A Good Day At Blanchard 4/22/07

Noah posted to the list Saturday projecting soarable weather for Sunday. Patti, when asked, sent her research, and TJ Olney's Blanchard weather web site (http://olneytj.home.comcast .net/blanchard.html) also seemed promising, so we went. We got there just in time to see Matty climb out just after others landed in a rain of ripstop. We loaded C.J. and Patti into the front seat, and Noah, Andy and TJ into the back and drove up.
On launch 45 minutes later pilots were using both the west and the south launch but soon enough only the west was working. C.J. got off cleanly, followed by Delvin, then me, with Murdock already soaring around above. Feiser launched his rigid but did not stick around so it was only paragliders soaring. I had trouble getting up with C.J. and it took 20 minutes before I had enough confidence to go farther N and find some good lift. Eventually I was able to climb to 1300 over launch (2500 msl) and head back to the Oyster Dome. It reminded me of the hiker's lookout on Tiger with all the foot travelers enjoying the sunshine on the rocks. At one point I watched Steve Pieniak, who had crossed to Chuckanut, working his way slowly back up from 600 msl. He not only got up but was able to return to launch. Matty Senior, meanwhile had gone up along the coast almost to Bellingham, turned around and made a good attempt at making it back to the LZ.
Later C.J. called to say she had landed and was getting a ride back up. I went back toward launch thinking about toplanding, but never having seen anyone do that, I decided to head to the LZ myself.

Orcas Island

17 April 2007

C.J. booked a three-night midweek exchange through WorldMark at their newly acquired property at Deer Harbor for about 3375 points. We loaded up the kayak gear, the flying gear and filled the cartop carrier with camping gear. The plan was to do two kayak day trips then join the Rainier Paragliding Club at Fort Ebey for a campout and fly-in weekend.

We were right on time for the ferry and only had to wait a few minutes. With a kayak on the Outback, our height was close to the maximum of 7 ft 6 in, after which the price for car and driver essentially doubles. Since the ferry was half empty they parked us in the center so there was no problem. On the way we watched the scenery from the upper front deck and realized that we had not been to the San Juans for probably twenty years. Actually not much appeared changed – going in April meant that there were relatively few tourists, so no crowds. The only excitement was when what we thought was a whale showed itself for a moment. We decided later that it was more likely a dolphin. The weather was cooperating nicely with sunshine, light wind and scattered clouds We got to the Resort at Deer Harbor around 1630 or so and checked in to a small, “historic” cabin – one big room with the bed, TV cabinet and a couple of chairs; there was a small table on the porch along with the private hot tub. After a walk around the area and up to the Deer Harbor Inn, we used one of the gas barbecue grills to prepare mahi-mahi for dinner.

18 April 2007

Wednesday morning looked promising with sun painting the rocks across the harbor. We took advantage of the “extended” continental breakfast in the lobby so as to avoid having to prepare our own with the microwave in the cabin. By 10:30 we had gotten our gear ready to go, used the kayak cart to roll down to the dock, paid the $5 launch fee, and carried on to the sandy beach…uh oh, the tide is way low and the sand becomes slimy mud near the waters edge. We strap the wheels back on and roll under the pier to a sandier area and launch there. Our goal is Jones Island State Park and we hug the shore of Orcas before making the 0.4 mi crossing of Spring Passage in flatwater conditions (Not sure about the current predictions here but it’s probably still ebbing which means a south flow). Along the way we see what appear to be rusty red squirrels on the shore rocks, but on closer inspection look more weasel-y. (Later we ask around and everyone says that what we saw was a mink.) Jones Island has lots of beaches with two major coves one on the south and the other on the north. We paddle around the island clockwise and have a close up view of a bald eagle on a nearby rock. Just as we enter the north cove, we paddle close to a sea otter (or he swims close to us) who swims, dives and crunches his catch right in front of us. A gravel beach makes it easy to pull out near a dock with a couple of big powerboats. We take a bathroom break in the flush toilet-equipped restrooms and have lunch in the sun since it is pretty chilly in the shade. We’re both wearing drytops and I’m trying out the shorty wetsuit under it. C.J. says her combination is just right but I’m a bit hot. Paddling out of the bay and rounding the point we pass near a rocky islet where the tan-gray rocks turn out to be sea lions. They are spooked and slip into the water. As we start back to the Orcas side of Spring Passage we note that the water is not as calm as before but there is hardly any wind. We don’t have any problem with the flood tide although inspecting the GPS track later shows that we were pushed a bit to the north. We are back to Deer Harbor around 14:00 with plenty of time to do something additional, so we roll the kayak up next to the cabin, change clothes, and head off the enjoy the sun while it lasts. The view from Mt. Constitution is excellent missing only the highest peaks which are obscured by the clouds. We stop at an obvious paraglider launch with the wind blowing right “in”, but even though we are tempted (our wings are with us in the car), we don’t know how welcome we would be landing in the fields we can see toward Olga. Anyway, we are starving and ready to try acting like real tourists by eating at a local restaurant. Who of us children of the 60’s could resist a restaurant named Bilbo’s Festivo? The plates are hot and the meals are huge. We don’t need any dessert.

19 April 2007

Thursday looked just as good. We were left wondering how we had lucked out on the weather. After breakfast we got a slow start around 11:00 and paddled out towards the Wasp Island group taking a snaky route north of Fawn, south of Reef and north of McConnell with a detour south (with the ebb current pushing us to 5-plus mph) to check out the sea lions on Bird Rock. Rounding the northern tip of Mc Connell we could see our goal for the day, Yellow Island, owned by the Nature Conservancy. We made the half-mile crossing and continued around the north side of the island, then between the island and some rocks crowded with sea lions. There were numerous signs indicating that landing was permitted only at the SE cove where the caretaker’s cottage is located. On this minus tide the shore was covered with seaweed and rocks but we managed to get the kayak out of the water and tied it with a long line to a concrete block way up on the beach. We had smartened up since yesterday and had brought our sneakers so we could hike around the island so we pried off our wetsuit boots and headed up the trail. The island is only 100 yards or so long but every yard of its meadows seems crammed with wildflowers. A signboard with a register book identified the flowers and C.J. used our camera to get a bunch of flower pictures. We had the place to ourselves with the caretaker gone for the day. Only one boat and one kayaker cruised past while we were on the island. It would have been easy to stay longer but we were getting hungry and the Nature Conservancy prohibits camping, picnicking, just about everything, so we put the boat back in the water. McConnell had a nice little beach just across from Coon Island and we landed there for lunch ignoring the “no trespassing” sign which we assumed meant that we couldn’t leave the beach to hike around on the rest of the island. Sure enough, as we headed on to the east, just around the next point was a house. This time we went around the north side of Reef and then the south side of Fawn and then to the south shore of Deer Harbor back to our takeout point at around 15:30. After wheeling the boat back up to near the cabin, we cleaned out the accumulated mud and sand and heaved it back on the car so we could be ready to leave on the (relatively) early ferry the next day. I was thinking about dinner already and thought that we ought to buy a pint of Ben and Jerry’s for dessert from the dock store since we had not had to pay a launch fee today. Unfortunately we were about 10 minutes too late – the store closed at five during the off season. Not to be disappointed, we drove the short distance in to Eastsound to the big market and found Hagen Dazs on sale, plus a mango. I used the barbecue back at the resort to cook up some chicken tenders while C.J. heated the leftover rice and made a salad. Later we watched “8 Below” on C.J.’s computer – couldn’t get the DVD player to produce a picture on the TV.

20 April 2007

We checked with the desk and were told that we should get to the ferry dock an hour before the departure time since we were leaving on a Friday. So we had an early breakfast, packed up the last of our stuff and got to the ferry landing shortly after 0900 for the 1020 sailing. We killed time by wandering around looking through the village shops. One kayak tour operator advertised 2-hr trips but charged $15 per kayak launch fee if you brought your own boat ($25/kayak if you weren’t taking his tour!)

From Anacortes we drove south to Mt. Erie where we listened to the weather radio and decided to go to Blanchard (We had already checked with Kim Smith at Ft. Ebey where the wind was too light). Members of the RPC and others were either just landing from sledders, or just arriving and we got a ride up with Rick, a hang glider pilot. Conditions looked pretty good, although crossed from the north. We both got above launch for a short time and then sank to the LZ for twenty-minute flights. It looked possible that Blanchard might turn on but we decided to head down to Ft. Ebey just to see if it would be worthwhile camping and flying there. We hung out with Kim and Kathy, Scott and Jim Baldo for an hour or so while the wind blew lightly and cross from the north. Finally, after the RPCers who had been at Blanchard arrived and reported no further good flights, we decided to head for home.

Brazil February 2007

2/13 Tuesday Bob took us to the airport at 05:45. We bought water and a Brazilian Portuguese phrase book at SeaTac but couldn’t find an ATM for Bank of America to deposit Wally’s check. We had a several hour layover in Atlanta so we had a cookies-and-cream drink and a takeout meal from Panda Express. We checked with the currency exchange booth and their rate was 1.79 Brazilian Reals for 1.00 USD. We did not exchange money there.

