Paragliding Safari in Colombia

Passion Paragliding
17 Jan - 3 Feb 2019

Our group with the chiva  on the road to the Pantanillo TO, near La Pintada

C.J. and I received an invitation to participate in this trip while we were at the Rat Race, oops, the Applegate Open in June 2018. So that was before we had done any trips with Toby Colombe' and Mike Agnew in Macedonia and Ager. Nevertheless, the price was reasonable (for two weeks) and we really liked the idea of visiting several sites rather than staying in one location as we had sort of done on our previous trip to Colombia in 2014. If we could use our accumulated Delta Sky miles to pay for the airfare, so much the better. Toby had told us that the Colombia trips fill up fast so we mailed our application and our deposit even before we had gotten home from Woodrat.

In August while flying with Passion Paragliding at Krushevo in Macedonia (now renamed North Macedonia to placate Greece) and Ager in Spain, we learned more about the Colombia trip. It appeared that we had made a good decision. By mid-September we had booked flights on Delta to Bogota and flights on Avianca from BOG to Medellin and back to BOG from Cali. Since we had to overnight in Bogota anyway, I booked two nights at City Express, a hotel just minutes from El Dorado airport  and very close to the Transmilenio bus station. To make it even more convenient, the hotel had a free shuttle from and to the airport. [Later we found out that the shuttle stopped running at 2240 and we wouldn't arrive until 2250, so no free shuttle for our arrival.]

17 Jan, Thu – Up at 0300 to leave at 0400 for ParkNJet Lot2 where we had a reservation using 18 days of our prepaid package. Our flight was on time for departure at 0725 and it was a long flight over cloudy skies to Atlanta. We walked through the underground from Concourse E to A enjoying the art and history. At the “centerpoint” of A we stopped to share a hot Boars Head Bourbon ham sandwich (10.79, V) which was pretty bland. We needed a little something to eat because we had not gotten anything but a couple snacks on the Delta flight. Back at the gate, I was called to the podium and informed that we had gotten an upgrade for one of us to First Class. C.J. didn’t recall ever having ridden in the front of the plane so she decided to take the upgrade. Meanwhile we had both been upgraded to Comfort+ when I had checked in on Wednesday so I was in the front of the main cabin. Our three-hour layover was extended when our plane was not ready. It was close to an hour later when we finally took off in the dark. [C.J. later reported that her first class seat was not particularly comfortable and the food was not at all remarkable. Her feet did not reach the floor and there was no place to put her pack since she was in a seat close to the bulkhead.]

18 Jan, Fri - It was about a six hour flight to Bogota and that put us in around 2330 (EST) instead of 2250. Then there was a really long, slow line to get through Immigration. We spent the time talking with JP, a PG/HG pilot from northern Georgia who had been furloughed from his government job during the shutdown and had decided to head for Roldanillo on the spur of the moment. There was another line for Customs but it went quickly and we were out after scanning all our baggage. We had picked up a cart ($2) at baggage return so we didn’t have to lug the two wings, two rollaboards, and the one checked big wheel case (plus our small, but heavy backpacks) out of the arrivals area. We dithered about how to get a cab – reserve one at the window or get one on the street. We finally went outside to find an ATM and withdraw 350,000 pesos from the USAA account. Wladimir Montanez Rojas (of WM Tours according to his card) got a non-taxi driver for us (40,000 +$1) [The exchange rate was approximately 3000 COP per $1USD]. The price seemed reasonable after JP checked at the window for an even closer hostel for a higher price. It was drizzling as we loaded all of our stuff in the car and drove the short distance (but too far to walk) to

Hotel City Express Junior. By then it was after 0130. Fortunately, check-in went quickly and we had a cart to get all of our stuff to our small room (246,000, 2 nts). C.J. discovered that her cough medicine had leaked so she had to rinse out the wet, sticky stuff in her toilet kit before going to bed. I set the alarm for 0900 so we wouldn’t miss the included breakfast which closed at 1000. But I woke up at 0800 and we went down for an “okay” buffet at 9. There was a hot drink machine, cereal, juices, scrambled eggs, cheese tostadas and some pastries including arepas with some kind of filling. After breakfast we did some arranging of our stuff and then we headed out to see what downtown Bogota looked like four years after we had last been there. We stopped at the desk to get a map but not much help because the staff did not speak English (a situation we encountered all through the day). We did get a general idea of how to get to the Transmilennio bus line at Portal Eldorado. We walked around the hotel and northeast a short distance to the pedestrian overpass. Along the way C.J. stumbled on a particularly high step and scraped her shin and arm; she wasn’t hurt badly enough to curtail our day’s activities but did take some IB. The overpass got us to the bus lanes which were in the center of the highway. Then we were stuck because we did not know how to ask for the tickets. The attendants were as helpful as they could be when trying to deal with someone in an unfamiliar language and one young man stuck with us after we bought two entry permits (4600) (placed on the attendant’s card which he swiped for us). He got us onto a bus, not the No. 1 which we had expected which would go directly to the Universidades stop, our destination, and told the driver where we wanted to go. On the way, on the crowded bus, I followed our progress on Google Maps until, at Ciudad Universitalia, the driver came all the way back to where we were and escorted us off and turned us over to a tourist police officer who showed us which bus we should transfer to, using Google Translate on his phone. When we reached Universidades, we got off and walked through a long tunnel which took us almost to Parque de los Periodistas. We followed the channeled stream down to Carrera 7 which is still a pedestrian street leading south to Plaza de Bolivar. We had passed a couple of our landmarks: a Crepe and Waffle shop, and the Middle Eastern restaurant where we had eaten on our previous trip. There were lots of street merchants along Carrera 7 and a big wooden teddy bear made of pallet wood. We got to the city plaza where there wasn’t much happening, so we ducked into the Cathedral where a mass was in progress. We could just make out that someone was singing the Hosanna, then we could follow the Consecration motions if not the words. After that we walked up a side street to the Botero Museum where we spent an hour or so checking out the paintings and sculptures of chubby things. We also browsed through the Casa de Moneta, the old mint now converted to an art museum, part of the Banco de la Republica art complex. By then it was close to 1500 and we were ready for some lunch. We walked through Candelaria where there were plenty of small restaurants with pushy touts, but we ended up not far from the Cranky Croc Hostel at the L’jaim Israeli restaurant. The menu was a bit of a challenge but we could recognize the Middle Eastern schwarma. C.J. had a lamb one made with lafa, a thin wrap while I had the regular chicken one. Mine had a thick, bready flat roll (not really a pita, at all). Both were good and sufficed for our main meal of the day. C.J. ordered the Israeli fresh juice, mostly lemon (with an herb, maybe basil) which was very

Street art in La Candelaria neighborhood of Bogota

tasty (35,550). From there we walked through the Cranky Croc and Hostel Sue (“sway”) neighborhood passing the Casa restaurant where we had eaten our breakfasts. The street art was just as bright and lively as it had been five years ago as we walked up the channeled stream in the Las Aguas district. We passed through the street market without being attracted to anything and then entered the tunnel to the Transmilenio. This time we did better at the ticket counter and didn’t need any handholding, but we could not buy two single tickets, so we ended up with a five-ride card (9600). We took the #1 bus all the way back to the Eldorado Portal and returned to the hotel for a little organization and rest. I got caught up on this journal and did the check-in for our Avianca flight tomorrow at 1115. C.J. rinsed out some more wet-and-sticky stuff, and she got a shower. Around 1930 we went down to the desk and booked a night for 2 Feb at about the price of Booking.com. Then we went downstairs to have a light supper in the City Express Deli. We had a sopa tipico, a Colombian take on a club sandwich with fries, a limonada and a non-caffeine tea, Herbes Louise. The waitress even brought us samples of the guanabana drink we asked about (49,940). Back up in the room we nodded over our journals before going to bed early.

