February 2022
Our first trip out of the US since Morocco. It had been close to two years since we had done any flying but short hops from Blanchard Hill so, the plan was to arrive at Piedechinche several days early, meet up with CC Cunningham at Hotel Siga La Vaca and get in a few days of flying before the tour with PP started. Once Toby and crew arrived we would be ready to make an attempt at some cross country flying.
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| Apia town plaza, coffee country |
1 Feb, Tue - The stop in Charlotte (CLT) was pretty short and we did not have to move from our arrival gate to the departure gate. Same First Class service as on the first leg. At Miami we had to walk at least 40 gates and we didn't have a long time to do it. I finally gave up and took the Sky Train for the last few gates. The First Class on the MIA-CLO leg had separate cubicles which we did not like, but I did get a little sleep using the lie-flat seat. I also watched the first part of the new Dune. Once we were across the Caribbean and into Colombia, we could tell that we were flying up the Cauca Valley all the way to Cali. Although it had been cold in CLT, it was definitely tropical once we got to Cali. I was wishing that I had taken off my mock turtleneck. Once outside I found an ATM and used the USAA debit card to withdraw 600,000 COP (600k). Francisco, our driver was not waiting for us at the International Arrivals exit and we waited an hour or more before he showed up. I tried various things but without a working phone (no wifi in the airport and no Claro sim cards for sale) we could not contact him at the number CC had given us. Finally, one of the taxi touts let us use his phone. That didn't help a lot because we could not understand Francisco on the phone. Finally he showed up - but not before we had been pressured into giving the touts who sort-of helped a big "propinquia". All our gear fit into the small taxi and it took less than an hour to get to Hotel Siga La Vaca. We went to the new outdoor Recepcion and got into our room. We ran into CC when we were having a pitcher of maracuya-mango jugo naturale. We decided to just stay in the restaurant for an early dinner and ordered a paradillada mixta which had three kinds of grilled meat, plus fries and a salad. It was plenty for two people. We also bought two liters of water for the room since the tap water is non-potable. We went to bed around 2030 and fell right asleep.
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| C.J. and hanging tropical plant |
2 Feb, But we woke up a little early - like 0600. So we went to breakfast early and got that figured out - it was like a breakfast buffet at a resort or on a cruise: breads, eggs or omelets, extra bacon, fruit plate , good juice and a cup of somewhat bitter hot chocolate. After breakfast I walked into town - about 15 min - to buy a 6L bottle of water. We met CC and others at 0945 at Rececpion for our shuttle to Piedechinche launch, about a half-hour. We paid our launch fees and watched the large crowd get ready and launch. Russ Gelfan had a problem and had to abort but C.J. and I managed to get off pretty well. C.J. had to put up with a bunch of people wanting to take her picture as an inspiration. And she did fly very well reaching 8000 ft and flying all the way back to the hotel. She likes her new Swing Arcus. I found lift right off launch at the house thermal and I climbed to 6800 ft. That gave me a 7:1 glide ratio to Siga La Vaca so I crossed the canyon to the north and then flew out toward the distant (7.5 km from launch) hotel. Unfortunately, there was not a bunch of lift but there was some big sink. I changed my goal and aimed at the bailout LZ at Dedalos, but now that was too far away. So I kept going west along the road to Santa Elena. When I was down to 4400, I ran into some lift (actually that happened twice) and I climbed up a couple of hundred feet. Still, there was not enough to get me much farther and I landed in a long field (after rejecting some fields that had fences too close together). I landed to the west and hit the ground hard and the wing flew strongly over my head and made me fall (:41). It was a rough, grassy field and there were trees on the south perimeter so I didn't have to pack up in the hot sunshine [which C.J. did back at the hotel and she was about beat by the experience]. Then I had to scramble through some barbed wire and down across a stream and back up, then across another field to reach the road. I waited maybe 20 minutes before a motorcycle stopped for me and gave me a ride all the way back to Siga La Vaca. Surprisingly he refused the usual 15K peso fare. I looked all over for C.J. and CC and finally found out that she was just finishing packing up in the field to the north of the hotel. She was really tired and suffering from the heat. After getting C.J. a shower, I took my Chromebook to the pool pavillion where I thought that the wifi might be stronger. It wasn't, but I got some of this journal done. We were already hungry by 1630, and CC had told us how good the Baby Beef was, so we ordered that and a pitcher (jarra) of limonada de coco. The hunk of meat was huge and cooked just right; the salad and fries were okay, too. At 1900 we walked over to the Patisserie just a short distance south of the hotel with CC and Jorge for some not-great ice cream. Back by 20000, we worked on our journals until bedtime.
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| Piedechinche Launch "Seven" |
3 Feb, Thu - C.J. had a bad cramp in her foot during the night and there wasn't anything we could do for it besides rubbing the tight tendon. Breakfast at 0730 was about the same as the previous day. I walked into town at 0845 and bought a small bottle of roll-on insect repellant. We heard from someone that the goal for the British Open was at the bailout LZ at Daedalus. That should make for a busy sky. Carlos, the leader of the Air Butlers group that includes Alexia, Sherry and Mark Jenkins, and Claire and Alex, gave each of us the same stretchy light jackets (with thumbholes!) that he gave his group. We got a ride up to launch again from Recepcion and signed in this time. I ran into Jeff Sinason (and Mark? ?) who had a group they were guiding. We also said hello to Ritchie who has moved from Bucaramanga to the Cauca Valley and is running tours. We waited until near or after noon to get ready to launch and we got to watch some scary launches, one of which was CC's. He had to return to the launch and try again. On his final try he somehow snagged his lines on his helmet-mounted Go-Pro and had a really scary flight until he unlatched his chin strap and let the helmet hang from his lines. That got the wing flying and he was able to fly away and recover his helmet shortly thereafter. C.J. did a forward launch and once again got applause. I tried a reverse and had to abort; a forward-inflation got me off launch and I sank until near the amusement park/house thermal where I started climbing until I got as high as I did on Wed. I tried going toward a cloud that appeared to be on the way to the hotel, but I hit big sink before I got anywhere near it. I considered going to the bailout, but I tried first going back to the house thermal where I got back up over 6000 ft again. Then I headed south for a bit but not as far as the next hill. Eventually I flew out into the flats near a river just south of the LZ, circled a few times and landed in the thermally Dedalos field (:50). After packing up, I found another couple that were not part of a group and needed a ride back to Santa Elena. The usual trucks did not want to bother with just three passengers, but eventually someone with a regular sedan took us to the Hotel. I ran into CC and heard the story of his exciting launch and then met C.J. returning from the hotel LZ where she had landed. We washed up a little and joined CC in the restaurant for a drink and an order of empanadas vallunas. Then we took a nap for an hour. We got up at 1800 and the sunset was not as spectacular as the one on Wed, but there was still some color. We ate at the hotel restaurant with CC and Jorge. Since we weren't terribly hungry we shared a hamburguesa w/fries and two glasses (vasos) of maracuya-mango jugo naturale. After dinner we had a tutoring session with Alexia Fischer who showed us how to use our Garmin InReaches to send messages via satellite. The trick is to use the Earthmate app and our InReach addresses (sturtevantg@inreach.garmin.com, sturtevantcj@inreach.garmin.com). Find the messages on the Earthmate app under Messages. We went back to our building and tried the messaging one more time, then we made some changes to the settings of C.J.'s iPhone SE. I got a reply to my WhatsApp message about when Toby, et al, would arrive: Fri late afternoon or evening.