2/14 Wednesday We flew to Rio and, while we were waiting for our flight to Belo Horizonte, I looked around for a bank to exchange or withdraw Brazilian money. I finally asked an attendant and he directed me to another guy – looked like a maintenance guy – who beckoned me aside and asked me how much I wanted to exchange, I said, “$100” and he pulled out a calculator and then a wad of Brazilian Reals and handed me R$200. I figured that was pretty good based on the R$1.79 rate in Atlanta. (And, in fact it was not bad; I could have gotten maybe R$206 instead somewhere else, or maybe not). In Belo Horizonte we bravely found the cheap bus to the domestic airport, Pampulha, rather than taking a taxi as recommended. When we checked in at Total Air Lines we had to pay an excess baggage charge of R$48; Kevin had already purchased our tickets earlier. The flight was on a 40-seat turbo-prop and the weather was pretty cloudy/stormy. We made an intermediate stop at Ipachinga and we had no idea whether we had reached GV or not – the Portuguese was impenetrable. Since not everyone got off and the scheduled time didn’t match up, we stayed aboard and soon landed in Governador Valadares. No one was there to meet us so we stood around for a while until someone brought a phone out to us – it was Kevin and he got us set up with a taxi that took us directly to the Pousada Jeito da Minas on the Ilha (island). After checking in, we got together with Kevin McGinley and Josh (guides) and Gary Biggs from Alaska (Rich and Maggie Shalman had not yet arrived on their car ride from Belo, where we had run into them at the airport; they had actually been on the same flight as us from Rio). We got Eagle Paragliding caps and t-shirts and a set of Google Earth maps of the area. It was pretty late by the time we headed out for dinner and Doc and Maggie had shown up. We went to Farol (lighthouse), about 2 blocks away on the downstream tip of the island) and got a big table upstairs. We thought the prices were quite high but it turned out that most meals on the menu served two (at least), anyway, Josh paid for dinner for all eight of us (Josh, Kevin, Wevia (?), Kevin’s Brazilian girlfriend, Gary, Doc, Maggie, C.J. and me). C.J. got out her computer when we got back to the pousada around 22:30 and sent some emails she had written earlier.

2/15 Thursday The pousada was furnished with lots of pottery and country furniture, very pleasant. Breakfast was buffet-style and there were fruit and juices, homemade cakes, cheese, ham, bread, rolls, sandwich-makings (and a sandwich grill), as well as scrambled eggs or omelet cooked to order. Hot milk was in a vacuum bottle and there was chocolate mix for making hot chocolate. Around 08:00 we got together and later drove to the in-city LZ at Feira da Paz just on the other side of the bridge from the island. Next we drove through part of the city with Bruno, the driver of our retrieve van, and crossed the main bridge to the south (or east – I never did get the directions straight!) on highway 116. We stopped at a bomb-out LZ near a truck dealership on one side and a favela on the other side. Don’t land in the favela even though it’s on the route to the next hill, the crocodile or Salvacão, a house thermal. Then we drove down HWY 116 for 20-30 km with Kevin and Josh pointing out thermal sources and possible landmarks. The big concern about landing out around here is the abundance of power lines and their unpredictable placement. We drove past two small cities, Era Novem and Alpercata, the first petrol station, and stopped at the second one, “Posto JR” to look at the landing possibilities and get something to drink. [Later, or earlier, this day we also drove out to “Tick Field” LZ and beyond on a muddy, red-dirt road to check out the local LZ’s to be used if you couldn’t get high enough to cross the river safely.] The weather was improving after the overnight rain but the Pico do Ibituruna was still in the clouds. We tried to drive up, anyway, after a stop for lunch at a bakery/lancheria on the Ilha, but the steep, cobblestone road was too slippery so we went back to hang out at the pousada for awhile. Later we were able to reach the summit and the launch but, even though the clouds were broken, cloudbase was below us. Wind was blowing up the back side where the launch is directly above steep cliffs and there isn’t much room to run on the relatively flat slope. After waiting, the wind switched until it was blowing lightly from the E, splitting the ridge (a condition that occurred frequently during our time in GV), and the clouds lifted. Josh, Kevin and Doc managed to get off for a sledder to Feira da Paz. C.J., Gary and I packed up and drove down with Bruno. We got back to the pousada around 19:30 to hear that Doc had lost his wallet in the LZ and had to cancel his credit cards. We went out around 21:00 for dinner across the bridge in GV at Restaurante Joa’ near the main square where a Thursday evening market was happening (but we didn’t go check it out for some reason), We had the picanha steak – a special cut of beef, marinated and sliced – a huge platter of fries, cucumbers-tomatoes-shredded cabbage, rice, and “beans prepared Minas-style”. Everything was delicious, especially the steak and beans, but there was way too much food. We got back to the pousada after 23:00.

2/16 Friday It turned out that Rick hadn’t really lost his wallet – just misplaced it in his flying gear. We left about 09:30 and stopped at the Bank of Brazil just across the bridge, near the LZ to use the one ATM out of a dozen, labeled with the VISA logo. I took out R$400 (which lasted until we left for Rio). Next we picked up JR and headed up the hill. We hung out on launch for a long time as cloudbase rose. Josh launched finally, and then others. It didn’t look like a good XC day. I launched at 12:12 from the back side and went right, around the cliff face, sinking. I found weak but somewhat rough lift near the square white building with the radio antenna above “Tick Field” LZ. Lift turned on and I cored up to above launch level and eventually to cloudbase (not really much higher). I spent the rest of the flight going up and down but mostly staying over 3000 ft and touring the local area N of Pico do Ibituruna. C.J. and I got to fly together quite a bit and, later, I followed her out across the river and Ilha to land at Feira da Paz. We took a taxi back to the pousada, where a shower and swim felt really good. C.J. worked for several hours before we went to dinner at Farol, same place as the first night, where we had filet da parmegiana with scalloped potatoes. Gary did not go with us because he cracked a wrist bone and sprained his ankle landing alongside the road to launch about halfway up, a spot Josh had pointed out as a good bailout.

2/17 Saturday I think this is the day that Brad joined us. We left around 10:00 and stopped at a field (“one-tree LZ”) near where the road to launch starts up the hill – a good bailout. There was a large amount of traffic on the road including the AVVL bus and a couple of cars with hang gliders on top. It was Saturday and the locals were out, plus the pilots who have arrived early for the comp; it was almost crowded on top. Interviewers filmed C.J. again; this time it was for the big O Global news organization. Conditions looked pretty good but there was cloud development NE of us and showers in front. I launched behind a girl with a blue wing who aborted four or more times. Then I found myself sinking , then climbing in front of the rock face with the same girl, but not back to launch level. I searched around but couldn’t find anything else and followed C.J. to the one-tree bailout. Over the field I caught some lift and drifted NW back towards the river gaining 1000 ft but lost it and landed in one-tree where two kids folded our wings. Bruno came along and returned us to the pousada while Rick was dirting near Salvacão. C.J. and I used the pool after I walked into town to try to buy Guaraná, a carbonated energy drink All the large stores were closed and I ended up buying a 2L bottle at a small mom and pop shop on the island. We went out to dinner early (19:00) to another, nicer place on the island where we all had various kinds of pasta dishes most prepared as casseroles (Several people complained that everything tasted like macaroni and cheese). We had fettuccini ao paillard which had slices of beef in the dish in addition to the pasta and a smoky cheese sauce. During dinner on the patio, under metal awning, we were subjected to noisy bombardment of falling “monkey bananas” onto the awning. Later we walked into GV to the plaza but there was no caproheira “dancing/marial arts” even though the guides expected to find it. We were back to the pousada by 23:00.

2/18 Sunday I guess daylight savings time switched off or something because we didn’t get up until 8:10 because the clock was off by an hour. We hung out at the pousada because the peak was obscured by clouds. Later, the comp was reported canceled due to overdevelop-ment around the area. We walked off the island expecting to see some activity around the plaza but there was nothing. Stores were closed but we walked over to Point do Açaio for a blended, smoothy-type slushy made with açai berries from the Amazon, topped with sliced banana, granola and honey. [The owner showed up just as we were turning away from the closed shop] After a swim and a little too much sun back at the pousada, I went with Kevin, Brad and Josh to the shopping mall (which was just about the only shopping area open during the Carnaval season) and wandered around the stores for a while. We watched from the parking lot in disbelief as a number of people flew off Ibituruna in the incipient gust front conditions. We spent some time at the food court and then went back to the “hipermercado” where I bought a 12-pack of Guaraná and a pair of Brazilian flip flops (Havaianas). We got a taxi back to the pousada for R$10 (R$4.65 already on the meter because it had been called by radio). Meanwhile, C.J. had been working on the magazine and had it almost done. It started raining again as we left the mall. Rick, Maggie, Gary and we went to dinner early at Joá and stopped at the plaza for a while to watch some drumming. At Joá we had pork loin, kale, mashed beans and, in addition, shared some of the other abundant dishes on the table. We stopped to watch the drumming again on the way back but they were just winding down. Sunday was supposed to be the big party day but there wasn’t much going on (at least that early).

