomplished fisherman.  Fishing with your own group of friends would be fun but then you would miss out on the fishing tales and techniques of other worldly anglers.  Judith and Tiggy added glamour to the week and kept the party civilized and great fun.

CATCH REPORT FOR BELLA VISTA 8^TH – 14^TH MARCH 2008

                        C.D.                 7lbs  hen         V. fresh           Bridge Pool

9^th                    Tiggy               8lbs  hen         V. fresh           Tiggy’s Pool

10^th                  William             8lbs  hen         Dark               Carr Park

                        William             5.5lbs  hen      Not fresh         Bridge Pool

11^th                  C.D.                 18lbs  hen       Not fresh        Thunder

                        William             18lbs  hen       Fresh              Carr Park

12^th                  Nicholas           5lbs  hen         V. fresh           Home Pool

                        Nick M.             15lbs  hen       Turning           Abbott’s

                        C.D.                 15lbs  hen       V. fresh           Bridge Pool

                        Tim                  11lbs  hen       Turning           Heaven

                        Richard            9.5 lbs            Dark                Thunder

13^th                  C.D.                  5lbs                V. fresh           Home Pool

                        C.D.                  5lbs                V. fresh           L. Monica’s

                        C.D.                22lbs                Dark                Fox’s Rocks

15th March

Got back to B.A. on time and transferred to our Hotel with rods!   After a steak sandwich in the hotel we went out shopping to Arandu in Recoletta to buy belts and leather goods, also very nice silver and polo gear, gaucho hats and riding goods (Arandu also have a shop in Cordoba).

George had arrived the day before and teamed up with a friend from Cumbria and was nowhere to be seen!  We returned to the hotel for a siesta and to catch up on emails.  Also tried to organise a drying room for the waders and boots so they wouldn’t fester for a week in the suitcase!   Repacked one of the fishing bags with kit to be left at the hotel and checked the rod tube to make sure I had remembered all the rods. 

Left the hotel at 9.30 p.m. after an excellent gin and tonic in the bar.  The tango show was in a very swish complex near the Hilton Hotel at Rojo Tango.  The performance didn’t start until 10.30 p.m. and ended at midnight – brilliant show and worth doing.  We had an excellent sushi at the Sushi Club on Puerto Madero overlooking the harbour.  Returned to the Regal Pacific at 3.00 a.m. – boys went clubbing and returned at 5.00 a.m.  Thank goodness the clocks went back so we gained an hour, otherwise we would have missed our early morning rendevous with Leticia.

16th March   

Leticia joined us for breakfast and very efficiently we were whisked away to the Alvear Hotel to pick up J. D. and D.N.  Their golf had been a huge success with very good caddies and they were able to rent clubs.

At the airport Leticia took our passports and organised our luggage and boarding passes – painless!  It was a 1 hour flight to Cordoba.

Met at Cordoba in baggage reclaim by a ‘Nervous Waters’ representative who very efficiently took all the luggage tags and got the bags off the carousel and onto a porters trolley as they came in; I could get used to this!  We went through the V.I.P. lounge and were met by David Dennis’ daughter, Marionella, who said we were going straight to the field for lunch and shooting – slight panic as all we wanted to do was go to the estancia and catch up on some sleep!  Also all our shooting kit was packed away somewhere - but if this is the usual programme we were up for it! 
Travelled in a mini bus for about 1.5 hrs to the shooting field but the fairly clueless driver got lost and somehow managed to avoid getting a puncture whilst doing a couple of 3 point turns on the acacia scrub.  To save time we changed into shooting kit whilst waiting for the field manager, Horatio, to arrive.  It didn’t help that mobile signal was almost non existent.

Lunch was excellent and certainly lived up to expectations – plenty of red meat and wine to fortify our flagging bodies before the afternoon ’session’.  We were taken to different locations; I was led to a secluded spot by a stream and introduced to my bird boy, Antonio.  Very good and varied shooting; the birds appeared to be very  small and fast and the 20 bore I was borrowing didn’t seem to move quickly enough to catch up with these birds.  After shooting 50 birds I stopped for a break – after 100
birds I left the stand and went to team up with Freddie who was a few hundred yards away. 
 
With another 50 birds in the bag George appeared over the horizon and came to join us for a ’family shoot’.  Ended the afternoon having shot about 500 cartridges; the boys shot 750 cartridges each – time for a fatherly chat as at this rate they will bankrupt me!

Good dinner with an interesting group; we were joined by an American doctor and his son and Hank the Frontiers South American representative.   Bed at 10.50 p.m. how civilized!

17th March

A wake up call was arranged for 7.30 a.m. with breakfast being served at 8.00 a.m. Avoided the Gaucho Breakfast which was mainly meat with a token fried egg. Left
La Dormida at 8.30 a.m. sharp in the minibus and headed for the field. After yesterdays’ manic afternoon session I felt a bit shell shocked and budgeted the boys to 1,000 cartridges a day which they were quite relieved about I think.


The site for today’s shoot was about half an hour’s drive from the estancia in some open country on the edge of good agricultural land at the edge of some hills where a tent had been erected for lunch.  Morning session was much more relaxed and we shot quite close to each other which was fun.  I didn’t shoot my 500 cartridges, nor did Freddie who was 100 cartridges short.
 