4 Feb, Fri - We went up a little earlier and were on Piedechinche launch by about 1015. It was a pretty normal day - started out cloudy as usual - but then the sky got really dark and everyone hustled to get their wings under the metal roof on the upper terrace where the hammocks are. It rained hard for 30 minutes or so and there was some thunder. Afterward, there was sunshine but the wind direction was solidly from the north. C.J. got ready to go and moved to the north launch. She had problems getting off with a reverse inflation - the slope was pretty steep - but she finally launched and flew away cleanly. I went back to the west launch and got off on my second attempt. There were a lot of pilots trying to find lift straight out from launch where there is usually a house thermal. I went farther out to avoid the crowd and found enough lift to slowly work back up over launch. On my second climb, I drifted back and to the south. I flew past the Bello Horizonte launch and continued south until I was climbing on the next hill across the river. I could tell I was higher than the top of the hill but I didn't want to go too far to the south on a north day. C.J. had already called and told me that she had landed at the LZ because she did not like the air. [Apparently my radio is still not working consistently.] I saw a couple of gliders sink out in a bare dirt field across the river from the LZ. I had plenty of altitude to fly past that field, across the river and north of the Dedalos LZ before turning back and landing (:37). Even before I had packed up I had a ride offer from the guy who had brought C.J. back to the hotel. After the pickup was fully loaded we drove to the hotel. CC was just going off to fold his wing and C.J. was at the room. She had not received my InReach message (except for a mapshare link) although I had received hers. We tried it again and it still would not send the message. We took out 300k COP from the hotel office at a 10% rate. [The person in charge said that the ATM in town did not have any cash. True?] Since we were almost out of drinking water, C.J. and I walked into town to get another 6L bottle at the little grocery store. On the way we stopped for two jugos en leche at the juice cafe across from the gas station. Our room had not been cleaned and our towels were wet from being used to dry the clothes we had rinsed out. I went over to Recepcion to get a couple of towels; on the way I ran into Toby and Yuki who had just arrived. Around 1840 or so we went to get some dinner and most of the Big XC Tour people were in the restaurant having a drink before going to the barbecue place for the final dinner. Chris White was there, as well as Toby and Yuki. Simon was also on the trip and another pilot who had been on our Medellin to Cali safari. We had the churrasco (marinated beef) for dinner and it was not as tender as the baby beef at all, but it was flavorful. I had a beer and C.J. tried the Zumo de Uva, a blended grape drink. Since the interesting-looking desserts were all gone, we went back to the room and completed our journals. Later I thought I would download the GPS tracks to my Chromebook, but I found out that I did not have an app for doing that on the Chromebook. I had tried to get GPSDMP but it apparently was not available for a CB. Guess we are not going to be able to look at our GPS tracks for this trip [although, maybe I can borrow someone's PC].
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| Piedechinche, waiting for the rain to stop |
5 Feb, Sat - Breakfast at 0730; there were waffles as well as the usual stuff. CC was not going to fly today, so C.J. and I got ourselves down to the Recepcion and snagged a ride with Edgar who gave us his card. A helpful pilot grabbed C.J.'s glider by the top flap top lift it up onto the truck and caused a large (5"x5") rip in the upper airbag.
When we arrived at the top, another pilot gave C.J. a roll of wide, clear repair tape and we put a strip on both the inside and outside of the fabric. We then planned to fly down to the LZ where someone said that there was a sign in Dedalos advertising glider repair. I also tried asking the people who run the launch concession if they knew where we could find a seamstress. The translation did not go well, but someone helped me; however, they had no idea. When the sun broke through, most of the bigger than usual crowd launched. C.J. went when it was not so busy. Then I got ready to go around 1230. I took three tries before getting into the air and I flew straight out beyond the usual house thermal to find lift a bit farther out. I spent close to an hour just boating around not getting much higher than 6k. C.J. got over 7k but she joined me to boat around, too. We eventually went out to the Dedalos LZ where the wind was light from the south (1:00). After packing up we waited almost an hour for a ride back to Hotel Siga and because it was only the two of us, we were charged 20k each. We stopped at the Recepcion to ask if we could get our room cleaned and towels changed. Yuki was there and helped. She also had the Claro sim cards. We went back to the room (Chris was on the veranda repacking chutes for Mike and Suzi Moore), washed and changed; then we put the sim cards in [I put our Consumer Cellular sims in the front pocket of my backpack.] We wanted to go get something to drink and/or eat so we walked the short distance to Super Jugos where I ordered a cafe malteada and C.J. got a fruit popsicle-in-a-cup. The malteada was a big deal with the rim dipped in Nutella and coated with sprinkles, whipped cream with cookies, chocolate leaves, and a brownie on the side. The malteada itself was much like a milk shake and almost too thick for a straw, but not very coffee flavored. Back at the hotel we ran into Brian who had just gotten in. C.J. went and talked with Simon and the previous group who were staying until tomorrow. I wrote in my journal a bit. Eventually a bunch of us sat down at a table in the restaurant and C.J. and I got our phones working with Martin's help. Martin, CC, Roman, Brian, C.J. and I ordered dinner (baby beef) (Mike and Suzi were finishing up their leftovers from the two days they spent in a nearby hotel, after they finished their game of Rummikub). We watched a maintenance guy do something with the water heater for our rooms so when we got back to our room we both got good hot showers and rinsed out some clothes. We both got somewhat bug-bitten today and maybe a little sunburned.
