Day 2 Tour 3

The drying trend from the rain a day ago continueds.  The sky stayed fairly dark all morning even though it sinned up nicely for a short time at launch. 

We were ready to go but were forced to wait for conditions to get stronger. 2 of the three first pilots landed before the day really started to turn on. 

It was patient flying and I was gettin antsy to run to the valley and take our chances there. Ultimately we gaggled up quite well on the valley edge of the spine and got to 6500' together. I glided out to the middle just past Roldanillo with most of my group with me. 

Unfortunately everyone that followed landed as we watched others climb out  that avoided our path and fly on towards Zarsal and beyond. Those are the breaks. We were still happy to have landed someplace different than the day before and quickly got rides back to town. 

Juice, empanadas and chicken filled our bellies and made for a fine finish to another great couple of hours of flying.  

Reports started coming in a little later that some had flown as far as Cartago but when the west wind came through it pushed the clouds into overdrive and dumped rain with a slight gust front as well. The pilots in the air saw this and flew away to avid the wind and the wet, and everyone landed safely without incident. 

Stuffed avocado for the appetizer. 

Some sort of chicken and rice meal was delicious. 

We had a debrief by the pool and then I helped Brian and Dave repack some reserve parachutes after dinner as is customary every 6 months to a year.   

I'm good and tired and heading off to bed ASAP.  Tomorrow will be even better I suspect!

Buenos noches!

Martín 

Day 1 Tour 3

Rain the night before and the morning of the first day of the last tour was welcome but in excess of our expectation. We knew it would settle things down, but now we were concerned it may be too much of a good thing. 

Fog on launch made for a fair amok of waiting. It was refreshing and cool. 

Everyone was quick to be ready to fly, still unable to see anything out front sue to the thick clouds. 

Things eventually lightened up and we were able to launch everyone into the light conditions. 

It was light lift but it was abundant and smooth. The gaggles worked well together and we moved down the ridge to the south for a while. 

As dark as it was, there was still lift, but we opted to make a move to the north and make a play for La Union. 

Most of us made it there, following the guides into town. 

Shade and light wind made landing easy onto the grassy soccer field.

What a fitting end to a first cross country flight for Ganelle, on her first Colombian flight. Randy was feeling the smoke as well. In fact my whole group was there,  Nice work team, super sweet. 

A short walk found us at Grijales restaurant for lunch.  

We shared a bottle or two of Chilean Malbec wine, a rare event for me, but it was delicious. 

Lots of curios were on display across the street.  

A local fire truck was parked nearby too. 

Back at the hotel we had a relaxed meeting to get everyone up to speed followed by dinner and a debriefing of the day. 

Tomorrow looks perfect and spirits are high. Hasta mañana!

Martín