2/19 Monday The weather was cloudy/overcast with showers. I went to the airport with Kevin, Josh and Bruno to buy tickets for our Friday flight to Belo Horizonte. We stopped at the gem shop in GV so Josh could pick up his pendants and earrings. Back at the pousada, we picked up the rest of the crew and returned to the gem shop so that those who wanted to could buy gems and have them placed in settings. [Rick wanted a couple of pieces of transparent quartz ground into fire-starting lenses.] We didn’t drive up to launch until late afternoon. Josh and Brad were able to play in the strong and gusty ridge lift after a rain squall passed. Then the wind velocity dropped and Brad, Josh and Rick launched and flew down to Feira da Paz. They radioed back that the air was turbulent and we drove down with Bruno. After hanging out at the pousada for a while, we went to dinner at the bar next to Joá, Vai & Valte, and had pizza and beer. We were back at the pousada by 23:15. [Brad-->]

2/20 Tuesday We hung out at the pousada until it stopped raining, pouring at times, until 11:00 or so when we drove up to launch. It was cool and drizzly and the Red Bull-style Sol tents, set up on the road for the comp, were being used to keep gear dry rather than as big sunshades. There was a large crowd of comp pilots and spectators. As the cloudbase lifted and sun came out, the strong wind up the front side moderated to a very light and variable breeze. A task was finally called at 14:40 to Engeneior Caldas (about 38 km). We launched after the start window (15:15-16:15). I found lift right off the back side and climbed 100+ ft then headed out to a cloud but there was no lift there and the cloud quickly dissipated. I tried going back toward the face, then north, but found no lift. I ended up in one-tree LZ with Rick. Bruno took us to Feira da Paz to pick up the rest of the crew including C.J. who had gotten 1000 ft over and flown for 1hr 25 min. Later we clients went over to Farol for dinner but it was closed (It is “Fat Tuesday, after all.) then we tried to find the Bonanza Pizza place with no luck. Finally we went back to Joá where we each had the “executivo” plate finally a reasonable amount of food for a low price (R$8). We were back in the pousada by 22:00.

2/21 Wednesday The weather was looking more promising so we left for launch around 10:00 and launched off the front side around 12:30 before the comp start window. I had to fly around the mountain to find good lift. I ran into some rough air and flew out towards the river over one-tree and found light lift eventually getting to 4300 ft. I ignored the request of the guides to come back to the mountain and fly with the rest of the party and had to follow them at some distance when they all took off southwest down the right side of highway 116. I caught up with the group circling over the second town, Alpercata, but by the time we had reached the far side of town we were scratching to stay up. C.J. was high enough to continue on while Josh, Rick and I avoided a hillside of power lines to land across the highway in a nice big field about 1 km beyond the town. Bruno soon arrived although it took way too much talk on the radio, making it more difficult for those still in the air. We did not have radio communications with C.J. or Kevin, and drove west to chase Brad instead of continuing down the road to where C.J. had landed about 1 mile before the second petrol station (14 mi from launch). We found Brad riding toward the main road in a horse cart. Josh’s plan was to pick up Brad, assume C.J. was with Kevin and would get a bus back to GV, and meanwhile the rest of us would go back up to launch. Brad seemed to think that was OK but asked Rick and me if that sounded alright. Rick said we should go get C.J. So that’s what we did. It turned out that C.J. had no contact with Kevin and had landed by herself. Fortunately, Critter (Richard Kocurek)had landed with her shortly afterwards so she was not all alone in the middle of nowhere. Kevin was left out wherever he had landed because we could not raise him on the radio. It turned out that he was only another mile down the road at the second gas station. The rest of us returned to Ibituruna and had local flights – me to one-tree again after getting bounced around. Bruno picked us up and we returned to the pousada for showers and pool time. We left around 20:00 for Spettu’s, a churrascaria, where the meal is served rodizio-style – the waiters bring around skewers of meat and carve off slices. There were many different types of meat plus a buffet of salad items, beans, rice and potatoes. One pays on the way out – it was only R$15 for the rodizio, and then the costs of drinks and desserts were added on.

2/22 Thursday We headed up to launch around 10:30. Conditions were sketchy – low cloudbase and the wind switching from side to side, so we waited to launch until after the comp launch window at 14:30. By then, there were light cycles, sometimes on the front side, sometimes on the back, both crossing. Brad and Josh launched, got up and went XC. Kevin stuck around with us and eventually drove down with his girl friend, Wesia, and Maggie and C.J. to help with the retrieve. Doc launched, and so did JR. I tried three forward inflations on the back side, then went to the less crowded front side where I was able to reverse in a good cycle. Lift was scattered and punchy in front of the face. At one point I wasn’t sure that I would even make the one-tree LZ, but I did for a big twelve minutes. Bruno picked me up as I was walking down toward a local store for a drink. Then we drove almost to Era Novem, the first town on Rte 116, to pick up Doc who had landed on the slope behind Salvacão. C.J. and I went back to the pousada to shower and pack while Kevin went to arrange his hotel room at Serra Lima; Doc and Maggie were going to check on their purchases at the gem shop. We did some packing and then around 20:00 we went to Aaron and Alejandra’s house for truly excellent BBQ – what Spettu’s should have been. Of course, they had a chef to prepare the meat (on a restaurant-style multi-skewer grill) and a maid, and who knows how many other servants. We offered to pay for all the meat we ate but Aaron refused – I guess we should have known, but Brad had told Aaron that we would chip in for the dinner since there were eight of us. Bruno picked us up and returned us to the pousada around 23:30. The rest of the packing had to wait until morning but our flight wasn’t until 10:15

2/23 Friday [Others left much earlier – Doc and Maggie were going to Belo by car again and left at 06:30]. Our taxi was there a bit before 09:15 and C.J. was still uploading photos and couldn’t get the last one finished. Josh was the only one of our party awake and not gone so we left him our last few Guaranás, paid for the one I drank from the mini-fridge, and taxi-ed to the airport. For some reason we were not charged for overweight baggage going in the return direction. We bought a couple of GV postcards and waited for our flight – no air conditioning but it wasn’t too bad if you sat under the ceiling fans. In Belo we waited for the bus in spite of semi-high pressure salesmanship from the taxi drivers and arrived at the international airport in plenty of time to check in (no lines!) and visit with Doc and Maggie who arrived after us. C.J. got some postcard stamps at the post office and I got another R$400 from the Bank of Brazil ATM. We visited the observation deck and then went to our gate area which was air conditioned and had wi-fi (but you had to have a local ISP for it to work and it was not clear how one did that). We flew TAM to Rio and our taxi driver met us with a sign. We rolled all of our gear over to the parking garage and headed to the hotel. The driver did not speak English so we could only recognize a few landmarks like the Corcovado, and Maracana soccer stadium. The Hotel Santa Clara is located in a nice residential area maybe 8 blocks from the Copacabana beach. There was no elevator and we were on the third floor but the manager carried our big bags up to our room which had a balcony that looked out over the street in front and at one of the granite knobs behind. It took a while for the air conditioner to cool the room off. About dark we went out to look for dinner - there was a place just 100 ft up the block but we walked all the way down to the beach to see if we could find Gary Biggs who was staying at the Othon California Classic on the beachfront. We called him from the desk phone after getting his room number – somewhat tricky since we didn’t remember his last name. He had eaten earlier and was resting so we headed back up Rua Santa Clara and stopped at a pay-by-the-kilo restaurant, Árosa. The food was not outstanding but it was fun to pick what you were going to eat cafeteria-style. We missed the meat on skewers because we didn’t know that it was included. And we didn’t go back for dessert because we were full – have to leave something to try later. On the way we spotted a juice (sucos) bar that had açai, which we had only seen at the one place in GV. We found out that Hotel Santa Clara is not on Rua Santa Clara but, with a little fumbling, we found it anyway. The city gives one an edgy feeling knowing that people have warned us of the crime rate. Still, it doesn’t seem any different from any big city so far.