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| Steep muddy road to Piedechinche "Seven" |
6 Feb, Sun - Toby wanted to meet at 0745 so had to get up at 0630 to be there when breakfast opened at 0700 (but it didn't open until 0715 or so, so the meeting got pushed back. We met upstairs in one of the multi-purpose rooms south of the pool and Toby had us do introductions and then went over how the trip was going to work. Since it was raining we didn't get going until after noon. We stopped in town for food, cash and drugstore items like sunscreen and ibuprofen. We bought a tube of some cream for our bug bites. Then we drove to the Piedechinche LZ for a briefing, then up the hill. The bus went as far as the zipline place (Maloca de los Vientes)where we waited for the big 4x4 to take some of the pilots to the top and then come back for the rest of us. Conditions didn't look awesome but there was some sunshine and some of our group launched. By the time I was laid out, the weather had deteriorated and I had to carry my wing into the concession building, C.J. too. We waited there until the sun came out again, but the wind had switched to east and was lightly blowing down. By the time it had switched back, it was getting pretty late. C.J. managed to get off on her second launch, but she had a stick caught in her brake lines which pulled down one edge of her wing. She still had a mostly uneventful flight to the LZ. I tried one forward inflation, but the wing did not come up on the right side. By the time I was ready to go again, the wind had switched to north. I moved to the north launch, but Toby was worried about the oncoming rain and getting the truck back down the already muddy road. So I stuffed my wing and rode down with Yuki, Toby and Mada (he's the local Colombian instructor). Back at the hotel, I had to rinse the red mud off my boots and then fold my wing on the veranda; the grass was too wet. After we finished and got cleaned up a little (no hot water again), we took CC to Super Jugos and had an oreo malteada (shared) and a bottle of water. Then we returned to the hotel to join the group at the hotel restaurant. C.J. and I shared a Pollo Frutal, a huge split chicken breast covered with blueberries and red fruit. Tomorrow we are supposed to go flying at 0900.
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| Siga La Vaca, C.J. w/mascots |
7 Feb, Mon – After breakfast, we met at the bus at 0900 and spent 45 minutes in Santa Elena. C.J. and I wandered around the main square. Mada told us that the statue of the young couple was supposed to represent Isaac and Maria, characters in the famous book La Maria which took place in this area of Colombia. After browsing through the stores and looking at the outside of the church we got going around 1000 and drove up to Maloca de los Vientos where we waited until the gate to the private launch road opened. When it did several trucks went up before us . When we got to the spot that was muddiest and steep, we had trouble getting through the churned-up mud from the previous vehicles, Finally Mada unloaded a few people and Pippin threw some grass in the tracks and we made it up. I didn’t wait around too long and got ready to go. I managed a credible forward launch even though there were a few raindrops; I didn’t want to get stuck on launch in the rain again. I didn’t find much lift at the usual places and was down to 4200 as I flew across the road north of the Dedalos LZ. Then I hit light lift and climbed back to over launch. Cloudbase was pretty low and I didn’t want to get close to it so I headed north (our plan for the day again) hoping to reach the ridge that came down to the valley at an area of red soil. I ran out of lift and decided to land at the alternate LZ across the road from the Hacienda El Paraiso (:36). I had barely started to get packed up (after sending my location by Whats App) when Novier showed up with the bus. I changed my plan and put everything in the cinch sack and was ready to go when Mada arrived with the 4WD and four other pilots. We all went back up to launch where conditions were better but it was still best to do a forward. I had a short flight without much turning in lift (:09) and landed in the LZ to the east. C.J. was there and we all went over to Dedalos and had two juices and a Coke and ate a Clif bar. Since everybody had landed, we returned to the hotel. Happily, there was hot water so we got showers and I rinsed out some more muddy and/or sweaty clothes. I tried to edit some of the messages on C.J.’s InReach, as I had done on mine the previous night, but could not get logged in. Finally I had to reboot my Chromebook and work near the Gimnasio wi-fi antenna. I didn't finish before it was time to go to the de-briefing at 1800. The last member of our group, Emma, had arrived and I think everyone was present. Toby showed us the tracks mostly of those who had made the task to Ginebre and back. But, there were also a few tracks of those who had flown to the LZ and, in my case, to the alternate LZ at El Paraiso. At the end of the meeting Yuki let us choose our sizes and we all got a 2022 Colombia t-shirt.[C.J. got two because she didn't get a shirt in 2019.] It was pouring down rain and we hung out in the meeting room for a while hoping for a break so we could go to the restaurant to eat. It may have died down a little (but the road behind the hotel was underwater and looked like a river) so we pulled towels over our heads and carefully ran on the slippery tiles to the restaurant. C.J. and I shared a Lomo Barbecue and another two fruit drinks. It was still raining when we walked back to our room using a hotel umbrella. The room was chilly so we tried turning the air conditioner to "heat" and set it for 23 degrees C. Although I couldn't feel any heat output, the room seemed to be warmer after a while. Toby said to remind him about getting C.J's harness to a seamstress in town who had repaired Yuki's backpack.