19 Jan, Sat – Up at 0700 for breakfast around 0800. Then we finished packing and got a cart so we could haul our stuff down to the main lobby. We checked out and the shuttle showed up right on time. The driver left on the dot of 0900 and took us to the correct entrance to Terminal 1. I got a cart (4000 deposit which was returned when I returned the cart) and then we got some help at a self-check in kiosk and then went to drop our checked bags in at the Avianca counter (150,000 for third bag which was a lot less than the $150 I had thought was going to be the charge). Security was uncrowded and routine except for the recheck of C.J.’s bag for her iPad. We had a relatively short wait until we started boarding at 1045 and we were off the ground shortly after 1115. The flight was uncrowded and we had a row to ourselves. There were clouds but there were also views of the hilly landscape with many fields with crop covers. We landed less than an hour after taking off and didn’t have too long to wait for our checked bags. Since there seemed to be no carts, except for those manned by porters, we unzipped the cover bags and carried our wings out to where a taxi driver stood holding a sign with our names. The trip down to the Poblado district of Medellin went pretty fast, as did our driver (C.J. said it looked like he had “Botero hands”). But we got to Hotel Acqua safely in less than an hour. Then we got switched to the Hotel Natura just across the street where our group was now staying. Mike and Toby were there to greet us as well as Simon (from the Macedonia trip). We got our Claro SIM cards and a form to fill out. Since our room was not ready, we left our stuff at the desk and took a walk along the lively Carrera 35 which was lined with bars and cafes. Just before the park we rounded the corner and started to pass a pizza place when two pilots hailed us. Eddy and another pilot from the Macedonia trip invited us to join them. They had just gotten their pizzas but we ordered one to share and a couple of fruit drinks (can’t really recommend the green mango rimmed in salt, but the maracuya con leche was very good) (50,000 incl tip). The house pizza we had was thin crust and had an assortment of tipico meats for the paisa, but not much sauce or cheese. After our late lunch we returned to the hotel and moved into our room, unpacked enough to be ready to fly the next day, and filled out the forms and installed the SIM cards. I went downstairs to see if anything was going on. Jim Baldo and Jan Kubik from Portland had arrived and were doing their SIMs. C.J. joined us in a while. It was after 1600 by then and we decided to explore the area a bit before it got dark and possibly scary. We walked north to the main drag, Calle 10 and west a couple of blocks – more bars, cafes, and boutiques. We turned back south and found more of the same bordering a park (Parque Lleras). I thought we could make a loop to the south to get back to our hotel but there seemed no short route what with the stream and lack of bridges. Along the way we found Bebo, a gelato shop and had a scoop and some extras (15,800). Then we used Google Maps to find the shortest route back to the hotel. By then it was getting pretty dark so we didn’t waste much time. At the hotel we hung out with Garth, Toby, Graham talking about what we might expect on the trip (all to be covered at 0800 in a trip meeting on Sunday). Simon and Barbara came in from a bus trip to a rock formation in the lake district two hours to the SW (?). It involved climbing a 700-step switchback trail to get to the top. By 1930 some folks headed out to get some beer or food or both. We had sort of had enough to eat so we went upstairs to get somewhat more organized and catch up on our journals.

20 Jan, Sun -Up at 0630 to eat the buffet breakfast (different arepas here, too) for a required meeting at 0800. Right after that we boarded the nice new short buses and started driving by descending to the valley that Medellin City sits in then climbing up the other side of the valley heading generally north. We passed through a long tunnel and then began descending. Mike wasn’t feeling well so he did not accompany us. Nico, who works for Paragliding World, and is Toby’s local guide, filled in for Mike and there was another pilot, Adrian, who came along, too. There was plenty of room for everyone in the larger bus and all our gear in the smaller one. We stopped at the Exito supermarket in San Jeronimo to get lunch stuff – bananas and a big avocado for us (2665). Just a short distance to the north we turned east and started up a winding road to Sopetrán. First we went to the LZ, a vacant lot with lots of tall dry weeds, some boulders and a broad gully running through

A briefing in the Sopetran LZ

it – not the greatest looking LZ, but certainly large enough. Then we drove through the town, past the plaza and church and started up a dirt road with occasional bits of cobblestone paving. Launch was reached by 5-minute walk from the road down a steep driveway. It was a nice grassy slope and there was even a house where the bathroom was available to pilots (maybe the above-ground pool, too. Conditions were light but there were already a few local pilots soaring and toplanding. We got a site briefing from Toby and Nico then set up to fly. I launched after a couple of our group were in the air. No one was doing all that

G at Sopetran

well, except for Steve who had gotten up above the horizon line. (Sopetrán: TO 1450m, LZ: 665m) I hit some nice easy thermals on the spine in front of launch and climbed slightly above the TO. I couldn’t seem to maintain that altitude and found myself working lower on the spine. Since it looked like a long way across the town to the LZ, I crossed a canyon to the north and tried working the next ridge. A few birds came by and showed me a decent climb until it petered out. At least by then I was high enough to fly over the northern part of the town and reach the LZ with altitude to spare. I worked the ridge just south of the LZ for a bit and then came into the switchy field to the north. I got popped a bit and then, as I crossed the swale, I got sink and landed sooner than I had expected (27 min). There was some shade under a tree for the several pilots who were packing up. C.J. landed not too long after I had gotten packed up and decided to join Charles and me and three others for a second flight. We went up in the smaller bus, a much quicker ride, and found that Toby had toplanded, as had Jim Baldo. The wind had gotten a bit stronger, so my launch was much better than my first one where I had run and run and run until I hopped up enough to clear some bushes. The lift did not seem as strong or consistent, so while I got up a bit over launch again, I couldn’t stay up and tried the same route again. This time I crossed the canyon a bit lower and didn’t find any helpful birds. My GPS said I could reach the LZ on a 5:1 glide and I was averaging better than that so I left some bailout fields behind and flew over the bare hill with a cemetery, then a big sports field next to a green-roofed building, and finally reached the LZ which was just as switch-y as it had been. This time I landed to the SW and later so did C.J. who came in at the same time as Charles. Fending off some enthusiastic kids we got packed up and joined the group at a little outdoor café a short walk up toward the village (water: 2500). Around 1800 we started back and it soon got dark and the traffic was slow – stop and go in some places. We reached Hotel Natura at 2020 and after a shower, we bought two jugos con leche (10,000) to go with our leftover lunch (from breakfast) and our avocado (which turned out not to be ripe). We went to the meeting room at the end of the hall to check out the super moon total eclipse around 2200, but it was too early; the earth’s penumbra was not even noticeable. The moon was really high in the sky and just barely north of celestial equator; also, there were some clouds.