2/24 Saturday We slept quite well with the air conditioner on about half speed under just a sheet (although C.J. used the airline blanket in addition). I went down to the desk to see about breakfast and asked for tea and chocolate instead of coffee; about five minutes later it was delivered and we ate on the tiny, round table in front of the open French doors on the balcony. Around 0900 or so we went down the gentle hill planning to walk along Copacabana beach and check on Gary. We ran into him in the lobby of his hotel and went out to talk to the guys at the tour desk just outside the door. It would be R$130 for all of us to go to the Corcovado in a taxi. After hearing that we were interested in hang gliding, the driver offered to take us to Corcovado and take us over to the São Conrado LZ for R$200 (as well as driving around the Lagoon, through the Tijuca Forest and along Ipanema Beach. We really hadn’t planned to go anywhere when we left the hotel this morning so I didn’t even have my camera with me, and we hadn’t yet bought any water. But, C.J. had her camera and the driver went around the corner and brought back several bottles of water. We were ON! Driving up through the forest I saw a small monkey but thought it was just a squirrel until it was too late to point it out. The Corcovado was crowded (even though our driver had assured us that this was a good day and we were early enough to beat the crowds)(Ha! – a cruise ship was in port.), and we elected to walk up a few flights of stairs rather than standing in line for the elevator. The view was really good and C.J. got several photos early before it started to get a bit smoggy. I don’t know how our driver found a place to park because we had gotten out of the taxi when it seemed like we were going to be stuck in a traffic jam for a long time, but he was waiting for us as we came down the stairs. We headed down and took one route to the beach LZ around behind one of the granite domes and came back to Ipanema on the ocean side. At the LZ I went to the office to find out what we would have to do in order to fly the site. C.J. was doing the same thing with people she had met around the LZ. She got a number to call the next day to see if conditions were good for flying. We hadn’t been told that part of the tour would be a visit to a gem shop but we went through the motions even though we really had no use for the beautiful pendant of green topaz that was offered (only $128). Back in Copacabana we tried to find a grocery store that Gary had shopped in, but we must have been one street too far over. Gary headed back to his hotel and we stopped at the açai place and shared a bowl (acái na tigela) which had no bananas or granola, but was plenty cold. At a small grocery store we bought some 1.5 l bottles of water then went back to the hotel for a shower and a siesta around 14:00. C.J. still needed to upload that last photo so we went out to find an Internet connection around 18:00. The hotel had given us the address of a nearby Internet café, but we could not find it even though we figured out that it was inside a larger building something like a market building in Vietnam. There were plenty of other Internet places, however, and we just picked one. The first one, Checkpoint, sent us to another Checkpoint where we tried the wireless. That didn’t work and we were about to leave when someone from the first place suggested hooking in directly, so we were taken up stairs to a bare desk with an ethernet cable. That worked fine and C.J. was able to upload and pick up and send email. She gave the manager R$10 for the hour (usually R$2/hr) for taking the time to get everything working. By 19:00 we were heading back to the hotel to change for dinner with Gary. We went to a nice place on Santa Clara, “Rian”, just a block off the beach and had a great dinner with carpaccio for an appetizer and “seafood Portuguese-style for two” plus two bottles of red wine. Gary paid for dinner. On the way back we stopped at a supermarket, Sendas, in the same building as Checkpoint, and C.J. got some pink Havaianas. We changed our clocks back one hour for the end of daylight saving time. We were back at the hotel by 23:00 (which became 22:00).

2/25 Sunday After breakfast I got a phone card at a news stand and C.J. called Ricardo, the pilot she met yesterday in the LZ (She used the phone card because it was more expensive to call a cell phone from our room phone). He said it was not a good day for flying. So, we went to the shore and walked along the beach; the sun was hot but there was a breeze and it was not too bad. There were LOTS of people – apparently Sunday is when the locals go to the beach, too, and Avenida Atlantica is closed to motor vehicles (except one big truck with a live band and a big crowd following). We walked a ways on the sidewalk and also on the wet sand. C.J. took a photo of an elaborate sand castle (for a R$2 donation). When we reached the south end of the 4.5 km beach (we had not started at the 0 km mark in Leme), we continued to the Forte da Copacabana and toured the galerias below the thick dome that protected the huge guns. Then we went to the surface where two pairs of the 305 mm cannons still stick out of the fortification. There were great views back to the beach and Sugarloaf (Pão de Açúcar). We toured the military history museum before going back into the sunshine. On the way back we stopped at a newsstand to get a Bill Beck postcard and a couple of bottles of drink. We walked through a street market of fruits and veggies then back to the beachfront, starting to search for a lunch spot. We settled on a sidewalk kiosk along the beach and C.J. had the traditional caipirinha (cachasa and crushed limes), while I had a chopp (draft beer), followed by burgers, all served under a beach umbrella. Tired from the walk, but more from the hot sun and humidity, we headed back to the hotel through the crowds. I went out later to Sendas and bought a six-pack of 1.5 L water. We showered (no hot water since morning but that is not a big problem here) and relaxed with the AC for a while. Around 17:45 we went back to the Internet place and C.J. sent some emails and proofed PDF. Walking back along the street, each little bar exploded in shouts and cheers as the local futebol team scored on TV. We were going to meet Gary for dinner at 20:00 so we left around 1940 and found him already in Restaurant La Maison next to Rian. It turned out that he had not gone to the soccer match at the Maracana stadium because the tickets were sold out. We had another nice dinner and brought home a bunch of meat from our “churrasco misto” for two. We paid the bill this time including two bottles of wine (R$96 for the wine!). We staggered back to the hotel by 22:20.

2/26 Monday We supplemented our bread, juice, hot drink and cheese with last night’s leftover meats so we lasted until 15:00 before needing lunch. Hugo, the guy we were corresponding with via email about reservations was at the desk and we could ask about storing our luggage at the hotel until we needed to go to the airport for our 23:55 flight. He told us that it was not a problem. Weather looked very iffy for flying – clouds and wind – so we did not even call Ricardo. Instead we took the Metro to the Cinelândia (Praça Floriano) stop and found our way to the Bonde (tram) terminal to Santa Teresa. We passed over the Arcos da Lapa, a Roman-style aqueduct and wound through the hillside neighborhood. We got off at Largo dos Guimaraes instead of taking it to the end of the line, and walked up the other set of tracks far enough so we could see the Corcovado (beyond “Mikes Haus”, a small bar mentioned in Lonely Planet). Then we cut off the tram route down a long hill to intersect the first set of tracks, then back to Guimaraes. From there we followed the tracks back towards Centro past many nifty-gifty shops to Curvelo where we headed over to the Ruins Park. It was closed so we didn’t get the promised 270 degree view, and we skipped the museum, too. We encountered a little rain and one thunderclap, but not enough to cut short our sightseeing. Continuing downhill along the Ladeiro da Santa Teresa we came to Escadaria Selarón, a long stairway with the risers decorated with colorful tiles. We descended to Lada, fumbled around under the old aqueduct, passed the modern Metropolitan Cathedral, and found our way into Centro and back around the Petrobras Building to the Bonde terminal and a food-by-the-kilo restaurant. This time we knew enough to get slices of the barbecued meat and went back for small slices of each of the tortas (prices are higher per kilo for desserts so they are weighed on a different scale). After lunch we looked around the plaza at Cinelândia and then caught the Metro back to Copacabana at 15:45. We were ready for a shower and a rest after all that walking. Around 20:00 we went back down to the beachfront and walked farther to the east to eat outside at Maxim’s. I had the Fettuccini do Paillard (which I had forgotten I had ordered in GV) and got a big slab of marinated steak on top of my fettuccini. C.J. had Frango Cuban-style – breaded, fried chicken (not quite a whole one but a lot of chicken) with fries, peas, fried banana and two thick slices of bacon.

2/27 Tuesday We had the leftover chicken with breakfast. Around )9:30 we headed down the hill thinking about taking a bus to Ipanema but decided to walk through the tunnel (along Rua Tonelero). It was quite a ways to the Lagoon (passing a Metro station where I did not think there were any Metro lines). Once there we walked on the path along the lake to the right, past the swan boats to the first kiosks, then went back the other way to the channel where we turned left and walked down the rough side of the channel to Ipanema beach. We walked along the water’s edge of the remarkably uncrowded beach for a ways and along the sidewalk all the way to Arpoador where we climbed up on the rocks for a view toward Copacabana Fort and Sugarloaf. Then we backtracked a bit to get onto the street leading to Copacabana. Somewhere along the way we stopped to buy bottled water, lemon drink and postcards, and got taken for 50 centavos for a pay toilet whose door refused to open. A nearby cop directed C.J. to the Sofitel hotel which had a bathroom in the lobby (several levels of sophistication above the Hotel Santa Clara!). Returning to Avenida Atlantica, we wandered down the beachside sidewalk 100 m or so to find a kiosk for lunch. Before C.J. even got her caipirinha, a young man on a bicycle snatched her belt pack which was lying on the small table right next to her hand and rode off with it. We chased him yelling, “Stop! Thief!” but no one tried to stop him – maybe yelling in English was not the most efficient method. C.J. was angry; I was almost amused that we had been robbed so easily. Fortunately we did not lose anything irreplaceable like passports, but there was C.J.’s camera, credit cards, debit card, some cash, two $50 traveler’s checks, and other ID’ like her drivers license. After downing the caipirinha, we returned to the tented snack restaurant where we had met the policeman earlier and reported the theft. He did not speak English but another man interpreted and the cop called the tourist police who showed up 30 minutes later. They took us back to the hotel to get our passports, then to the tourist police station in Ipanema where C.J. filled out a bunch of reports, and I went with one of the tourist police to four banks, none of which had an ATM which worked with my soon-to-be-canceled debit card. The clerks at the tourist police station tried to help us call Mastercard and American Express and Visa/Bank of America for the debit card but we only got through to AmEx which canceled C.J.’s card, but not mine which had a different number (whew!). It must have been two hours before the paperwork was completed, we received a copy, and the police drove us back to our hotel where we could get a shower and change clothes. There was quite a bit of discussion about what we should do because we had barely enough money right then to get a taxi to the airport and eat a meager meal, and we still had another whole day. Fortunately, we still had one credit card that might work in a restaurant and I had two $50 traveler’s checks and some US money. I checked the guidebook and found that there was an American Express office in the Hotel Copacabana Palace so we could cash one or both checks there tomorrow. About 17:30 we went to the Checkpoint internet café and sent an email to Bank of America about the credit card. Then I went to the first Checkpoint and used the phone to call Bank of America to cancel both the Mastercard and debit card. [It would have cost R$15 for the first three minutes at the hotel and it ended up needing about 15 minutes at R$1.50/min to complete the call with the usual hold times.] Back to the hotel to change, then we went to dinner at Restaurante Árosa, the kilo-place where we were pretty sure that they would take our credit card. This time we knew about getting slices of BBQ meat, and we went back for dessert (Hey, we hadn’t had any lunch!). We paid with my AmEx card. At this point we had about $39 USD and R$67 (the taxi costs R$60-65 to the airport) so we felt that we needed to cash one or more of the $50 travelers check depending on what we do tomorrow to be sure we have enough of a cushion.