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| Chris's field repair - still holding |
8 Feb, Tue - More rain overnight so the ground was still wet in the a.m. After breakfast Toby put everything on hold until noon and some of us walked into town. I tried getting cash from the ATM and had no luck (I maybe could have gotten "fast cash" of 200k but when I asked for a withdrawal, it ejected my card). Meanwhile, back at the hotel Chris had decided to do a field repair on C.J.'s harness so C.J. was with him as he stitched up the tear. At noon we gathered and eventually drove toward the mountain. Mada didn't like the looks of the sky with rain here and there, so we turned back at the hacienda while the bus continued on to Dedalos to show Emma (and Wouter from the last group) the LZ. When they got back, Toby announced the next update at 1330 but thought that there was only a 10% chance of going up. Someone suggested a visit to the sugar cane museum. However, as everybody was having a drink and/or some lunch (we ordered a piece of cheesecake and a fruit juice, we got a message that were rolling at 1335. It was a bit of a rush but we all got in the bus and 4x4 and headed up to Bello Horizonte, reputedly the first launch established at Piedechinche. We got dropped just inside the gate and filed in through a reception area and cafe and then down past a Tarzan swing and empty swimming pool to the wet, grassy launch. A team of laborers was working on putting sod on bare, red-mud patches. We were followed by a German group and then the rest of our group. Conditions looked iffy to C.J. and me, not even counting that someone had seen a flash of lightning out in the distance toward Cali. Chris thought it looked fine and that it would take some time for the obvious rain to reach us. C.J. and I weren't convinced and finally we took our wings (actually, CC carried hers) and climbed back up to the entrance. When we looked back, all but Martin and Sebastien were following us. We got our wings in the car and the thick cloud closed in around us. A number of our pilots decided to walk down the road (about 5km to Maloca los Vientos and a few stood on the running boards. We stayed for the next trip and wandered around looking at the small pigs, chickens with chicks, shorn sheep or goats and a bunch of dogs. Eventually it started to sprinkle, then rain and we hung out in the cafe until the 4x4 returned and we could return to the hotel in pouring rain. We stayed in the (leaky) restaurant until the rain let up a bit and then I went back to our room to get the umbrella. Then we went to recepcion to pick up our wings. Afterward we shared an order of empanadas with Brian (plus a beer) then went back to the room to rest up. Toby says we are staying at the place with the best restaurant, but we could go to town if we wanted. We're staying here - don't much want to go out in the rain and (relative) cold. So we joined the rest of the group in the hotel restaurant and ordered a cazuela de mariscos gratinado which was filled with shrimp, clams, squid and other crunchy bits with a broiled cheese topping floating on a creamy soup base. We also ordered an ensalada grande and it came in a huge bowl with avocado and croutons. The cazuela came with fried plantains which were not very tasty, rice and a big slice of avocado. Back at the room we packed up for the move on Wednesday, and went to bed about 2200.
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| Piedechinche, Bello Horizonte Launch |
Marty has moved to Boise, he said. The water is non-potable here at this resort just as it was at Siga, but at least the hot water works (so far). I pulled out our UV water purifier to get some water for the night and tomorrow but the Steri-Pen needed to be charged (as did our GPS batteries). We got a WhatsApp message from Toby saying that we all had to self-test, so C.J. and I broke out our FlowFlex test kits and came up with negative results. We posted to the What's App group as did the others who tested tonight. So far only CC has shown an ambiguous result. (Later - CC tested positive so has to isolate - no flying for him here.)
10 Feb, Thu - Up at 0630 for breakfast at 0700, french toast and scrambled eggs, fruit salad and juice. We had a meeting at the gazebo on the point of the ridge. Toby had a map of the area and he also pointed out the nearby landing area. There seem to be many more fields in grapes or other high crops so landing zones are less plentiful. We finally got on the bus/4x4 and went to Roldanillo where C.J. and I in the 4x4 went to the main square and got 560k out of an ATM - all in 10k bills, a really thick wad. Then we headed up the hill to Los Tanques. C.J. and I paid a couple of guys to carry our wings to the top. We had a briefing and Toby set a task of north to Ansermanuevo (the crocodile), back to Zarzal, then north to the LZ near the hotel. There was a real crowd at the launch (and it was kind of muddy in places). I launched before C.J. and flew across to the far ridge and climbed up above. I burbled along to the north occasionally climbing in somewhat ratty lift. I reached the high point before La Union and it was rough enough that I didn't want to thermal there. I turned NE and flew along the ridge toward the hotel. Unfortunately the lift was spotty and I got down to where I was scratching on the last rise before the hotel. I couldn't see a good LZ and considered landing on the dirt road across the canal bridge, but I eventually sank enough that I had only one choice - not a very good one at all. There was a field behind a house. The approach was over a former vineyard, then across a rough area with sticks and stuff. The field I was aiming for had two power lines crossing at almost a right angle. I tried S-turns to get low enough to land before the power lines but I ended up behind some bamboo posts and slid in on my butt but did not hit the posts (:20). The wing overflew me and some lines ended up on either side of a pole. I unclipped and used a branch to get the lines loose. A mother and her daughter came out from the house to check on me. I started to get packed up into my cinch sack and before I was finished, Novier was there with the bus. We went to pick up a few more plots, including Emma who had landed on the east-west road across the canal bridge (where I probably should have landed except that I was trying too hard to get back up again and left no room for choices). We got dropped back at the hotel and by the time I had gotten repacked, C.J. arrived after having flown for 1:15 and reached the town of Toro. She had turned back from there and landed in a bare field which turned out to have been plowed and had big chunks of hard dirt. She must have landed fast and not been able to run, and the wing flew over her head and pulled her down. After helping C.J. pack up her wing I went to the pool while she went back to the room. When the Trattoria Vinedos opened up, I ordered a "Frappucchino" which was more like a iced latte but tasted pretty good. C.J. joined me and Sebastian and she ordered an oreo malteada which was almost as good as the one at Super Jugos in Sta. Elena. Emma joined us and then Suzi. Someone ordered a pizza and we all shared it. When Sebastian ordered another one we headed back to the room and got hot showers. There was a debriefing at 1800; Toby showed several track logs including C.J.'s (The big boys had flown the task, but Martin had sunk out and landed behind the ridge before reaching La Union and had to hike out. At 1900 we joined most of the gang in the restaurant even though Toby had arranged for a bus ride into Rolda for everyone who wanted to eat there. Only two people were interested so I don't think anyone went. We shared the Ensalada Thai, which came in two bowls, and a bottle of water. [Still no free potable water at the hotel, except for that put out for the Eagle group. I've been treating water in my insulated bottle (except today when Aine offered to fill it at the Eagle tap).] We came back to the room and checked our charging instruments/batteries and wrote in our journals.
