Take Me to Burguete

Bill and Jake’s trip to Burguete is so refreshing to read. I think it was a nice break from all of the drama in Paris. Jake and Bill are at ease with one another and actually portray a true sense of self. I can almost feel myself relaxing with them as I read it. My favorite part is when they go fishing and Jake falls asleep: 

I did not feel the first trout strike. When I started to pull up I felt that I had one and brought him, fighting and bending the rod almost double, out of the boiling water at the foot of the falls, and swung him up and onto the dam. He was a good trout, and I banged his head against the timber so that he quivered out straight, and then slipped him into my bag (124).

I enjoy fishing, and this quotation is a perfect depiction of catching the first fish of the day. I can tell that Hemingway probably was an outdoorsman by the way he describes catching a fish in great detail. Fishing is a simple idea, but Hemingway describes it in a way that displays passion and action. When I read this, I could picture Jake fighting the fish and reeling it in. Hemingway describes the scenery of Burguete beautifully, whereas Paris is depicted as a “dirty” or “disgusting” city. What do you think of that? Is it just simply being out in the beauty of nature, or something more? Overall, I loved Jake and Bill's little getaway.