2/28 Wednesday After breakfast we checked at the desk for the American Express office (“behind the Copa Palace”) and walked down there, stood in line and cashed one $50 check at no charge. We returned to the hotel and got packed up and C.J. showered. We got out of the room by noon and then sat around the lobby for a while trying to decide what to do. C.J. settled on the Pão de Açúcar and found out that the 511 bus went there. We walked down to Avenida N.S. de Copacabana and headed east until we found a bus stop with “511 - Urca” on it. The bus took us to within a block of the cable car station for R$4 (pay the cashier on the bus, not the driver). We bought our tickets (R$70, not as bad as 72€ for the Aiguille du Midi) and were soon on our way up to the top of the first monolith, the Morro da Urca, a three-minute ride. We didn’t spend much time there but loaded on to the second stage to the summit of the Pão de Açúcar. Great views of the city, harbor, Niteroi, the beaches and Christo Redentor! We toured the top, which was larger than I had expected from my view from ground level, and were able to spot the tiny monkeys in the jungle growth when a saleswoman from the Amsterdam Sauer jewelry shop fed them a banana. Later we had a lunch of quiche, picanha hamburger (microwaved in its plastic wrapper, but still very good) and a can of Guaraná. Then we took a trail down the east side in the jungle shade and sat at an overlook with a view of the harbor and Niteroi bridge, and the close-flying urubu vultures. Back at the top we rested in the shade and watched the urubus and frigate birds thermalling over the top. We headed down around 17:30 stopping for a video presentation on the history of the cable car, and to read a sign about the geology of the area on the Morro da Urca. The cable car deposited us at the base as the moon was rising over Sugarloaf and I took a few photos (which also had the effect of avoiding the crowd of taxi drivers hustling for business). We caught the 512 bus back to Copacabana and stopped at the Sendas store to buy a bottle of cachasa, the sugar cane liquor used in the caipirinha, and some water. Back at the hotel, I sponged off in the lobby bathroom; then we waited until the taxi showed up around 19:50. We were at the airport by 20:40 and passed through security after checking our baggage. There was a moment of panic when I couldn’t remember where we had put the immigration document, but I found it in the baggage we were about to check. There was not much in the way of food in the crowded gate area but I did buy a can of maracujá juice and a container of Guaraná -Vita, a non-carbonated guaraná drink and checked out the duty-free shop upstairs. After passing out of the waiting area, our carry-ons were opened and inspected and all water was discarded. Once we reached cruising altitude we had dinner and a complimentary drink (gin and tonic for me, vodka infused with mango and tonic for C.J.) Then I slept most of the way to Atlanta.

3/1 Thursday It was stormy and rainy coming in to Atlanta-Hartsfield. Later there was thunder and lightning while we were waiting to board. C.J. used our Silver Medallion Delta Frequent Flyer cards to get us upgraded to First Class. Actually, she got to First Class, her first time in First, and I had just about settled into a seat by myself in Coach when the flight attendant told me, “Your seat is available, sir.” Cool! We had a great lunch while those in Coach were getting snacks. There were thunderstorms in the Mississippi Valley and warnings on CNN in the terminal about tornadoes. It was mostly cloudy as we passed over the central part of the US so I slept. There were rumors of snow in Seattle which turned out to be mostly rumors, but there was definitely new snow east of Seattle and it was cold. Bob picked us up and we drove into the snow in Issaquah.

Chile - Paragliding Iquique, and Santiago November 2006

CHILE 2006

11/17 Friday Bob Hannah got us to the airport for our 1335 Delta flight. We bought water after getting through TSA security and then had lunch at La Pisa Café. We changed planes in Atlanta and then had a long night flight to Santiago. It was clear enough to watch the terrain of Chile change from desert to farmlands in flat valleys between steep ridges as we flew north to south.

11/18 Saturday There were long lines for the "reciprocity visa" ($100 each) and in the customs/immigration line, a couple of porters who looked more like uniformed officials grabbed our bags and “helped” us to the check-in gate for our flight to Iquique. So we ended up giving them $5. There was a long layover in the Santiago and the airport was not particularly interesting. Our flight to IQQ was over the ocean and we had seats on the left so could not see the coast. Anyway it was cloudy and the only view we had was when we were turning onto the final approach. It was just as brown and devoid of plantlife as we had been told. Luis picked us up and we went to Palo Buque after a quick stop at a restaurant near Los Verdes(with salt crystals instead of gravel for ground cover) to use the baños. The wind was light and getting lighter at PB so, after an hour we went to Alto Hospicio, a launch above the city of Iquique, and got our gear sorted out. We had a short flight down to the bailout LZ at Huyaquique beach just south of a military recreation area. We flew over the southern part of Cerro Dragon, the huge sand dune that hangs above the city, and over the paragliding resort wannabe of Altazor. After checking into Hotel Terrado Club and taking a much-needed shower, we went to dinner at Restaurant Neptuno with everyone from the first week and some other locals. The grilled acha (some kind of fish) was good and C.J.’s seviche assortment was very good (but Todd’s seviche peruviana was even better). We each had a pisco sour, of course. We got back to the hotel for bed around midnight.

11/19 Sunday There was a typical big hotel breakfast buffet with some unfamiliar kinds of pastries, various cold cereals, fruit, a platter of sliced cheese and ham, and eggs cooked to order –scrambled (revuelito?) with cheese and ham, kiwi and strawberry juice. We made lunch sandwiches on rolls with the cheese and ham. We met the rest of the group again at 0915 at the vans and drove up to Alto Hospicio for a morning flight. It was already lightly soarable when we arrived (about a 20 min ride). I flew for 40 min, toplanded to get sunglasses as the fog burned off, launched again with a brummel hook unfastened so landed again. On my third flight I managed to scratch around for only 10 min before a flush cycle sent me across the dune to the beach. C.J. stayed in the air, got high and was able to fly out to Playa Brava and land near the hotel. We got back to the hotel around 1300 and rested until it was time to meet again at 1530. It was closer to 1600 when we headed out to Palo Buque. The wind was too light there and a bit too W or NW so we headed back to AH. It was easy soaring but no one was getting very high (“very high” in this case meant 100 m over launch). I toplanded after 40 min thinking it would be easier to pack up on the hard sand launch than down on the loose sand beach. It wasn’t. I rode down with Todd then went back to the Santa Isabel grocery store to checkout what we might have for dinner since we had a full kitchen in our room. I picked up some mustard, cocoa mix and a roll of cookies. When C.J. got back we went back to the store and got frozen lasagna, rolls, salt, soup, cucumber and a sack of avocados. Todd came by to get our passports so he could have copies made for the airport (required if you are planning to pass through/near the airport airspace). The plan for tomorrow is to fly from Patillos to Palo Buque if possible.