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| La Union, C.J. and Emma |
11 Feb, Fri - Breakfast at 0700 and then we boarded the bus around 0830 and headed off to Ansermanuevo. We spent 40 min in the village; I bought a bag of peanuts and raisins and a small bag of mini -Oreos. We took the bus up the hill as far as the driveway to the launch complex then the 4x4 picked us up. By the time we got to the gate, someone had carried C.J.'s and my wings to the top. We signed in and got wristbands (usually 10k) and then Toby had a briefing. There was another group, the Germans (or maybe Swiss-Germans) but not a crowd like there had been on Los Tanques. I did a reverse inflation and somehow lost hold of my brakes and had to abort. My second attempt was successful, and I found lift right away. I flew out and climbed and when I reached something over 1800m, I headed toward "the crocodile" but found no lift and soon I was low and had to grovel over the town to get back up. [I watched a couple of gliders working the crocodile and did not see any climbing and later watched them land in a huge light brown field that stretched all the way to the valley highway.] I did that a couple or three times and then flew over the LZ. The red wind streamer wasn't very visible and I had to guess that the wind just wasn't very strong. I landed to the NE (as far as I could tell the direction) with a very solid thump. A local young man folded my wing and I walked out of the south stile and down the alley to the bus. Only one other pilot was aboard (Roman, who had ripped a tip when he landed in someone's backyard); we headed south alongside "the crocodile" and picked up John and, not far away, Yuki. Since a number of people had gone back up for second flights, and others were still in the air and across the river, Novier dropped the four of us off at the hotel. I got a shower and washed out some sweaty clothes (we had fresh towels and the bed was made). C.J. was with Toby and probably coming back in the 4x4. She had said she wasn't feeling well and took a day off. I don't know how restful it was for her being stuck on launch all day. I went over to the trattoria and had a jugo en leche while typing up my journal for the day. Around the time I left there, the wind really picked up from the west - the Pacifico had arrived, as it had not the day before. When C.J. got back she was still feeling tired and complained of some vertigo (after dinner she asked me if her forehead felt hot because she thought she might be feeling feverish). After cleaning up we rested for a while before going to the optional debriefing at 1800. Dinner was at the hotel restaurant again. Since C.J. had not had any lunch or big snacks, she was hungry, so we ordered a big pasta a la margerita which had noodles, cheese and an assortment of seafood. Plus, we ordered the same ensalada tropical. (36+8+6+25?) [We also had a fusion drink - naranja hierbabuena - and a jugo en agua.] We didn't quite finish the pasta as C.J. was not as hungry as she thought she was. She left early and got to bed by 2045. I didn't wait until it was much later to get to bed.
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| Ansermanuevo, last day cloudburst |
12 Feb, Sat - Breakfast buffet had hush puppies in addition to french toast and arepa. Toby reported in sick with GI issues; CC is still testing positive for Covid. We left at 0830 and stopped in Rolda where I bought a bag of some kind of nuts and other stuff (Manitoba Mix Original). Then we drove up to Los Tanques. We got C.J. a porter (5k on the weekend) and I carried my wing partway up until another pilot we had met in Florida paid a porter to come down and take my wing the rest of the way. Good thing, too. I was one of the last to launch and it was already past 1100 and the wind had pretty much died. I aborted one front inflation but had a good second. I didn't hit a thermal until I was all the way out on the house thermal ridge, and low. Still, I was able to climb up and stay above the ridge with C.J. at times. At the high point, just before La Union, I was climbing when I looked behind me and saw the armada of wings from the PWC bearing down on me. To avoid them I headed right on the ridge that leads down to the hotel. This time, though, I managed to stay high enough that I would have a choice of decent places to land. Over Los Vinedos, I thermaled up to over 1800 m and kept climbing as I pushed out over the eastern edge of the city. Once I was past the bailout LZ for La Union, I flew to the next ridge and found a decent thermal which got me up high enough to continue on. Before long, I was within a glide of Toro and could see the brown-dirt LZ that C.J. had landed in to the east. I really did not want to land there but I was losing altitude. I turned away from the dirt field and concentrated on what looked like pastures. I thought that I might be seeing a glider on the ground, but no signs of wind direction (even though I had seen smoke from a fire up the valley blowing from the north, but then the smoke went straight up when it got up a hundred feet or so). My aircraft approach gave me time to check my speed and I thought that I was going slowest when I was heading south. However, when I reached the ground, I was going too fast to even consider running, and I slid in and rolled. Since it was a nice grassy pasture, no harm done, but the local; kids got a good laugh, and I startled the woman pilot I landed next to. (17 km, 1hr 06mn) After I picked myself up, I carried my wing over to the road at the edge of the field where there was a little shade and some local boys and girls and a man. I got packed up and shared the bag of snack food with everyone. A couple of the boys knew enough English to tell me their names. Just as I got finished packing and had help getting my pack and me through the barbed wire, Novier showed up with the bus. I got a ride back to the hotel where I found C.J., Emma, Roman, and Suzi already there. C.J. had flown up to La Union high point and back to the bailout LZ below Los Tanques where she had a good landing after flying for 1:20. We got showers and then went to the Trattoria for malteadas. The wind (Pacifico) was already strong before 1500. After our ice cream drinks, we played two games of Rummi-Q with Suzi. Then we went back to the room to journal and rest up for our trip into town for dinner tonight. All but a few of the group went to the same restaurant we had gone to when we were last here in 2019, Casa Vieja. C.J. and I shared a costilla ahumada (smoked ribs) and a big bowl of cooked veggies. The table bought two pitchers of limonada de coco. We were picked up around 2030 and returned to the hotel where we spent some time packing before going to bed around 2130. Except for Steve Low, our token Glaswegian who went out on the town and must have had quite a time.
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| La Union, Sebastiaan, aka "Bruno" |
13 Feb, Sun - After breakfast I paid our bill and got our stuff loaded on the bus. Toby/Chris gave us the option of not going to Los Tanques so C.J. and I and the two girls, Suzi and Emma, went to Ansermanuevo with Yuki. We spent about 40 min walking around town and getting a scoop of ice cream in a cup. On top, Mada carried my wing up while I took C.J.'s . The wind was over the back for quite a while, then when it came up the front, Suzi launched and got up. I launched and basically sledded to the LZ. Emma and C.J. did the same. We let two guys fold our wings and then got a ride back to the top with Mada. Unfortunately, the sky had turned threatening and soon it began raining in the valley. Before too long it was sweeping toward us and we beat a retreat. The bus was already in Ansermanuevo with the guys, some of whom had flown to the southern end of the Crocodile, and some who had bombed out or not even got to launch (Seb and Brian). C.J. and I joined some guys in the coffee shop and had a cold fruit tea and a mochacchino, much like a Starbucks mocha frappucchino (14k). Then we drove to Apia. Our vehicle, the 4x4 drove via the LZ which was near a catch-your-own-dinner restaurant (deportiva de pescado) with several trout ponds. I took a GPS location there and we continued on a long gravel road to the scenic and busy (esp. on Sunday night) town of Apia. After unloading the suitcases from the top of the 4x4 we got checked in to the hotel. We had a balcony room with a king bed; Toby said it was the biggest and best room in the hotel.