21 Jan, Mon – Up at 0630 to eat breakfast and make the 0815 bus loading. First our suitcases, then “delicate” stuff up on the storage racks, last the wings so we could get them out when we got to the Jerico launch. Morning commuter (?) traffic was pretty slow as we left Medellin and climbed into the mountain to the south. We went through Fredonia and then near a high point about an hour or

so out, we stopped at a scenic café for snacks, drinks, ice cream (7000). That was about the halfway point. Next we crossed the Cauca River and shortly thereafter stopped to walk the LZ. It was a bit breezy and that was unusual. It was still a long drive to the high launch (1973m?) at Nube Extrema Paragliding. We did a site briefing on the grassy launch and then we did a lot of hanging out. A few people flew , well, about half the group, but they found the air somewhat turbulent and the LZ problematical. Toby stopped the launches and then we waited until after 1600 when the wind had died to almost nothing on the launch and Toby thought it was safe enough in the LZ. I had already packed up and C.J. was mostly packed, but we unpacked and did forward launches into smooth air. I hunted for lift by

following some birds and then saw C.J. had a good climb. I tried going to where she was but by then she was sinking. So I cruised by a spur with some houses (no idea where a road might be) and got enough lift to maintain for a little longer. Then I flew out to the LZ and as I got lower I went to the east a bit, about where I thought C.J. had started her approach to the LZ. When I turned back into the wind, I stopped moving forward and realized that I might not make it to the LZ. I pushed on some speed bar and left behind some possible places to land hoping that I could make it into the LZ which was above the road on a hillside. As I got closer it was clear that I risked running into the trees bordering the LZ, so I chose a clearing where Charles had already landed. I skidded in on the slope below the road and afterward had to untangle one line from a branch. Not a bad landing, but not stylish at all. (0:16) After a wait, the nine of us who had done the late flight boarded the bus and drove back up the long road to launch and continued on another 3-5 km to the old town of Jerico. We checked in to the historic Hotel Porton Plaza, just a half-block off the main square. We had to carry all of our gear up to the second floor, no AC or fan, no window, except to the hallway, and no hot water in the sink (but a shower that worked by

heating the water electrically in the showerhead. Thank goodness, because we really needed a shower. After showers, C.J. and I went for a walk down to the plaza. We stopped in at the huge church where mass was just finishing up, then continued to walk around the plaza looking at the little stores and eating/drinking places. It was a world away from the hustle and craziness of El Poblado in Medellin where we had stayed the last two nights. At 2000 our group gathered and Nico led us to Montaña Parilla up several blocks. We were a large crowd, and even though we separated into tables of six or so, it took a long time to get our orders:

Mural at Montana Parilla

churrasco with yuchitas (yucca roots deep fried, good), salad and a flat, round arepa, and C.J. ordered chuzo de res (beef on a stick) with salad and an arepa with cheese. Both meats were very good but the churrasco was better. We also had beer and a jugo pina with ginger (60,000). [It was a surprise when Richie from Bucaramanga came over and re-introduced himself. He was there with a group of six or eight including two girls from the Woodrat area]. Rather than stick around for coffee and such (no dessert menu), C.J. and I paid up at the cash register and found our way back to the hotel by ourselves.

22 Jan, Tue – We got to bed after 2300 and I had to get up a couple of times for diarrhea. I took two Immodium tablets and that seemed to help. We were awakened sometime in the dark by the church bells clanging some arcane number of clangs. I went back to sleep but C.J. may not have because she was up before the alarm went off at 0730. I took another shower and went down for breakfast which was already on the table – scrambled eggs, an arepa and a croissant. Hot cocoa was served along with hot milk in a pitcher. After breakfast I went out to walk around a small part of the town while C.J. downloaded the available magazine articles and began editing them. At a Divienda

Jerico street of steps

Bank ATM I took out 320,000COP just in case we were not going to be in a big town for the next few days. I was back by 0930 and edited the two she had finished. At 1100 we helped load the buses and then went to El Morro Salvador, the top of the hill with the Christ statue visible from the town plaza. Some folks walked up through a botanical garden but we and others drove to the top and walked the short path to the statue, passing the lower terminal of a cable car to a higher vista. Finished with that, we drove past Nube Extrema to Ecoland Park which was another commercial launch with lodging, camping, and a restaurant, as well as a manicured grass launch. It was a bit lower in elevation than Nube but it had more features (including a Southern Lapwing nesting right in the middle of launch). We spent quite some time doing the usual briefing and waiting for conditions to improve. Richie arrived after we did with the ones from his group who had gone dirt biking, and they all got ready to go and launched before most of Toby’s clients were ready. I was ready about

Ecopark Aventura set-up area, Jerico

1300 and my first forward launch was slow enough that Toby stopped me. I was a little winded and probably did not get off properly until close to 1330. There was a gaggle climbing in front of launch but I went to the right and burbled along until I was below the ridge. Luckily, I ran into some rising air and slowly climbed up above the ridge until I was above the plateau and had a view of Jerico. Only one glider came in just beneath me and we were able to climb together until I reached 2550m. Then I took off to the east with a long glide over a canyon. There was a lot of sink and I just barely got to the other side above a spur where I attempted to climb up again to get up with the gaggle that had also decided to try for the goal at La Pintada, where we would stay for the next four days. They pushed on along the face of a ridge that faced NE but I couldn’t seem to climb above 1550m so there was no point trying to follow them so low. Charles had landed down below me quite a distance from the main highway and I was concerned that I might sink out there, too, But I kept getting thermals that would get me up only to lose them and sink down again. I headed toward a field near the road where I had seen Bill land. I finally took a serious look at my ground speed and saw I was getting 19-20 kph going W and 35 kph on the east leg. The ground near Bill was not smooth and grassy but had hills and valleys and some boulders. I got popped up on final and had to pump the wing to get on the ground before the treeline (and fence). (1:03) I carried my wing down to a relatively shady corner of the field next to the highway and packed up. Bill and I had to climb under the fence and down along a newly constructed concrete culvert. We waited in some shade on the edge of the highway for what seemed like a long time before the larger bus picked us up. I guess it had gone to get Charles first, so it turned out that he did not have to walk to the road after all. C.J. had gone a little farther toward the goal than I but had flown for 1.5 hrs. We stopped for Rob and Simon at the toll booth about 2.1

View of "the boobies" landmark from Hotel Real Dinastia

km east of where we were picked up. The other bus caught up to us and we did a switch of passengers so we could go directly to the hotel on the hill above La Pintada, while the smaller bus went to get the several pilots who had made goal. We got checked in to Hotel Real Dinastia, got a welcome drink and went to our room to turn on the ceiling fan and AC. We had a shower in a deep bathtub with another electrically-heated showerhead. There was an option of getting a ride into town for dinner and taking a tuk tuk back, or eating at the hotel. We chose the hotel and got a salad bar, fruit drink bar, soup, main and a little square of flan (?). No idea of the cost because we signed for it on our room number. The whole thing was a bit challenging because our waitress did not speak English. Fortunately Rob is pretty competent in Spanish. After dinner C.J. and I worked on the editing and this journal (and XCFind to see what our tracks looked like). I read and edited the articles she gave me until I ran out of battery.