11/20 Monday Early breakfast then load at 0830. We’re down to one van with 8 people (Todd Weigand and Luis Rosenkjer, our guides, David Salmon from SLO, Ihor Trufyn from B.C., Summer B from Ashland, and Bob from NC), and our wings on top (Oops, my platypus nozzle must have gotten squeezed because water was running down the side of the van. Not much in my pack was wet but I had to buy another bottle of water from the gas station convenience store). At the Chilean version of the FAA (but run by the military) at the airport, we found out that there was some military exercise going on and that the ridge between Patillos and almost to Palo Buque was closed. We drove about 80 km past Patillos to Playa Chipana, another launch N of Tocopilla. Launch was on a steep, sandy (looked like a glacier) area. The 4WD van was able to get our wings and us most of the way to the launch in two trips. Then we had to struggle up the steep and loose sand to wherever we wanted to lay our wings out. Luis launched first and landed just below launch when it appeared to be too weak. He launched again later followed by David Salmon and they were able to soar and climb above launch. I took off shortly after 1200, made a few passes over the sand and then had to land when I began to sink. I didn’t launch again until after C.J. launched. This time I made just two passes before crossing the small canyon to the N and getting on the rock-studded slope (probably an alluvial fan). (See my tracklog left) I flew low across the slope gaining altitude slowly and I worked some rough thermal lift . Eventually, I was high enough to head N as I continued to work ratty ridge and thermal. I was way below the top of the ridge (2000’+) for most of the flight and had to turn the corners much lower than I wanted to. At one point Todd and I turned a corner (he was much higher). There was a long glide in sink before getting back to the portion of the bowl that faced into the wind and I was down to 500’ which looked like about 100’ over the ground. I was looking at possible LZs in the rocky terrain. However, lift was available even that low and the rest of the flight (1 hr 35 min, 31.5 km) was easier with clouds forming at or above the ridge. When I spotted Ihor on the ground before another big spur, I flew out, took some photos and landed nearby (S of the spur south of Rio Seco). C.J. meanwhile had sunk out after being exhausted by carrying her (my) wing up to launch. Bob, Summer and C.J. were already at Ihor’s LZ and C.J. got some photos of my approach and landing.

After packing up, we headed on to Patillos (the airspace limit for that day) to pick up Todd, Luis and David. On the way back we stopped at Palo Buque where we did some kiting and ridge soaring on a minor ridge running E-W benching up and crossing over to the main ridge (N-S). I kited and carried my wing up about halfway, made a few passes until I was just over the top of the low ridge, then crossed to the main ridge heading S skimming along the sandy slope and gaining altitude all the way. It was weird to be flying with no instruments and no flightsuit – I wasn’t sure where the sink was or how high I was, and it was pretty chilly. It was dark (after 2100) when we got back to the hotel and we were beat! We ate the old bread, soup, the rest of the lasagna, an avocado and cuke, took a shower and went to bed.

11/21 Tuesday Up at 0700 for an early breakfast so we could get to the grocery store to buy water before we left at 0915. Unfortunately, the store (Santa Isabel) did not open until 0900 so I had to run back there later. At Alto Hospicio we waited until around 1100 before launching with the plan being to fly S to Palo Buque, then try to return and fly to Playa Brava. When I launched, I went immediately S to the face where David and Luis were already soaring. I worked the far bowl for a long time but could not seem to get high. Then C.J. and Todd caught up and Bob passed us going low directly for the first corner. So we all went for it. We rounded the first spur in sink and had to work in close on the next face to slowly get up to 1500’ when I could go for the next corner. C.J. ended up on the ground along with Bob. Todd, who was high, headed back to the launch to get the van. Each corner was difficult to varying degrees but the last one above the golf course (sand fairways with lime marking the bounds, and a different color sand for the “greens”) near Punta Gruesa was the worst with 1000+ fpm min sink and turbulence. Fortunately in the middle of the previous bowl I had hit a “screamer” and climbed to 2300’. Once around the corner, and down to less than 1000’, the glide to Palo Buque was not too difficult. I landed after tagging the PB ridge and making it out as far towards the highway as possible. Ever-impatient David had flagged down a taxi and had it drive in to pick me up so we didn’t have to wait for Todd to arrive (He was on the way.). C.J. and I had lunch in our room (breakfast sandwiches, same as almost everyday) then I spent some time talking with the hotel staff at the front desk through the one English-speaking guy (Alejandro) about tours and rental cars. I read through the Lonely Planet info on northern Chile with a little more understanding and urgency. At 1530 we headed out to Palo Buque again. I kited up a ways and launched but on my second pass I got dropped onto my seat. I launched again and worked up the S face and was at 1600’ or so when the glider seemed to go backwards followed by a violent collapse (maybe a full stall) that didn’t come out until I was near the slope. Shaken, I flew out to the highway then came back and began to climb the SW face again when I noticed that my reserve container was open. I carefully flew back to the LZ and got down as quickly as possible. Two scares in one afternoon was enough for me so I stayed on the ground after putting the chute container back together. We returned to the hotel around 2115, bought some food at the store and had dinner in our room.

11/22 Wednesday We loaded up at 0845 for Chipana. On the way down C.J. and I talked with Ihor, who had been here touring around with his wife for the previous two weeks, about renting cars and traveling around on our own. Once again the van ferried our gear and bodies (in separate trips) to as high on the dune as possible. But this time Bob carried C.J.’s pack up (way up, higher than necessary, almost to where an earlier-arriving group from France had established themselves). Conditions were similar and I launched 20 min later. It seemed easier to get to 1200’ and stay up. No one had any idea why the French weren’t launching – they were still there when we flew over their heads before flying N. C.J. did much better flying as far as I did on my previous flight. I continued on and squeaked around the corner and flew into the big sink behind it. I was down to less than 600’ msl when I decided to land just N of Rio Seco (34.9 km) – needed a bathroom break. The wind was strong and I parked over a big field for several minutes. I was concerned because I was downwind of a bunch of rock mounds and didn’t know if the air was going to get trashy. It turned out not to be too bad and I used my D-lines to deflate the wing. When it tried to reinflate, I had to haul in on one brake line before the lines got damaged on the sharp rocks at the edge of the field. David, Todd and Luis continued on to Palo Buque after clearing the flight with the airport. (Todd landed at Patillos launch to call, then later landed high at Palo Buque, relaunched and made it back to the city.) We were glad to have a couple of hours to relax, shower and cook fishburgers for dinner. Later we went to the lobby and I surfed around trying to find a rental car. It may be that the hotel can get us a similar rate ($51, better than Budget which was $66/day).

11/23 Thursday We loaded the van at 0930 and drove to Patillos, then took the mine road to the launch (signed “Zona de Parapentes”). The whole area reminded me of Doherty Slide with the road angling up the face of a bluff and the lack of vegetation. Launch was a pullout on the side of the road with a small parking area across the road. The launch had a somewhat rounded slope so pulling the wing up would not be too difficult if you didn’t wait until the winds got strong. I took off about 1130 (after C.J. and Ihor) and made several passes gaining altitude quickly until I was above the top of the bluff and looking down on a rugged plateau. C.J. and Ihor were above me but the climb out was so easy that I passed through 750 m and radioed that I was ready to cross to the next point. Todd advised waiting another 20 min for the lift to develop. Several minutes later I hit a boomer and climbed to 883 m (2740 ft) [Airspace restriction was 1000 m] and headed across the gap to the next point. I worked there for a long time and even tried to come back against the wind when the rest of the group were getting up back in front of the first point. Eventually I just went on glide and caught some lift low on the next face. About this time David passed me and led the rest of the way. We were getting higher than on the previous days farther south (1800-2000’) and bumping along from point to point. About 15 km out we came to a point that had a big gap north of it. We spent quite a bit of time trying to get really high but I finally had to leave with just 1800’. I was waaay back in there through the sink-y rotor and crossing a gap which appeared to be a bombing/missile range with target building painted (?) on the ground. I was clocking close to 60 kph when I finally reached a point (very low) where the wind was hitting the face pretty much straight on. A few passes got me a more comfortable distance above the valley floor and a long walk out through deep sand to the highway. Back up to 1600-1800’ I followed Ihor, who also had had a low save, and Todd to the next point/spur which was directly E of the airport. I thought that the next bowl/gap would be even deeper than the preceding one and would put me far from the road again (it turned out that I was mistaken and the really big gap was the preceding one) so when Ihor and Todd headed across, I turned into the wind and penetrated slowly out towards the highway using speedbar until I was near the ground. I collapsed the wing using the D-lines and quickly pulled in on one brake line. (2hr 00min, 22 km). Luis met me with the van as I reached the highway and we went for lunch at Cote Verdes, one of a collection of restaurants and snack bars, about 25 km from Iquique and 7 km from Palo Buque, near where the rest of the crew had landed. Since C.J. and I had already eaten our sandwiches we had a light lunch of empanadas (jaiva/queso (crab/cheese) and loco/queso (abalone/cheese) and a crab salad (jaiva-mayo). We dropped David, Summer and Todd off at Palo Buque about 1615 and returned to the hotel. Alejandro, the English-speaking manager trainee (?) and Antonio a bellhop, were very helpful in arranging a rental car and extending our stay at the hotel until the 30^th. Later I used the hotel computer to request reservations for 11/30 and 12/1 at Hotel Vegas in Santiago. At 1900 we rode over to the large Lider grocery store with Luis and wandered around looking at the alcohol, salads, fish and frozen foods. We each bought an ice cream cone (Amarena (cherry?) and Pisco sour). Then we walked next door to the Mall Las Americas and toured (quickly) the first floor. Just as in the US, there were a lot of Christmas decorations and felt subtly wrong in the tropical climate. Back at Lider I bought a bottle of Chilean wine and a 5 L jug of water and headed “home”.