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| Apia street |
As soon as we got settled we went out to walk around the town square, which was right across from our hotel, the Junior Plaza. CC went with us; I guess he's past the 5-day isolation period and tested negative. Just like Ansermanuevo, Apia was really full of people from outlying areas who were in town for the Sunday happenings. We dropped into the church where mass was being celebrated and then checked out another ice cream shop. Finally we climbed the stairs to Restaurant La Terrazza, what Toby described as the best restaurant in Apia. I thought service was pretty good, especially because we were among the first to get served - fried fish fillet and a churrasco plus a Coke. After returning to the room, we got batteries charging and things organized for the next day's 0830 departure (Only one night at this hotel). We are going to a high launch to fly and then continue on to La Pintada where we will stay for several days. It sounds like we will not overnight in Jerico, but daytrip there. C.J. needed to plug in her toothbrush to charge and we found out that Colombia has 110V (along with the same kind of outlets used in the US) although we were told at Siga that voltage was 220.
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| Apia, mural on church stairway |
14 Feb, Valentine's Day, Mon - It wasn't all that noisy (at least I didn't think so) and later C.J. turned off the small fan and opened the balcony doors a bit. We tried going to breakfast with a hotel voucher at the bakery just a few steps down the street, but they didn't open until 0730. We eventually got what we ordered and checked out of the hotel, loaded the 4x4 and bus and headed to the Apia launch, Voladero el Zarso at about 1900m, the last bit up a steep, rutted track in 4WD.
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| Apia launch, in the clouds |
We were up in the clouds and it was slow to clear. We waited until almost noon and it never cleared enough to take off and the wind even turned a bit over the back. C.J. and I were riding in the 4x4 and we went back to pick up Toby who had stayed in the town because he wasn't feeling up to flying. Then we drove back down the unpaved road we had traveled up the previous day past the deportiva de pescado Los Rosales where the bailout LZ was located and then through Viterbo and out to the valley and the M25 which we took through a 3.5km tunnel and north. We stopped at the base of the road that leads to the La Merced site at Alto de Tambo and waited for the bus to catch up. Everyone wanted to check out the site in case it was flyable. Surprisingly, it was flyable with a very light wind. Six or seven pilots flew and had sledders to the high-grass LZ. C.J. and I didn't fly. It took hours to get to La Pintada because of long construction delays, and we did not arrive at the Hotel Real Dinastia until close to 1930. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant: soup, trout or beef fajitas, salad, rice, potato and a small cube of flan. After we checked in with our passports, we did some laundry, and I washed my hair in the shower - no hot water. Tomorrow, we have a meeting at 0900 and we are probably going to fly at Cordoncillo.
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| La Pintada, Hotel Real Dinastia pool area |
15 Feb, Tue - Four days of flying left including today. We had a mixed breakfast (fruit and cereal and yogurt at the buffet and omelets and other egg dishes on order). Toby held a briefing at 0900 in the pavillion above the pool and then we loaded up and drove to a new LZ on the west side of the highway not far from the hotel. Then we drove up to Damasco and hung out a while before heading up to the Cordoncillo launch. I launched fairly late, after C.J., and there was enough of a cycle that I could do an easy forward inflation and get off cleanly. I flew right to the house thermal ridge in sink and didn't find anything helpful so I headed out where I could see two pilots climbing. I found nothing below them, so I continued on to where I climbed back above launch. With other pilots joining the mini-gaggle, I decided to try even farther out and flew in the direction of the red and white antenna on the ridge across the valley. I had one more weak climb before I continued to the other side of the valley. I didn't find any more workable lift and had to land at the old bailout LZ that I had landed at a couple of time on the '19 trip. No wind streamer, but I managed to get stopped before I went over the summit and down the other side (0:17). I could see Mada in the 4x4 down below so I threw my wing and gear in the cinch sack and carried it down to the fence. I pushed it through and crawled under the bottom wire when Mada returned with Seb and Emma. Roman soon showed up and we drove to the new LZ near the hotel, picked up Martin and returned to the hotel. Even though I was in the shade, it was still hot while repacking my wing. Afterward I went to the room and rinsed out some clothes and sponged off. C.J. arrived just as I finished. I had called her when I did not see her post on "live location" on the What'sApp group, so I knew that she had made it to the La Pintada LZ with Toby, Reina (Florian's GF), CC, Nigel and maybe Steve. After getting cleaned up we went downstairs and ordered a fruit drink each while talking with Toby. On the way back up the stairs, C.J. caught her toe on a tile step and scraped her right elbow. the office manager cleaned it with isodine and put on a bandage. When we got upstairs, we found out that C.J. also had a wound on the bottom of her left big toe. She cleaned it up with hand sanitizer which really burned and then put on a band-aid and a wrap of adhesive tape. She rested for a while in the room before the optional debriefing at 1730 in the pavillion. The briefing got moved to 1800 because the sun would have been in our eyes as we tried to see the videos of us launching. Toby talked about preventing and recovering from spins. Before the briefing CC bought us each a tequila sunrise because it was happy hour - cold and delicious. At around 1900 we bused to Dona Rosa's Asado. The menu was illustrated and expensive but not translated. C.J. wasn't very hungry and ordered only a bowl of the soup of the day which was lentil, very good. I settled on some traditional (baneja paisa – local platter) mix of a slab of chicharron, rice, avocado, beans, potatoes and a fried egg over everything, plus a small salad - too much food (as were the platters for most of the pilots). I had a beer and C.J. had a water and there was a sealed "dixie cup" of some kind of pudding. When we got back, Toby changed C.J.'s bandage which was kind of leaking. We may go to Jerico tomorrow, leaving 0830 to give time to have coffee in the square of the historic city before going flying.