23 Jan, Wed – The room was cool enough for a light blanket and I turned the AC to 23 instead of 22. In the morning, I shut it off entirely because the temperature outside was just perfect. We ate on the hotel veranda where we had eaten dinner. There was a cereal and fruit bar, then a waitress came around to take our orders for scrambled eggs (with onion, salchipas (?), or bacon); arepa or pancake. No hot chocolate so far as I could see. Meeting at 0830 was pushed back to 0900. Toby had a bunch of stuff to talk about so we probably didn’t get going until 1000 or so. We drove up the road going north from the hotel (Hwy 25?) and stopped at a gate which we had to climb over to reach a trail along a pasture fence to the top of a hill, a hard climb for me, again. It looked like a pretty sketchy place for an LZ with all the slopes every-which-way and a truly bad situation if you

 overshot. Not far north we turned onto a mostly gravel road, signed for Damasco, which turned out to be a small village where we stopped for drinks and to buy lunch snacks. C.J. and I had ice cream bars (7000) and wandered around looking at the brightly painted doors and trim. We looked into the church, too, which was also colorful. The main spectacle, though, was some local men taking down a tall metal pole that had sockets for metal branches and leaves. We assumed it was a Christmas tree decoration but the leaves were all deciduous and were fall-colored. Next we drove back down the road almost to the highway to look at an emergency bail-out. It was even worse than the first one we looked at; but, no one had had to use it for the last two years. Back up the hill to the village where we turned left and continued up a switchback road where there were, surprisingly, still lots of houses, some quite nice. The launch, Cordoncillo, was located a short walk down a driveway, a grassy slope facing SW (?) at about 1500m. Toby gave us a briefing

Cordoncillo launch, near La Pintada

and set the goal as the LZ at the junction of the Cauca River and one of its tributaries at 601m. He also discussed how to improve our imperfect forward launch technique. But this time there was enough wind to do reverse inflations. I took off after the first 5 or so pilots had climbed above launch and were soaring (except for Charles) My launch was crooked and not pretty at all, but I made it over the fence at the bottom. I didn’t find lift at first and was soon down to the trigger point for heading to the alternate LZ (the first one we checked out). Toby and Niko were on the radio encouraging us to push out away from the hill to find the thermals. Charles found one and I came in under him but it was pretty rough so I went farther out (and toward the LZ) until I ran into a nice smooth thermal which got me back up well above launch to 1600m. Then I pushed SW across the valley toward the next set of low hills leading up to the high ridge that was the next objective. Despite Toby’s assurances that we would find lots of lift out on the “flats”, I didn’t find anything to take me back up after my glide across the canyon in sink. I saw Charles land in a field on the way to the LZ. I reached the low hills, found no lift, and turned ninety degrees around a tall antenna and headed for the alternate LZ which was still quite far below me. I figured there was still time for a low save and I did make some circles in spotty lift which gained me some altitude above the LZ. But that fizzled out and I then had to figure out how best to deal with the complex slopes of the LZ. There was no streamer (something I think that Toby and Mike should supply as a matter of course for their clients) so I was counting on the wind speed difference noted on my GPS as I flew in different directions. I chose to try to land on the top and then had to do some last minute turns when it appeared I was too high and in danger of overshooting. As it turned out, I landed just below the top on the side from which I was approaching, and the wing flew over my head indicating that I probably had a light tailwind. I made my calls and Whats App location notifications and then put my wing and harness in my cinch sack. Before I started down, I put a piece of streamer material on some tall grass stalks. By then the bigger bus had arrived at the gate so I carried the ungainly pack (needs a strap to tighten up the load) down the hill. I shoved the pack under the barbed wire and climbed the gate (on the hinge side). Then there was a wait while the short bus picked up Charles and transferred him to my bus along with Barbara. Even though I could see that another pilot had

Pool and patio at Hotel Real Dinastia, La Pintada

landed in the same LZ, my bus left and drove us to the nearby hotel. There I got a Gatorade (4500) to replace some of the liquid I had sweated out and re-packed my wing in the not very dense shade of some local tree. Back at the room I stripped out of my sweat-soggy clothes and took a shower, washed out said clothes and was just finishing up when C.J. arrived back. She was hot and sweaty, and tired, too, but she had made it all the way to the goal LZ! [I had checked earlier on XCFind and saw that she was on her way there.] After a shower and some laundry, C.J. and I finished up the editing that was available and she went off to the lobby to get an internet connection so that she could send it to the USHPA server. Success! No more work this trip! Around 1830 the group gathered and took the larger bus into La Pintada and then east a few km to an open air restaurant. We sat with Rob and had jugos naturales maracuya and guanabana, solomito (baby beef), and another churrasco all with fries, salad and arepa y maduro (arepa with melted cheese), and then a beer and a limonada de coco (70000). We were stuffed but we had felt really hungry after not eating lunch.

C.J. and Toby, Pantanillo

24 Jan, Thu – Breakfast at 0730 again so we could leave at 0830 on a long trip into the mountains. There was a tiny black snake wriggling around near our closet. C.J. and I captured it and C.J. brought it down to the office but no one knew what kind it was. We didn’t leave at 0830 of course. Toby singled out five of us who had less than good launches. C.J. and I were among the group that also included Frank, Charles, and Simon. We were given a choice of coming along on the trip to the high, narrow, mountain launch (2000m) and deciding there if we wanted to fly. Otherwise, the smaller bus could take us back to Cordoncillo. All of us opted to go to the high launch, with C.J. and me wanting to enjoy new scenery, and others wanting the chiva (jitney) experience. Anyway, around 0900 we all went down into La Pintada to do some shopping, etc. for 15 minutes or so. Then we drove east along a tributary of the Cauca past the La Pintada LZ to a little tienda near a bridge over the river. We transferred to the chiva and commenced a long grind up a rough dirt road to the  

C.J., steep climb to Pantanillo TO

Pantanillo launch. We had to pass through a stile and then climb steeply through a field to the ridge and the slope which was as described: narrow and steep with trees below. Charles and I decided not to fly (although I probably would have thought nothing of launching if Toby had not shaken my confidence). C.J. had a good launch and flew pretty much straight out. I never saw her turn but she said she had a buoyant line and came very close to landing in the goal LZ. I rode down with Charles and Barbara in a crew cab pickup. It was still a long drive, but not as slow as the chiva. Toby paid for the taxi. Barbara bought the three of us an ice cream at the little store before we headed back to the hotel. We had about ten minutes to get ready before Toby took five or six of us up to Cordoncillo for a late afternoon flight. It was after 1630 by the time I was ready to launch. I was lucky (or patient) enough to get a puff of wind and had a good takeoff. Unfortunately I didn’t find anything worth more than one circle. So pretty soon I was low over the alternate LZ. This time the streamer that I had placed took a lot of the stress out of my approach and landing. I touched down lightly on the very top near where David was still packing

G on the chiva, road to Pantanillo

up. Frank came in later having found lift out front after I had launched and left. Charles sank out (his radio was off and he didn’t hear the instructions to “fly out away from the hill” from Mike), and a few others got up and away, some to the La Pintada LZ. After packing up I walked down and climbed the gate again and waited in the shady but still hot side of the road for the bus. Back at the hotel C.J. and I got showers and rinsed out some clothes; everyday our shirts and underwear are soaked with sweat. Sometime after 1900 we went down to join the rest of the group for dinner. This time it was a buffet with a salad bar, choice of soup (pumpkin and fish), beef chicken or fish (if they hadn’t run out of steak and chicken before we got in line; but C.J. and others got their beef a little bit later (32000, on our room account, plus a beer and a soft drink, maybe 7000). C.J. even managed to talk the kitchen staff into a little bit of the flan from the previous night for dessert. It was 2030 when I finished using the wifi and went up to the air-conditioned room. I downloaded the photos from my camera and labeled them using Picasa3.