11/24 Friday After breakfast we loaded up for Chipana at 0900. I launched at 12:15 and got up quickly, well, compared to the previous two flights here. Luis advised me not to go on alone so after everyone had launched, I came back over launch and caught a strong, smooth 1000 fpm thermal to higher than I had been near launch before. 30 min or so later Todd, in the van, announced whitecaps and C.J. decided to land before the 3^rd point. Even though I was higher than on previous flights, Luis, David and Ihor were higher still. Crossing the big gap at the mine road, I was down to 600’ but managed to scratch back up. Somewhere around the next ridge I found another strong thermal and reached the highest point of the day, around 2750’. At another point a small cloud formed right in front of me and all I had to do was fly under it to get to 2400’. Before reaching the point south of Rio Seco, my radio battery died and I did not hear Todd report whitecaps and strong winds at Rio Seco. I had planned to land anyway and followed the others out to the edge of the ocean and landed on the east side of the road. (1 hr 30 min, 31.5 km). On the way back we stopped at Las Verdes again but this time at La Picá de Pescador where the food was even better and just as inexpensive. C.J. and I shared the menu of the day: 2 empanadas and a big plate of fried apañados (a type of fish –very good) and ensalada chilenas. We were all stuffed and, since the wind appeared too strong at Palo Buque, we returned to the hotel. C.J. and I washed some clothes (which we had been doing every day), dealt with trip finances with Todd (we had to pay for an additional day), did some computer stuff and took a shower. We planned to meet at 1945 to go out for ice cream in lieu of doing an anniversary dinner. Luis and Todd took us down to the center of Iquique, Arturo Prat Plaza, where a brass band was playing probably in celebration of the 127^th anniversary of the city. We had ice cream cones at a sidewalk café on the wooden sidewalks of Baquedano, the pedestrian-only street. Later we went to the Ronny Tequila Bar, a “schoperia” or bar, to get out of the cold. Summer and Luis engaged in a fierce competition on the foosball table. We got back to the hotel around 2300.

11/25 Saturday After breakfast we headed back to Chipana for our last try at a long cross country flight. Todd had reminded us the previous day to fly safe since we had a perfect record so far. I launched at 1225 and everyone went high while I groveled to the first corner and around it. Then I finally caught some good lift and got up with the rest of the party and stayed relatively high for the rest of the flight. We passed Rio Seco at about 90 min. and climbed on the small ridge just beyond. At some point I reached 3100’ – high point of the whole trip. At Rio Seco I switched my GPS to go to Patillos as goal and hung on for another 24 km for a total of 65 km (40.4 mi) (2 hr 30 min). The last ridge between the power lines (that go right up the spur to the ridge crest) and the Patillos launch was very turbulent. Clearly by then the wind speed had picked up because we (C.J., Ihor, me) landed going backwards slightly. Dave had gotten into the compression zone just above or a bit behind the edge of the ridge and had to land and walk out down the road under the power lines. There was quite a bit of concern for his safety while he was out of radio communication. Todd flew out and landed, hopped in the van and soon relaunched upwind of Dave to see if he could spot him. We were all back at the hotel by 1730 and planned to go for dinner at 1930. After a shower and rest (We needed it!) we went back to the city center to Bavaria, a German restaurant, part of a chain. As we decided what to order, a parade formed up outside heading for Arturo Prat Plaza just a few blocks away. The food was excellent and the quantity, huge. David paid for everyone’s dinner. I went to Lider afterward to get water, a sack of avocados and soft drinks – we both have serious thirst. Tomorrow is our last morning with Todd and Luis.

11/26 Sunday After breakfast we went up to Alto Hospicio at 0930, cleaned the sand out our wings and straightened the lines from our hurried packing up yesterday in the wind. I launched around 1035 and soared around for a while before heading down the ridge to the north. Crossing the power lines where a road switchbacks up to Alto Hospicio was scary (especially when Luis, mistaking someone else for me, said, “Watch out for the power lines ahead of you!” when I had already crossed all of them…I thought). I spent a half hour above a gravel pit at the point of the ridge nearest to Playa Brava getting no higher than 2100’ (Luis and Todd had recommended 2300’). It turned out that 2000’ was easily high enough on a light wind day as I ended up 1000’ over the beach when I arrived at the hotel. I took a bunch of pictures while crossing and above the beach. After landing (1 hr 10 min) I packed up on the grass and rolled the wing up for airline travel. C.J. met me at the beach having landed at Huyaquique. We returned to the hotel to pick up our lunch and then back to the beach to sit in the shade of the palm trees on the grass. Afterward we walked up the beach in the wet sand – the dry sand was too hot. There were lots of birds and a few line and net fishermen. We walked as far as the beginning of Cavancha before heading back to the convenience store near the hotel for a “Menta Chip” ice cream bar. C.J. worked on the computer and with Todd and Luis the rest of the afternoon while I downloaded photos from the A80 onto C.J.’s flash drive using the hotel’s public computer. Then I tried uploading to Picasaweb with no luck, but at least I chose the photos I wanted uploaded. Later I sent an email to Bernadette and Wayne. Back in the room at 1730 C.J. did more proofing, and this was after she had already had a working breakfast with David and Luis. Dinner was “mustgos” at 1900 in Luis’ room.

11/27 Monday After breakfast the rental car was delivered and there was the usual contract to sign and checking over the car for damage, all in Spanish. – and gestures and some translation help from one of the bellhops. It was a small Hyundai Accent (?) with 173,000 km on the odometer – not like an Alamo/Avis/Hertz late model with hardly any mileage. I agreed to another $6/day insurance which was probably not necessary but so cheap that it seemed worth it. As far as I could tell, the final cost was something like $35 per day. On the way out of town we got gas which cost 600 pesos per liter (or about $4.80 per gallon). We drove up to Alto Hospicio and then we were in new country continuing east on the highway through AH and then climbing higher onto the Pampas de Tamarugal plateau. Almost to the intersection with the Pan American Highway we stopped to tour the Humberstone mine ghost town. (photo, left) Then we turned south on the PanAmericana, through Pozo Almonte and forked left (SE) for La Tirana, a pilgrimage site with an impressive church. It was not the pilgrimage season but there were a few other people visiting. C.J. bought a local hat from a street stand vendor. Then we continued SE through scattered trees – rare enough that we stopped outside of La Tirana and took pictures – through Matilla to the oasis at Pica where we had lunch in a shaded square while some Muslims were saying their prayers. We stopped in a restaurant for some naranja-mango jugos frutas (the fruit drinks that the oasis is known for) and walked around the town a bit including through a very small village market. Back in the car we tried several routes to find a road that continued east but all we found was the swimming pool and a bunch of dead ends. So we drove out through Matilla to check out the old church. Then we took a different route back to the PanAmericana (Ruta 5) which was signed “En mal estado” and it was a really rough 30 km through dry flat desert with large mud cracks in some places. Back on the PanAmericana heading north we passed through a large plantation of trees before reaching the Y where we had turned off for La Tirana. We got back to IQQ not long after 1800 and stopped at Lider for a big rotisserie chicken and other food for supper including a 700 ml bottle of premixed Pisco sours (12% alcohol). We parked the car in the underground garage beneath the hotel, and had our room re-keyed when our key cards wouldn’t work. Maybe we needed to pay for our rooms or register for the additional days or something. We had a great dinner with pisco sours, wine, chicken and sautéed zucchini.

11/28 Tuesday After breakfast we loaded the rental car with warm clothes, lunches and 5 L of water, got gas and pulled out around 0900. We retraced our previous route almost to Pozo Almonte then turned N on the Pan American Highway to Huara where we turned E. About 14 km later we saw a hill to the left and a sign “Cerro Unitos Geoglifos”. Since there was no geoglyph obvious on the hillside we spent a bit of time headscratching before we decided to drive down the unpaved road. Sure enough, on the W side of the hill, not visible from the road, was the famous “Giant of the Atacama”. After a few photos we returned to the main road and continued east gradually gaining altitude and going from bare sand and rocks to cactus at 3000 m along ridges and above deep canyons. The organ pipe cactus gave way to “fuzzy cactus” and, at about 3600 m to patches of grass and llamas (or anchovies, uh, angoras uh …) and even some running water. We kept encountering stretches of unpaved road which slowed us down ( as did stopping to take pictures and just gawk at unusual scenery, so when we stopped for lunch at 4400 m (staggering a bit up a hill in the thin air) we knew that we would have to turn back without getting to our goal of the Bolivian border just beyond Colchane or the village of Isluga in the national park. [Turnaround point was at km post 150] We could see snow on some mountains to the east before we turned back, and some vaguely volcano-ish peaks. Going back was faster because we did not make so many stops and we arrived back in Iquique around 1900. We bought pisco for Bill and a bottle of mango sour for Bob and some tomatoes and unripe lemon that looked like a lime (green, but hard like rock). Our room keys did not work again and the car rental company had called - they though that we were returning the car on 11/29 (I guess something got lost in the non-translation). We got our wings packed up and inside their protective bags. This part of the trip is definitely winding down. We’ll probably do some touring in IQQ tomorrow.