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| La Pintada, Baneja Paisa, trad. platter |
16 Feb, Wed - [Everyday I have to look back at the previous day to see what the date is] Breakfast at 0730 and on the road about 0900. We first drove to Jerico, with a short stop at a high bailout LZ. We walked down the Calle de los 80 Escalas and up another narrow street to El Saturia, a coffee roastery for a lesson on how coffee is harvested, processed and roasted. Most people stayed to have a cup of espresso and buy some coffee. We went for a walk around the plaza and settled in El Bendito Cafe
where we enjoyed a mango jugo en leche and a malteada de cafe. After regrouping in the plaza, we rode up to the Morro de Salvador in a tuk-tuk with Yuki. We got some photos before leaving for the Jerico Ecoland launch site. It was right around noon, and we had a briefing on the site and the task (fly to La Pintada LZ - or fly there and back on the other side of the river...) There is another new LZ just downstream of the Jerico overpass on the motorway; it's on the edge of the river. [However, once we got into the air, and started to the southeast toward La Pintada, both LZs seemed too far away. C.J. decided that she didn't feel well enough to fly and make good decisions, so she stayed with the bus. I launched in the middle of the pack and found lift to the right but, as usual, where the best lift was was where all the gliders were and I didn't feel like dealing
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| Jerico, Calle de 80 Escalas |
convince them to open the gate so he could drive through. [Emma was up a road near mine, but not in a gated community, but she did get ushered off her high-grass landing area by a security guard.] We had already picked up Reina at Puente Iglesias and had a full car so we returned to the hotel. C.J. bought me a Coke and then I packed my wing in the shade of the building. Once I had cleaned up (the shower still has no hot water), C.J. did a Covid Flow Test; she was still negative, so being tired and having diarrhea and a headache are not Covid symptoms, I guess. Just before the debriefing I ordered two Tequila Sunrises for us. The debriefing included a mostly positive critique of our flying for the week. Shortly after 1915 we took the bus to a restaurant just a short distance from the hotel driveway. Unfortunately, they did not have a written menu and the ordering was going very slowly. Toby made the decision to move on to another restaurant. Novier drove us to Dona Rosa's Asado and parked. Seven of us went to Salpicolandia just across the parking lot. C.J. ordered a sancocho de pollo (kind of a cross between a loaded soup and a light stew). CC and I had the churrasco which was tasty but pretty tough; Roman had fried Roballo, a kind of fish. We also had two jugos naturales. The restaurant seemed quieter, and service was faster since we were seated at smaller tables. We were back not much before 2130.
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| La Pintada, Yuki and C.J. |
17 Feb, Thu - The dreaded tourist diarrhea hit me last night. I had severe cramps and then a loose bowel movement; one Imodium. I seemed to be okay in the morning. [But, after another loose but low volume, stool, I took another Immodium. We left around 0900 for a site that Toby had never flown before. It was on the road to Fredonia and located at about 1835m, above the village of Santa Isabel. [On the way we stopped in La Pintada for lunch snacks and I bought another bag of mani con pasas; C.J. bought a pouch of dried cranberries.] [We also stopped a km or so above the Puente Iglesias to look at a bailout LZ which appeared to be very hilly and studded with rocks.] We shuttled up to the “Fredonia” launch at a small hotel/restaurant (Fonda Donde Nano) in the 4x4. The clouds were still low so we waited until close to noon to begin launching. I took off after C.J. at the end of the pack. I found a good climb out from over the escarpment, but the thermals were kind of rough and I moved out farther away from the peak behind launch. I had my eye on a big flat field next to the Rio Cauca that the locals called the HG LZ. [I checked it out on Google Maps and found out it was about a 6:1 glide and at about 600m ASL] As I worked lift lower and lower, I noted that the road along the river did not go to the HG LZ so I looked for closer field that might be flat and near a road. I found several fields that fit the requirement but there were no wind indicators, so I had to guess. I landed toward upstream (generally south, maybe SE) with a perfect flare and gentle touchdown (0:40, max alt 2065m).
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| Our group, lunch at Real Dinastia |
You would not have thought it possible because the area looked practically deserted, but several kids showed up immediately and then a man and some more kids. I shared the peanuts and raisins I had bought that morning with them. Emma landed with me next, and then C.J.; they both skidded in on their seats, not having any help from the wind. By the time we were almost packed up, Mada showed up with CC, who had also landed nearby, in the 4x4. We picked up John a bit farther upstream; he had landed after we did. Then we drove on the unpaved road all the way back to La Pintada. Mada headed back out almost immediately to find Roman and Sebastian who were way out in the boonies. At 1800 we had a de-briefing and then around 1900 the bus took us down to La Pintada for dinner. More people went to Salpicolandia this time. C.J. and I shared a solomito (beef tenderloin) and had jugos en leches. We also had dessert for a change - two scoops of strawberry ice cream with chocolate sauce and a choc. malteada. Back at the hotel we spent an hour getting mostly packed up for flying and our trip to Medellin. We are going to Cordoncillo again and can start packing our luggage aboard the vehicles at 0900, leave at 1000. We still have to check out and pay our bill.
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| Jerico, hill above town |
18 Feb, Fri - Woke up to gloomy skies and while we were eating breakfast, the rain arrived along with thunder and lightning. There was going to a group photo with everyone in their PP Colombia 2022 t-shirts, but that may have been put off until better weather. I paid the hotel bill - two jugos, two Tequila
Sunrises and two dinners. We had lunch at the hotel at 1300 or maybe 1230 - two hamburguesas, a Coke and a jugo en leche. We left sometime after 1400 and it took close to 2.5 hours to drive the 70 km to Medellin with one stop at a wood-fired restaurant up pretty high in the hills. [I think the highest point was close to 8000 ft.] We got checked in to the Ibis Hotel and almost immediately went to dinner at Hato Viego, a nice restaurant high above the city on the east side. At the door we had to show our vaccination proof and C.J. did not have her phone with her; fortunately they still let her in without it. [That was the first time we had to show proof of vaccination in Colombia since the Cali airport, but it would not be the last.] C.J. and I weren't hungry after the large lunch so we ordered soup: one was a white cream of corn, and the other was Sopa Campesina with lots of veggies and meats. We had a jugo en leche and a limonada natural which was nice and tangy. We didn't get to bed until after 2200. Not sure what we might want to do on Saturday and Sunday.