25 Jan, Fri – Up at 0730 for an 0930 briefing and departure. Breakfast was a buffet again with different kinds of scrambled eggs and choice of arepa or pancake. There was milk for the hot chocolate, so one did not have to use kumiss, Greek yogurt instead. We drove up to Damasco again

Café in Damasco

and hung out at the little café. I bought a slice of cake and a Portobon bottled drink which was sort of grape-like and un carbonated (3000). When we finally drove up, the wind was coming up but from varying directions and no one was in a rush to get off. I think Garth went first and showed that it was soarable. I launched in the last third of the group with C.J. and Charles taking off before me. C.J. struggled out front for quite a while; I was fortunate to find a thermal out in front of the ridge to the right. I climbed up with one other pilot until I was a comfortable height above launch and then went SE along the ridge. There was a decent convergence for part of the way and then I found another climb over the roofed sports arena and then near the end of the main ridge. I may have gotten my highest there of about 1975m. Others including C.J. and Toby had gotten higher farther back on the ridge, but I

LZ at confluence of Cauca and tributary, La Pintada

started off across the big gap near Damasco and employed the speed bar through some sinky air. Toby, following me, said he noticed that I was sinking so he took a different route which didn’t put him below the spur on the other side. I was low enough that I couldn’t seem to catch any lift on the flanks of the “Hotel Ridge” outliers so I headed toward the bail-out LZ. My GPS had been malfunctioning and was not showing my elevation, and therefore my glide to goal calculation. Shutting it off and turning it on fixed the problem. I caught a little lift near the edge of the plateau, but it petered out and I had to fly low over a radio tower and then over some woods on the way to the bail-out. Somewhere along the way I caught a “puker” and milked it up to 1500m (from 1150m (the LZ was at 965m)) which gave me a chance to fly around the front cliff of the Hotel Ridge just over the top and in front of a palatial hacienda. I gained a bit more after passing the cliffs and now was within an easy 3:1 glide of the goal LZ. (aerial photos) I flew across the Cauca R. tributary and up one of the spines of “the antenna mountain” where C.J. was returning from having gone all the way to the top in rough air. I made a big circuit around the large LZ and landed downstream toward

town into a very light wind just after C.J. (1hr07min). The kids were clustered around C.J. so they didn’t even ask me if I wanted help. The field must be used by a lot of cattle because I knelt in a fresh cow pie while folding up – ick! Everyone but Rob landed at the LZ; he went to the hotel which I saw has a large brown field behind it more suitable than the tiny “H” helipad next to the pool. [But Rob landed on the helipad anyway!). The bus took some pilots to a nearby bar and then when the rest of us were ready, we joined them. We got a H2OH! with maracuya, and a Coke. After an hour or so we got a ride back to the hotel where we cleaned up a bit and washed out some clothes. (Hope they dry because we are moving on tomorrow). I

Café near Pintada LZ, postflight

downloaded my track logs and C.J.’s track log from today, then cleared our logs. By then it was 1830 so we went down to the lobby and downloaded some waypoints for the second half of the trip. [We go to a flying site tomorrow that is wide and long, suitable for toplanding, not an XC site. Then we will be staying at a resort near La Union and flying sites around Roldanillo. Then we go south to Santa Elena to fly three days at Piedechinche on the west-facing side of the Cauca Valley.] We had dinner at the hotel again: salad bar, soup (veg or fish), cerdo, pechuga or pescado, with rice and/or pasta. For dessert there was a square of some sort of flan or pudding with no discernible flavor, maybe vanilla. After dinner C.J. and I noticed Jan and Jim at the office settling their hotel charges, so we did the same thing. We had (108,000) in dinners and a few cold drinks. I paid using our Costco/CITI Visa.

C.J. at Mirador del Pipinta

26 Jan, Sat – We ate breakfast and got everything loaded into the buses and headed south along the Cauca River. There were several delays due to construction and we stopped at a hotel-restaurant-mirador (Mirador del Pipinta) with a view into the Cauca canyon. It was definitely more than the one-hour drive to the turnoff for the La Merced (Alto del Tambor) launch that we were going to fly before we drove the rest of the way to La Union. 

Toby at La Merced

 Launch was a large, mostly flat, grassy area with a dropoff along the edge to banana trees below. There was a café with drinks and snacks and a kitchen where empanada were prepared. Unfortunately, the wind was decidedly over back and that didn’t change although we waited until 1600. Toby sent us off to the local coffee farmer who took us on a tour of his small operation. He fitted us out with picking buckets and sent us off in teams to get the red berries on the coffee bushes.

Coffee beans drying on roof

 We picked for 20 min and it was physically challenging, hot, too. Each team of four picked less than a kilo, except for one who found a patch of bushes that had lots of ripe coffee berries. After weighing, they were dumped into a bin on the roof which led down through a feed tube to a machine which crushed and washed them so that the seeds were exposed on a screen. Next they might be spread out on the roof to dry before being bagged (or sent to a commercial dryer). We had ordered a lunch that was prepared locally and delivered to launch (10,000) and we bought some drinks (7000). After that we hung out in the shade as much as possible. Toby flew his DJI drone while we waited. At four p.m. we headed down the hill back to the main highway. There were more construction delays. We stopped for dinner at a busy open-air restaurant. The service was really fast and the food was plentiful and quite good. C.J. had the Patacon which was a layer of crispy (deep-fried?) mashed plantain covered with guacamole and shredded meat. It was bigger than we expected. I ordered the Asado Mixto which had chicken, beef

Hotel Los Vinedo entrance, small bus

and chorizo with sides of a salt-potato, rice and salad (also too much to finish; thankfully we had Rob to eat our leftovers) (51,000). If we weren’t so full, there were all kinds of desserts to try. We headed on south and arrived at the Hotel Los Vinedos on the hill above La Union just a little after 2200. After the usual unloading and registering, we got shown to our room, the master room of a family suite; Dave and Frank have the twin room and we have the king-bed room. Only one key for the four of us to the common door. It took us until after 2300 to get unpacked and organized, then to bed. [It took a little extra time because we had to call someone to come remove the small scorpion from our bathtub.]

27 Jan, Sun – Up at 0700 for breakfast around 0730 for departure at 0830. We found the restaurant filled with lots of pilots, mostly from the Eagle Paragliding tour. Marty Devietti was the leader as Rob Sporrer and his son were both ill and in a hospital in Pereira (?). Jeff Shapiro was also part of the leadership, as well as Mitch Riley. They were headed off to Los Tanques, trying to avoid the 150-pilot competition at El Pico just above Roldanillo. After a good breakfast with fruit, scrambled eggs, French toast, hot chocolate en leche and juice, we loaded up and headed 30 km north to Ansermanuevo.