11/29 Wednesday I asked the bellhop Antonio if he could check to see if we could drop the car off at the airport – nope, has to be in town. I gave him 5000 pesos for his help in renting the car. We had a leisurely breakfast and at about 0930 drove to near Arturo Prat Plaza and walked through it browsing the not-very-interesting wares at the stands. We stopped at one shop on Baquedano with “Aymara Textiles” and on the way back C.J. bought a llama wool cape. We stopped at Sernatur, the tourist agency and picked up a free map and wandered through downtown IQQ to the central market. It seemed small for a city of 200,000 and did not have much color or variety. We toured the Regional Museum then returned to the hotel about 1300 for lunch. After a nap (When in Rome…) we drove to Zofri (the huge duty free mall) and walked past almost innumerable shops on at least three floors. It was not really very interesting but it is an important attraction of Iquique so I thought we should experience it. Later we drove to Playa Cavancha and wandered past the Camelidos pen and the caiman-turtle-koi exhibit, along the beach past the Bambu Bar with its windsock back to the car (which had a sunshade on the windshield. I removed it and stuck it in the car and drove away with the cries fading into the distance). Back at the hotel we dropped off our “stuff” and went to Santa Isabel for limes and Banco de Chile for an ATM. C.J. called Ihor and invited him to dinner – tried to get Todd with no success. We finished up the mango sours and packed the liquor we had bought in airline blankets inside C.J.’s rollaboard which we are going to check.

11/30 Thursday After breakfast we took a taxi to the airport, checked in and flew to Antofagosta where we had to wait for conditions to improve at La Serena. At Santiago airport we arranged for a minibus at a booth in the arrivals hall and shared a ride with several others into the city center. When we were within a couple of blocks of Hotel Vegas, we had to get out and walk because the street was cordoned off by the carabineros. We saw two guys in big, bulky bomb suits with helmets, and a helpful woman explained what was going on and asked the police how long before the street would open up. A few minutes later we were allowed to pass and a gentleman helped us pull our four rolling suitcases the block and a half to the hotel. It was a great introduction to the unexpected friendliness of the people in such a large city. Unfortunately, not everything was destined to go smoothly because we shortly found out that we had no reservations because they had not received our emailed acceptance of a double room. The staff was very helpful and arranged a room at the Hotel Lira for the night and even paid the taxi fare. We left our paragliders stored in a back room at Hotel Vegas. (photo, left) C.J. was able to pick up email and download the front half of the magazine in the breakfast room while I went out to explore the neighborhood. I should have taken a map because I finally had to give up and retrace my steps to get back to the Hotel Lira. We asked the manager for a restaurant recommendation and walked south on Lira into a motorcycle shop district with no restaurants. Heading back, and after an ice cream, we spotted the restaurant on a side street but it didn’t open until 2000 and appeared expensive. [We later found that it was a place that the city tours used for their night tours.] We walked pretty aimlessly up to Alameda and eventually past Hotel Vegas, back along Alameda past some noisy, smoky schoperias, through the artisan market (Sta. Lucia) and ended up at Fong Kung Chinese (!) restaurant which wasn’t great. We went back to the hotel for a shower and a nice long sleep.

12/1 Friday Breakfast was more typical of a small hotel – juice, hot chocolate and six slices of toast, butter and jam. We checked out of Hotel Lira and caught a taxi to Hotel Vegas – our laziness gene overcame our cheapness gene. We were surprised to be directed immediately to our room because it was only 10:00 A.M. The second surprise was that the room was a matrimonial rather than the doble which we had expected. The manager later explained that the couple (from SF) who had been in there had asked to move because the party in the café under the windows had been loud and had gone on till early in the morning. [The local soccer team had scored a big victory the previous day] Anyway, there were lots of windows and a sitting area in the corner turret that looked out on the cobblestone Calle Londres. (Compared to looking out on a rather scruffy lightwell as in Hotel Lira.) We went out to get stamps (only at post offices) for the only post cards we had seen so far in Chile (right at the hotel desk) and then did the Lonely Planet walking tour more or less. We stopped in the Iglesia San Francisco, oldest church in Santiago (1572), and in the cathedral on the main square, Plaza des Armas; (photo, left, cathedral and decorations in Plaza des Armas) we walked the pedestrian paseos crowded with wall-to-wall people. We ended up at the Mercado Central fish market and bantered with the restaurant touts until we felt hungry enough for a big lunch of fish/shellfish stew (paila marina) and calamares en ajillo. Stuffed, we headed back to the hotel for a bathroom break and a rest. When we went back out again around 1600, we walked to the top of Cerro Santa Lucia past the Neptune fountain, the tomb of McKenna and the summit observatory. On the way down we went through the shops of the Exposition of Indigenous Art finding nothing of particular interest. Then we crossed the Alameda using the Metro entrance/exit and toured the Centro Artesanal de Santa Lucia. C.J. bought a scarf for Ginny and I bought a llama wool hat. Then we went back up on of the pedestrian paseos towards the Plaza des Armas to buy ice cream at Bravisssima Gelateria – a lucuma cone for C.J. and a chocolate milkshake for me. We hung out in the plaza for a while then headed back stopping along the way to buy a takeout pork-tomato-avocado sandwich to eat later. Back at the hotel C.J. worked on the PDF and I read for a while. Tomorrow we are thinking that we might go to the Cerro San Cristobal in the Parque Metropolitano.

12/2 Saturday We awakened this morning to the sound of “Ave, Ave, Ave Maria” as a procession from Iglesia de San Francisco bearing a large statue of Mary passed right under our windows. Breakfast was a hot buffet with hot dogs (?), bacon, omelets, toast, juice, hot milk (for cocoa for me), yogurt, fruit, etc. – not as extensive as at the Terrado Club but quite good. C.J. worked until 1100 when we went down to the front desk, checked out and stored our gear in a back room off the terrace. Then we took the Metro to Baquedano (Plaza Italia) and walked to the base of Cerro San Cristobal where we took the funicular to the terrace below the summit (869m). The whole area was busy with weekend crowds – boy scouts, pilgrims, lovers, bicyclists and just tourists. We could pick out the hill we climbed the day before and some of the downtown area. The summit is crowned with a large statue of Mary standing on a crescent moon. Pope John Paul II said mass here during his visit in 1989 (?) We checked out the teleferic and then went back down on the funicular. We had lunch at a sidewalk restaurant La Palmera on Pio Nono – pork chops and a big ensalada Chilena for me and a soup with chicken, green beans, and potato for C.J. We shared a schop, 500 ml stein of Escudo beer. We took the Metro back to Santa Lucia and returned to the Centro Artesanal where C.J. bought a skirt. After a pit stop and a rest in the hotel lobby we went out along one of the paseos to get an ice cream, our last excursion before catching a minibus to the airport. At the plaza, we sat and watched kids chasing the pigeons then walked over to see why a crowd had gathered. C.J. stumbled into a space in the grating covering a drainage channel and punctured her leg at the top of her shin. Many people stopped to help with baby wipes, bandaids and compassion. We got a bandage on and limped over to a Cruz Verde pharmacy where an English-speaking salesgirl checked the wound and sold us some antiseptic and Steri-strips for pulling the wound together. We headed back to the hotel and hung out there until our minibus arrived and took us to the airport. We had a nice conversation on the way with a lady who had just returned from her second cruise to Antarctica. The line at Delta was long but we checked our bags with no trouble. We did not have our original travel document so had to fill out another set before going through passport control. No water was allowed in so I bought C.J. another bottle once we were through airport security. Then we had about 6500 Chilean pesos left and the duty free shop had both pisco and pre-mixed pisco sour. I bought one of each for us and had to hand-carry them on to the plane. Once through the gate, there was another inspection of our carry-ons on the jetway and C.J. had to give up her unopened bottle of water (!) but the liquor made it through. We got dinner on the long flight and slept for a few hours.

12/3 Sunday There were long lines to go through US passport control in Atlanta, almost no inspection at all of our luggage and all we had to do was push our cart into a line of carts at the end of the room and airport baggage handlers took it from there. To go through the TSA security check we could have no liquids (except for the 3-oz bottles in a 1-qt ziplock bag) so I had to run back to our checked bags and stuff the two bottles inside C.J.’s wing bag hoping the glass would survive. We had seats at the very back again just as on our flight SEA-ATL but the view was good all the way across the country and the back-of-the-seat- monitors could be set to show the GPS map of our route. We came in past Saddle Mountain and right over a point south of Tiger then over downtown Seattle. Bob picked us up along with our undamaged (!) luggage. On the way home we stopped at Meadowbrook Urgent Care Clinic in North Bend and had C.J.’s wound looked at and stitched up by a doctor.

Great trip!