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| Afternoon snack in Medellin |
19 Feb, Sat - We got up around the usual time because we couldn't sleep any longer. I got my first hot shower in a while. We went to breakfast around 0800 and it was about the same as usual although they had chocolate-filled croissants as well as the usual arepas and dry toast. There was also something like Spanish rice as well as two kinds of scrambled eggs. After breakfast, I got Toby to add some data to my phone which was down to 0.2 GB. I watched Chris pack Mike's square, steerable reserve. Back in the room I used wise.com to send 150 GBP to Toby for the extra days at the hotel and the taxi. While C.J. rested and slept, I walked north to find an ATM in the Punta Clave mall and took out 400k COP. The mall had a food court and an exit to the pedestrian overpass that led to the Industriales Metro station. [I couldn’t make much out of the fare table, but later I found a blog for ex-pats that had more useful information.] Toby forwarded an email from Florian about touristy things to see/do in Medellin. Maybe on Sunday C.J. will feel ready for some walking. After a while we went out (even though C.J. was feeling a bit of vertigo) and went across the street to the local Crepes and Waffles. We had a copa Vesuvio and a malteada de cafe. Mike Agnew helped me send a WhatsApp to the hotel which had told me that they would print our Check-Mig (Colombia Immigration) exit forms. Later I got a reply back that I could pick them up at recepcion. We probably don't need the printed forms; I don't remember that we had to show it when we entered Colombia. We stayed in the room through a big, late afternoon thundershower, then we went out with the rest of our group (we're down to Mike and Suzi, Martin, John and Steve) to Mercado del Rio, a place like a food court just down the street a few hundred feet. Unfortunately, it was filled with loud music from several different directions and, while the group settled in, we older folks headed back to try to find something near the hotel. We looked at a panaderia, a Peruvian place, a Chinese restaurant and a gelato shop. We finally settled on going back to Crepes and Waffles where Natalia took care of us and made several suggestions. The Arabian-spiced roast beef crepe with salad was delicious and big enough to share. Nevertheless, we also ordered a "chocolate fondue" crepe for dessert. We were back by 2100 and hadn't even gotten wet, although we had borrowed an umbrella from the hotel. Our Covid test has been moved to 0830 so we will be tested right after breakfast.
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| Dinner at Crepes and Waffles |
20 Feb, Sun - We ate breakfast around 0745 and then waited for the nurse to show up to administer the Covid 19 Antigen test. I had the opportunity to experience the deep-swab technique which was not pleasant at all. Then we went up to our room and started doing the check-in process. First, we did the attestation form that the US requires. Then I got a message in Spanish about my antigen test invoice. I had no idea what it was but finally figured out that it must have been just a receipt. Soon after that I got an email with a PDF that gave the results of my test - negative. Meanwhile, C.J. had not received anything about receipts or results. We didn't have much help because Toby and his new group (including Bill Brooks who knew Mer from Australia) had taken off for Jerico around 0800.
I followed a webpage link in my email to the Unidad Medica Centrolab site and started a chat session. Even with my lack of Spanish, I got a reply that the results, etc, had been sent to startevantcj@gmail.com. So, once we got that straightened out, C.J. received her results. We both downloaded the results to our computer/iPad and used the Verifly app to provide American Airlines with proof of our negative results. The QR code didn't work so we had to take photos of our results from the computer screen. Verifly was running late with lots of people requesting verification and offered to expedite for $16. We passed on that and in less than an hour we had our results accepted. There were still a few steps before we could be issued a boarding pass but those could be done later. It was early afternoon when we took off for a self-guided tour of parts of Medellin we had not seen. We walked up to the Metro station at Industriales (the Punta Clave mall was closed on Sunday) and an English-speaking Metro employee helped us buy a card (6k) and put some pesos on it (20k). Then all we had to do was tap it on the reader and walk down to board the A train that went through the commercial/administrative part of the city (San Antonio station) and on to the north where we got off at Avecedo station. We stayed inside the paid area and boarded the Metrocable that took us up through what appeared to be something like the Brazilian favelas to Santa Domingo. Just as Florian had suggested, we stayed on the cable car and rode back down. We had to pay again to take the train back toward the center, and when we passed Plaza Botero and saw the many bronze sculptures,
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| Palacio de la Cultura, Pl Botero |
we got off at Parque Berrio station. It was a whole different city with lots of pedestrians and tons of vendors in the pedestrian streets. We walked through the plaza and then walked south through the busy streets until we reached San Antonio station. From there we returned to Industriales and walked back to the hotel with one stop at Piacere gelato shop to get a couple of scoops. Since it looked like it was going to rain, we carried our ice cream back to the hotel to eat it. After that I checked in with American Airlines and got our boarding passes. There seemed to be no place on the app or website to pay for extra baggage. We rested in our room for a while then we went to dinner at Crepes and Waffles with Mike and Suzi, John and Martin. We had a spinach-filled crepe with shrimp in a curry sauce, mora jugo, and a ginger ale. Then we walked around the corner to the gelato shop and had a small cup of ice cream (C.J. had an alfajore cookie-flavored gelato). Back at the room we weighed the wing bags with a scale borrowed from the front desk. We think that the taxi will be here for us by 0400 so we set a wake-up call for 0300 and I set my phone alarm, too. We're about as ready to go as we can be.
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| Dessert from the gelato shop, Medellin |
21 Feb, Mon - We were awake before the alarm went off (and the wakeup call 15 minutes later). One of the hotel carts helped us move the wings down to the lobby and then Noë showed up with his minibus just before 0400. The trip to the airport took much less time than the hour we had expected, probably because of two new tunnels (and expensive tolls). We were there by 0430; I left the Metro card with Noë and we paid a porter to cart our stuff to the baggage check-in since trolleys were not available (just like at Cali). Check-in went smoothly, and there was no charge for our third checked bag. The MDE airport was refrigerated, not just air conditioned; we had to pile on warm jackets (two down garments for C.J.). The flight was uneventful with one good view of Cuba as we passed over, and there was a view of some turquoise water probably near the Bahamas. The temperature in Miami was around 75 deg and the airport was comfortable, compared to MDE. It was a long walk/SkyTrain ride to Passport Control. We were near the end of the crowd and had no wait to speak of to get to the Global Entry kiosks. After we got through the facial recognition (the cameras are now movable so that C.J. can get her whole face in, instead of just the top of her head), we asked a
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| Wall art in the city |
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| Historic Jerico, main plaza |