C.J. launching at Ansermanuevo

We spent 20 minutes wandering around the town while Toby and crew arranged rides in Willys (Jeeps) to launch at Ecopark Aventura. We gathered outside a panaderia and I bought a bottle of carbonated water with lemon for C.J. because she had some stomach upset. I also got a pineapple/ham-filled baked pastry (3500?). The ride to launch was unpleasantly dusty in the back of the Willys, and the driver had not done a good job of tying down the load, then he failed to understand that he was supposed to take us to the LZ first. And, at the Ecopark, he did not drive us all the way to the top, so we had to carry our packs the rest of the way. Nico and Toby talked to the driver using my phone and then gave us the choice of coming back down or staying up at launch. We naturally did not want to do the drive again, so we waited on top for the rest of our

C.J. at Ansermanuevo briefing

gang. There were a lot of pilots on launch (It was Sunday so there was a bunch of tandems), and we ran into David Prentice who was running some kind of tour. He gave us some info about the site which was nice to have. When Toby and the rest got up, there was a briefing with the general direction of the day to head south and try to reach the LZ near the hotel. I bought a bottle of carbonated water and tried to dissolve a packet of drink mix in it; it tasted good in the heat despite being not well mixed. I think we may have gotten going a bit late but some of our group did get to the goal and farther, some across the Cauca Valley near La Victoria. I scratched out front after launch until I found a decent climb and eventually got to 1925m or so. I headed out front over Ansermanuevo where there was a nice dark cloud but it wasn’t working. Neither Jan nor I could get up or find any consistent lift. We both landed in the bailout LZ (0:38) and let the kids pack up our wings (2700); I’m not sure I’d do that again. C.J. landed a bit after I had finished

Set up area at Wayna Ecopark Aventura

packing and said she had decided to come down to avoid the turbulent air. We carried our packs down to the road and waited for a while with Jan and Dave. We saw when the “Pacific Wind” arrived because the flags in the LZ switched from generally easterly to pretty strong west. The three people who had landed early (Rob, Charles and ?) had gotten a ride back up but never got to fly their second flight. We adjourned to the local café/bar and had a couple of beers; I bought the second round of ice-cold brews (10,000). It was still pretty early in the day when we finished flying (1330?) but the west wind had shut it down. We got a ride in our larger bus back to the hotel; we heard that the smaller bus had broken down (overheated). Someone had misplaced our key and we had to wait for Reception to find it but when we got into our room, we wasted no time in taking showers where the draining water ran dust-brown. We rinsed out some of our clothes and hung them up in the room. Finally, a chance to catch up on this journal! At 1830 we went over to the Girasoles Room for a debrief on the day’s flying. Toby had our tracker logs for the day (although mine was showing me much higher than I ever was) and projected them on a screen. It wasn’t very

interesting because the screen was so hard to see, particularly the identity of the pilots. After the briefing, we all went over to the hotel restaurant for dinner. C.J. had a nice bowl of ceviche with mango and I had the lomo de res, a big thick cut of flavorful steak, some slices of eggplant(?) with a sauce and two deep-fried potato sticks. The waitress brought us a complimentary round of the local wine and later we all shared a bottle of Argentinian Malbec.(Not sure of the cost because I signed for it, rather than paying cash.)

28 Jan, Mon – We ate breakfast early at 0700 so we could get an early start to Los Tanques at 0730. We stopped in Roldanillo at a supermarket and bought four small bags of various nuts and/or trail mix (6750). Then we drove the long road to launch. It was already crowded with close to 150 people, all waiting patiently for the fog/clouds to lift and wind to blow straight in. The cloudbase did finally rise above launch so we could see the

C.J. on Los Tanques TO

Cauca Valley but the wind never cooperated. Nevertheless, a few pilots with streamers launched (or were helped off by Brad G.) and sank to their LZ. Our group finally gave up around noon when the breeze turned mostly downhill. We returned to Roldanillo around 1330 and went to the Palacio des Jugos for lunch. C.J. and I had jugos naturales en leche (strawberry-banana and pineapple) and a couple of fresh empanadas (11,400). After finishing, we walked around the block where Cloudbase Colombia is located, and then around the plaza. Some things were not where we expected them to be, like the bus terminal which we thought was on the main plaza. At 1500 we returned to the buses and drove across the valley to Zarzal and then a few km north to a training hill where we spent the next two hours practicing forward launches and light wind kiting on a low hill. The wind never picked up and C.J. had no

really successful launches. I didn’t take my wing out of its bag although I carried it up the hill. We got back to the hotel about 1800 and got showers and did laundry, again. At 1930 most of the group took the bus into La Union to Casa Vieja in a quiet part of town for dinner. I had a deep-fried whole river fish (mojalla frita (?)) and a national beer while C.J had the lomo de cerdo en salsa Hawaiiana and a limonada de coco (52,000). We were back before 2200 and C.J. took the opportunity to get to bed relatively early.

29 Jan, Tue – Up at 0630 again for a departure at 0730, but that got moved back to 0800. We headed north again to Ansermanuevo where we expected a better chance of flying because the “Pacific Wind” (or El Pacifico) doesn’t get to that launch as early as it does at Los Tanques. We had

Ansermanuevo plaza

fifteen minutes or so to wander about in the town so I bought a 200g bag of granola and a 50g bag of nuts at a smaller grocery store (2800). We drove up in the large bus with a Willys carrying our wings all the way to the top. We had to walk from the end of the paved road to Wayra Ecopark, but at least we did not have to carry our packs. C.J. and Frank got to ride in the Willys for the last bit. We didn’t wait around too long to get ready so after a briefing, we sorted out our gear and started taking off. The first four or five of our group bombed out. I launched next (maybe) and went to the left along the launch ridge. I hit some thermal lift and climbed continuously to somewhat over 1750m. Then I lost it and never regained that height. I did a lot of thermalling and also sinking. At one time I was below 1100 approaching the LZ when I caught a low save and climbed up with C.J. over the power lines and above TO level. Still, I couldn’t get up to 2000m which is what I set as the height to leave and try to arrive high enough on “the crocodile”. I landed smoothly into the wind just barely missing getting a tip caught in one of the four shade trees on the LZ ridge (1hr12min). A few others got away including Jim Baldo who toplanded then relaunched and flew all the way to La Union with Mike. Steve got beyond Toro, Rob landed somewhere near the Toro Peaje (toll booth) and Wilo was out there somewhere. At the

C.J. at the café near Anserma. LZ

LZ we got packed up (C.J. gave the boy who helped her 2000). We joined the others who had landed earlier at the little bar/café and shared two beers (6000) and ate our nuts and some granola. It was still early when we got back on the bus (the small one this time) and headed south to pick up Rob, Wilo and Steve before reaching the hotel. C.J. and I got showers then started packing up so we wouldn’t have to do it when we got back from dinner at Roldanillo. The group hung out around the pool for a while before we got ready to go to dinner at 1900. [C.J. had not found any editorial work to do on the USHPA server.] Dinner was delayed because Charles had convinced the drivers to go help him find his missing cell phone. Toby had to hire another van and driver to get us to Roldanillo to the Che Café, an Argentinean eating place. The Asado Argentino was very good with fresh, handmade fries and a tiny fresh salad. I think we all ordered the same thing (58,000). Only six of us rode home in the van while the rest of the crew stayed to have coffee in downtown Rolda. I walked to the bank and got another 300,000 COP from the ATM. When we got back to the hotel I went over to reception and paid our bill (87,751) for dinners and wine.

