Diesinueve

By the time everyone had regrouped, it was getting late.  As we drove to our next spot the sun went down and it began to rain a little. It was refreshing to stop and tarp up the gear. We all stood in the rain to help and enjoy the light shower. 

Colombian wrist watch. The gap where glove meets jacket doesn't go unnoticed by the sun. 

We stayed in a town near Anserma, The hotel was nice enough, but the only rooms left had no windows. This meant that the fan would likely not get cooler over time, but at least with the fan, the heat soaked rooms were tolerable. There were also no Mosquitos!  

The open 2nd story window in the hall. 

In the wee hours I cracked my door open to let some cooler morning air in. The sounds of the city came in as well.

It was far less busy than the night before but now I could hear birds and only occasional traffic with some shouting of some sort that repeated intermittently. 

The sky looked cloudy and the air was humid and cool. A refreshing start. We will launch from a place called Risaralda and try to fly to Ansermanuevo (new Anserma) and topland there, or just keep going back to La Union if the sky allows. The launch at Ansermanuevo is nice, and a building on top has bathrooms. We stayed at a nice place on the top of the mountain near the launch last year that had an infinity pool overlooking the valley.

Cloud surrounded launch for hours so we waited, snacked and hung out. some young boys came by and we chatted for a while until it was time to launch. I think they were worried about me. 

Arbaro and Sergio, my new friends. 

Cloudbase stayed low and we had to really work together to stay up. Shane landed after a gallant effort and manages to go XC a bit. The rest of us worked down the ridge together and the day got weaker and harder to stay up. 

Eventually we all got a good climb to 8,000' and left together to cross the valley to the moutans to the west. We found a super light bubble but I thought I could make the foothills and mark the next climb. As I dove in I looked back to see everyone else slowly climbing.  Doh!

I was too low to get the climb and landed near the road. Destin was also too low and landed minutes later. The rest climbed out to cloud base and flew silently away. In the end farmer was the only one to make goal, landing after 5pm on the launch at Ansermanuevo. 

While enroute to meet the group we were stopped by the police to check our driver's paperwork. No biggie I thought. 

Just another routine stop, and this has happened many times before.  This time, however, they ran the info and found a problem.  The first officer poured over Flacko's  license and paperwork and checked it on the computer.  With so much time I couldn't help taking a few photos. The policia didn't like that. Now the first officer asked to see our passports. Oops. While the officer checked our IDs (bad cop), a second (good cop) came up to watch us. I chatted him up and said how much I liked his Colombian flag patch sewn to his uniform sleeve. He said he wished he had an extra to give me. I told him I was sorry for taking photos, and he said no problem so long as it wasn't video. Cool. I asked him if his pistol was a Glock and he proudly upholstered it, released the magazine, pulled back and locked the slide and said it was a "Sig" as he handed it to me to inspect it myself. "Nice grips" I said, then added "very comfortable!"  He nodded in agreement as I handed the empty weapon to Destin who was trying his best to look casual. 

Meanwhile Flacko was at the back of the car with the first cop. I gave him a look to ascertain just how serous this was for him and he gestured to me with his wrists together that they may cuff him right on the spot. Hmmm. 

The first officer came back back around to where we were and he saw how we were getting along with his partner. We now talked with the first guy (bad cop) for a good 30 minutes about where he went to school and how long I have studied Spanish, him telling us things like his sister lives in Panama, and I mentioning that we are staying in La Union at Casa Blanca and that we see lots of policia there. He said that was in his patrol area. I asked the (now friendly) first policeman about his patch too and he said he had an extra one. Sweet!  I asked how much would he sell it to me for and he said it was at his home. Rats. He offered his hat to me instead and I offered to trade for my Eagle hat but he knew he couldn't be caught wearing it while working and we politely left it at that. The other officer did the same with Destin, declining to trade. No hats. "Maybe I'll see you at the hotel in the next two weeks" I said, "and you can bring the patch?" He seemed to think it was a possibility. Who knew? Next thing you know he is showing me pictures of his girlfriend and I'm showing them both pictures from flying, (carefully scrolling past the photo I already had of the first officer). 

Ultimately we were all ready to go and they let Flacko go so he could pay his fines at the Colombian DMV or whatever and they would verify it by computer likely within a day or so. Done. Just as we rolled away saying goodby and waving, they hollerd for us to stop. I'm sure Flacko was mortified. He threw the jeep into reverse and backed slowly up to the waiting officers. Yes?

They both had thier hats off and insisted we take them. What a relief!  I agreed accept ther gift so long as we could take this photo together. Say whiskey!

Yours truly and Destin posing for policia

One of the officers took this one of us  proudly wearing out new hats. I think Flacko could have just quit about now. What a trouper. 

Story time. 

We all had some laughs up at the hotel (near launch) overlooking the city lights below, each of us telling our stories of the day. Adventure!

Goodnight from Ansermanuevo, Colombia. Tomorrow we try to fly back to La Union. 

Martín