Excellent relaxed lunch in the shade of the tent.  We did not have a siesta but went out about 4 p.m. for a less pressurised afternoon, swapping positions between the 3 of us which was interesting.  When starting a new ‘session’ fresh, unopened cartridge cases of 250 are brought to the field regardless of how many are left from the previous session – I was assured that an accurate count was being made.  Mental note to bring a clicker next time to count the birds shot as I thought that the bird boys were a bit erratic.  George was taught to shoot from the hip by Horatio in the afternoon – as if he needed any more encouragement - his plan to take out the semi automatic tomorrow was strongly discouraged!

Met up with the others and had a relaxing drink in the field watching endless streams of birds coming over.  Back at the lodge by 6.00 p.m. had tea etc and asked for dinner to be served at 9.00 p.m. to give us time to recover.  Much more relaxed, having sundowners on the terrace and a walk in the grounds.

Excellent dinner of grilled chicken on a bed of cheesy polenta.  Got into a drinking session with Hank, David & Jonathan drinking Frenet, Jack Daniels, beer and champagne. As Hank had an important meeting the following day to discuss next years contract, this encouraged us to keep him from his sleep; we went looking for frogs for frog racing, but luckily they had gone to bed!

18th March

Fried eggs and bacon, that well known hangover cure set us up for the day; luckily Tiggy and I are off to Pica Zuro with the manageress, Veronica to see the other estancia run by D.D. Very relieved not to be shooting this morning as the shoulder is bruised despite the Past pad  The team set off at 8.45 a.m. with, the other field guide
  
Constant shooting from George’s direction.  Started shooting again and was joined a bit later by David who was off games.  David stayed for a beer and then left – about 10 minutes later Jonathan joined me to see what was happening on the hill top.  The doves vary in the way they present themselves to each position and the guides are very good at moving you around to give you the type of shot you want to practice. I ended the afternoon having shot 400 cartridges.

Walked down the hill back to the vehicle and tipped the field assistants US $50 per gun per day and the cooks $150 in total.  Got $50 from each of the guns and gave the balance to Pablo when we returned us to Cordoba airport.

Returned to La Dormida for a drink, shower and packing.  Excellent Bar B Q lunch – paid bills and got the final tallies/invoice at the bar which was settled by credit card.
 
We had a team photo for the gallery in the kitchen and left for the airport at 2.00 p.m. so that we could visit Arandu in Cordoba on the way.  However there was a police road block as there was an anti export tax demonstration by angry farmers and a bit further along the road so we took a back road, via a Jesuit monestary and through some beautiful estancias.  Saw a couple of very smartly turned out grooms with 10 polo ponies – beautiful sight.  Got to the airport at about 4.45 p.m. and enjoyed the facilities of the V.I.P. lounge.  The bags were taken away and checked in for us. Caught up on my emails.  N.B. mobile phones didn’t work at La Dormida or on the shoot – there was only a short stretch of road on the way to and from the shooting field where they worked.  Marionella, very kindly booked a fish restaurant for us in B.A. 

Good flight back to B.A. and met by the very efficient Alex, Leticia’s husband who was also meeting a Roxton’s party.  He whisked us off to our hotel The Regal Pacific via The Alvear where Jonathan and David were staying. They had a quick turn around as they had booked dinner and a Tango show later that evening.

Arrived at our hotel and then out to dinner at 9.30 p.m.  Met our Cumbrian friends and had a drink in the hotel bar.  Then a 10 minute walk to the Dora restaurant through a downpour – we arrived looking like drowned rats but soon dried out.  This was an inspired choice by Marionella, a very old fashioned fish restaurant with hams and garlic hanging from the ceiling.  Bill for 7 was 1,400 pesos – say £250 with plenty of wine, brandy etc.  Returned to the hotel at about 1.30 a.m. and George went out on the town returning to the hotel in daylight.

20th March

A relaxed start to the day.  Leticia met us at 10.15 a.m. by which time I had retrieved a roll of silver duct tape from my fishing bag, which had been in there for years waiting for a useful purpose and stuck a couple of strips onto the rod box and indelibly wrote my name and address on it in permanent marker!  This also made the box easy to describe should it go missing on the way home.

Went via the Alvear Palace and picked up Jonathan and David who had enjoyed the tango evening despite the lead dancer catching her heel in the hem of the dress and nearly falling into their table!

Check in at B.A. with Leticia was effortless as she had telephoned me the night before to get the ticket numbers and confirm our seats.  We went to the front of the queue and bade farewell to Leticia who then went off to help Jonathan and David who were flying on Iberia, routing via Madrid.

The journey back to Cumbria really deserves another ‘trip report’, although luckily we got home days before T5 opened.  B.A. still managed to lose a couple of bags which turned up a week later – thank goodness for that silver duct tape in my fishing bag..!

Tips:

Do not change cash at the airport as you get a poor rate of exchange.

Watch out for counterfeit notes – different feeling paper – no watermark – numbers do not change colour in the light.  They often come with ripped off corners.

Make sure you have your shooting kit handy for when you arrive at Cordoba.

Mobile phones do not work at La Dormida or on the shoot.

Mark all bags clearly and check that you have luggage insurance, particularly for expensive items of kit. 

Argentina Trip Report from NIM