30 Jan, Wed – Another moving day: the departure time got moved back to 0900 so we had a little more time. We stopped in Rol. To buy snacks (3800) then drove up past the turnoff for the El Pico

G over the Roldanillo-Zarzal bridge, Cauca Valley

launch to the Agua Panela launch which was the one being used by the British Open competition (about 150 pilots). There was some argument at the gate about whether we could go up before the competitors had all launched, but finally we walked up with the small bus bringing up our wings. We had a briefing and watched the BO pilots launch with their Enzos and Zenos. Our task was to fly across the valley to Zarzal then south toward our destination of Santa Elena. By the time we were allowed to launch, the wind had died and the lift wasn’t as prevalent on the way out toward Roldanillo. I did a forward launch and didn’t find much on the way past El Pico. I followed the ridge down hoping that I could make it out to an LZ. Luckily, right over the last big power line I caught a climb and drifted with it to over 2000m (from launch at 1886m). C.J. did not catch the same low save and ended up in a big brown, plowed field south of Roldanillo. I was able to stick with lift under the clouds to cross the city and then I had to work back up over the old ultralight airstrip. Once I was high enough I crossed the river and approached Zarzal. Mike was not far away over the town and when he hit a boomer, he called on the radio and I tried to reach him. I got there too late to catch the lift so I drifted south looking at possible landing places. The best-looking place was a big field which I anxiously recognized as the Colombia Army training area (not a good choice after the recent bombing of a police academy near Bogota). I turned away from that and went back west a bit to an opening in the south end of the city. As I looked at it I could see it was a rundown neighborhood with lots of shanties along the RR tracks. I really did not want to land

there so I worked very diligently to find lift even as low as I was. Amazingly, I was able to climb out and get back up to over 1599m from a low of around 1100 (ground at ~900). I was nowhere nearly as high as the other pilots in our group but I was able to make it south along the Pan American Highway toll road another few km before I had to land. The field was nice and big and was right next to the road but there were some curious cows and a steer or bull (?) and two layers of wire that I had to climb/crawl under. I also had to fend off three boys, one of whom had the “Money, money, money” chant memorized. I had a fairly long wait for the short bus, partly due to my phone malfunctioning and refusing to send my WhatsApp live location right away.  Once I got in the bus I tried to help the driver find the next pilot who turned out to be Nico and Jim. Then we stopped at a café-bar to wait for the other bus to catch up. Once they did and we all had had something relatively cold to drink we started south to Santa Elena and our hotel. We made one more stop at a service station rest area to use the rest rooms and get some drinks and snacks. C.J. and I had a carbonated water flavored with maracuya and some potato chips (7000). At the Siga La Vaca (follow the cow?) resort hotel, we got checked in and traded our second-floor room for Toby and Mike’s first floor two-bed room. We had dinner at the hotel parillada, a very tasty churrasco for me, and a not great ceviche for C.J. (but she did get the jugo naturale that she had been waiting for – a maracuya-mango jugo en leche (81,500). C.J. was tired and went to bed early. I charged some batteries, purified some water , and downloaded my track logs for the past two days (the ones from the first flights did not save – files were empty when I tried to look at them on Google Earth).

31 Jan, Thu – Breakfast at 0730 was served rather than a buffet – pretty good scrambled eggs, toast, a sausage that looked like a hot dog and a plate of tropical fruit. Hot chocolate was also served upon request. At 0815 we met for a debrief of the previous day’s flying which was better than the last one we had. Then around 0900 Toby talked about the day’s plan. We headed out about 0930, drove 20 min to the LZ across from the Dedalos bar. Then we drove part way up the launch road to the end of the pavement at an adventure venue with bungy jumping, Tibetan bridges, canopy , etc, etc.[Maloca de los Vientos] After a longish wait we loaded onto a 4WD vehicle and went up the steep, rough road to one of the Piedechinche launches. It was large and grassy and was the first launch we had been to that required that we sign in with our USHPA number and wing brand/model. I got ready early and then waited until Toby did the briefing. The plan was to fly north to the village of Costa Rica, turn SW and fly to El Cerrito, on the tollway (which is also the marker for the Cali Airspace), then back to the hotel or the LZ. I launched about noon after several of our group had taken off. I did not find lift worth turning in until I was out quite a distance. Then I climbed slowly to 2150 near other pilots. Most were even farther out and a bit higher. We were all flying under a cloud with a dark bottom that wasn’t too far above us. I took off to the north with only one glider ahead of me, too far to be of any help. I didn’t find much on the next ridge after crossing the canyon and I was getting lower. A bunch of us worked over what looked like the infrastructure for a new development but basically we were circling because we were circling, not because anyone was going up. I broke away and tried flying into the sunshine toward the hill. It sort of worked for a small gain, but then I lost the lift and went back to the development and landed along one of the new roads. I was almost finished packing when Novier showed up with the larger bus. After that we drove around trying to find some of the other pilots; eventually Novier must have gotten a good fix on them because we found them alongside the lane we were driving on. We got dropped off back at the hotel, and I kept checking WhatsApp for C.J. I even tried calling her, but I got a recorded

message in Spanish. A few pilots landed in the rough field next to the hotel (but Rob showed us all how to land in the smaller soccer pitch) and later C.J. showed up. She had had a long walk from

Pool at Los Vinedos

where she landed on the way toward the hotel. Her phone was showing a message that said it had no service. But when she turned it off and on, it worked again. To cool off we splashed around in the pool (now we can say that we used our swim suits). Later we shared some empanadas that Toby bought at the restaurant. (limonada 4500). We also, ran into Cathleen, editor of the USHPA-award winning chapter newsletter back a few years, at the hotel. She had her foot/ankle in a cast due to a bad landing on her first day in Colombia. At 1900 we took the larger bus into Santa Elena to La Cajora, a small restaurant. C.J. and I shared a lasaña and a hamburguesa sencilla; as usual, too much food. We also had a limonada de coco, water and a beer (44,000 with service). I didn’t think the food was all that good, but I had wanted to try a hamburguesa. We got home around 2130.

Almuerzo restaurant, Santa Elena

1 Feb, Fri – Last flying day! Same breakfast except that the hot dog was sliced up in the scrambled eggs. No word about what the plan was on this cloudy day until 0830, when Toby sent a WhatsApp about two layers of clouds and hopeful departure at 1000. At 1030 we started to drive toward the launch but it began raining so we detoured to Dedalos House across from the LZ. We hung out there for over an hour while the rain kept up. Finally Toby and Nico gave us some options and we decided to go out for lunch at an almuerzo place. C.J. and I shared a bowl of soup and a big plate of rice and beans, chorizo, a hunk of bacon or fatty pork, avocado slice, small arepa, and a slice of plantain. Everything was tasty (10,000). We stopped in town for people to shop and use the ATM. I took out another 300,000COP mostly for tips for the drivers and Nico. Back at the hotel C.J. and I got our wings packed for traveling even though the rain was tapering off. No one went flying anyway, but several of the group had already started drinking early. Around 1610 Toby did a presentation on improving your flying. It was held in a small, bare room above the reception and the acoustics were terrible. When he finished up around 1730, Toby handed out feedback forms. Dinner was set for 1930 at a BBQ place in town. C.J. and I chipped in 200,000 COP for tips for the three drivers (200,000). We packed some more while the lads soaked up an amazing quantity of beer and other alcoholic beverages. We were surprised when they staggered onto the bus to go to dinner at Garden BBQ Restaurante with us. Good thing we wore long sleeve shirts and fleece vest because it was an open air eating place and the air was actually cool (for Colombia) after the rain earlier. Nico brought us up to the kitchen counter to see the cuts of meat and the butterflied fish before we ordered. We got drinks (beer and a pitcher of jugo maracuya en agua, and later a margarita, then another!) then there was a long wait until orders were taken. C.J. got the baby beef and I got the costilla de cerdo BBQ (pork ribs). Both were very good and each table split the bill equally (82,000). Around 2200 we migrated a couple of blocks to Fontejon, a little café with ice cream and other desserts. Nico treated us all. The shop owner (?) spoke English like an American – makes sense because she had lived most of her life in Queens. Eventually we took the bus the short distance back to the hotel and we got to bed around 2330.

2 Feb, Sat. Up before 0700 for our last breakfast at Siga La Vaca with Nico, Barbara and Simon, and Mike. The we loaded the last of our stuff into the larger bus and drove south to the Cali airport. It looked totally different from the last time we were in Cali; I’ll bet that it is a completely new, modern terminal. However, there were no baggage carts, so Nico and Novier helped carry our bags to the check-in counter. We had checked in the previous night so everything went smoothly. We checked two free bags and paid for the third bag (150,000) and then went through security to the gate area. We changed gates once and departed 20 minutes later than scheduled. So we arrived in Bogota after noon. It took a while to get our bags and then we used a cart (deposit 4000, returned) to go outside where the taxi touts were swarming. Eventually one was helpful enough to direct us to the hotel shuttle pickup/drop-off area which was up one level on the arrivals area. We waited around twenty minutes, having no idea what the shuttle schedule was, but it showed up and we got our “free” ride to the hotel (tip, 10,000). The driver brought our wings and suitcases all the way up to our room on the 8^th floor. After opening the bags, we went downstairs to the City Express Deli and had two guanabana jugos en leche, an Ensalada City and a roast beef sandwich on a baguette to share (72,000). There was a rain shower while we were eating, and local people were wearing jackets and fur-trimmed hoods. After our late lunch we went back to our room and did some journaling and napping, trying to catch up on our sleep. I had already checked in with Delta for our flights on 3 Feb while we were waiting at Cali, but I received an email indicating that we were upgraded to Comfort class for the flight to Atlanta. Great! Around 2000 we went down to the deli again and ordered soup and the salmon salad and two jugos en leche. We got the salad but the jugos seemed more like they were made with water than milk, and we never received our soup (44,400). The salmon salad was tasty, at least. Back up in the room we got to bed early after setting the alarm so that we would get up an hour before the hotel shuttle left at 0540. (At least I thought I did.)

3 Feb, Sun – I had a restless night getting up numerous times to go to the bathroom. And then I woke up when I heard a noise and checked my phone – it was 0504, way after our planned wakeup. No breakfast at the hotel for us. I took a shower after running the shower for a long time to get the hot water. We packed quickly and shuttled our bags to the elevator and down to the City Express Junior lobby. I went to check out ($45.59) and the shuttle driver was waiting there. He went down to the ground floor lobby and brought back a luggage cart and moved our stuff to the shuttle, loaded it in and then we were off at exactly 0540 (tip, 10,000) (we had grabbed a banana from the deserted breakfast buffet before we left). Check in went smoothly; checked three bags with no charge. The line for Immigration was pretty long but moved quickly enough that we got to our gate well before the 0700 suggested time. After waiting for a while, we got a call to go to the podium where we received new barding passes for our flight: an upgrade to first class! Both of us, together, woo hoo! So we got to board early and got a hard-sided zipper case of Tumi toiletries. After a pre-flight glass of orange juice, when we reached cruising altitude we were served breakfast. We were in the last row of first class, so they had run out of choices for the entree, but we still got the scrambled eggs (missed out on French toast). I watched “Ready Player One”, and it was similar to the book it was based on. We had a few views of Cuba and some other Caribbean islands and then of the east coast of Florida before landing in Atlanta. After clearing customs (easy with Global Entry) we walked from Terminal F to Terminal A with a stop in B where I thought a gelato shop was located, but it wasn’t there. However, we bought shakes at the Shake Shack ($12.51) in A and then had a relatively short wait for our flight. This time we were in the main cabin (although we still had Sky Priority boarding) for the long flight across the southern part of the US. We looked out a few times and once we got over the Colorado Plateau we could recognize the geomorphology of the region somewhat. There wasn’t any snow to be seen until we reached the southern Sierra and then it was just a dusting. As we descended into LA the ground looked like it had been raining, probably a good thing for dry California. We had to take a shuttle from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 since there are not yet bridges to connect the terminals. We had dinner at Pick Up Stix: noodles, orange chicken and overcooked broccoli beef ($14,24). Since we were back in the US where water was supposedly safe to drink, we filled our water bottles instead of buying the over-priced drinks. After eating, we watched the last of the Super Bowl until the NE Patriots kicked a field goal with less than two minutes remaining, leaving the LA Rams no hope of catching up. Although we had a layover of more than three hours, it didn’t seem too long. C.J. got our seats rearranged so that we could sit together. We were again in first class for our flight to Seattle! We’re beginning to really get used to this service. Our flight was supposed to leave at 2050 but the plane was held up due to congestion in Seattle caused by snow which had been coming down all day. The delay wasn’t very long and we still reached Seattle just about on time around 2335. Before we took off, while we were waiting for all the rest of the passengers to get aboard, we enjoyed a plastic cup of sparkling wine (later I had more sparkling wine, this time in a real glass). There was no meal service but there were lots of snacks and drinks available. I finished reading Dan Brown’s Origin much of which took place in Barcelona, in places that we had visited, so it was interesting for that alone. SeaTac had some snow, so when we got our bags, we dug out our warm clothes, hats and gloves. I even put on my long underwear. The ParkNJet shuttle didn’t take too long to collect us and we were out of the worst of the wind and snow while waiting. When we reached the parking lot, our car was parked near the shuttle stop but it was covered with several inches of snow. There were brooms available, so I brushed the windows and doors and scraped the ice off the windshield. I grabbed a hot chocolate when I went in for my car key and then we were ready to head home. The roads were not bad and there wasn’t much traffic after midnight, and very little as we got past Issaquah. The snow was definitely deeper as we got closer to North Bend, but still not a problem. In our driveway a big branch had come down out of the walnut and I think Randy or someone must have moved it out of the way [Later we found out that Randy Lettau had come over and climbed the tree. He used a bow saw to cut down the big branch that was hanging.]. We left the wings in the car and just moved the suitcases inside where it was not as cold as I would have expected. We ran the furnace at 60 degrees, though, as well as the mattress heater. It was about 0130 when I finally got to bed.

4 Feb, Mon – When we got up around 0800, the snow was ten inches deep on the deck and it stayed cold and snowed on and off all day. I didn’t get out to get the mail until after 1300, but I did go out before a quick breakfast of cocoa and a muffin and ski around the block, up the railroad grade and back through the “pig farm” development. C.J. got a bunch of laundry done, and I shoveled around the car and swept off the porch (both of which got more snow during the day). All in all, it was a very different climate than that of Colombia.