Today is my first day with a room at the hotel Campestre. We will be staying here for 3 days. The first member of the group arrived today. Two more will be arriving soon. I took a swim in the pool and watched the paragliders at Ruitoque while Richi is fetching arriving pilots from the airport. I'm sure there will be plenty of flying (AM & PM) over the next few days so I am chillin. The rooms are fantastic. Mini bar, coffee maker, microwave, walk in shower, etc. For sure the nicest hotel in the whole tour!

February 2nd

We went for a couple sledders at Ruitoque in the morning. The new group of pilots arrived today and last night. They are from California and Canada. It is nice to have more company and other traveling stories to listen to. Today was very hot and humid. I have never sweat so much in my life. That afternoon we went back to Ruitoque for some ridge soaring. I flew for an hour but then the wind turned off and I landed in a pasture a kilometer short of the LZ. I had my first good hike in Colombia. It was so hot. I sweat even more so than ever. Like dripping off my nose! Had plenty of water on hand and good directions. The funniest part was crossing fences. This herd of cattle came running up to me like happy dogs! I've never seen anything like it. Typically they are afraid or just passive. These guys were all about getting closer. I have no idea what they wanted but it was very funny. I decided to go around their territory. We got back to the hotel for showers then went out to a super nice restaurant that fed all 6 of us for about $50. Great food here. I had the best tasting piece of rare beef I've ever tasted.

February 3rd

Went flying again. A good time was had by all. I landed in a crazy cow field again. I was always looking over my shoulder as I was packing up. I still don't know what they wanted. That's just freaky when a group of cows surround you and look at you like they want something.

It is flyable 360 days a year here. Very hot again so after flying we came back to the club and jumped in the pool. I had my standard lunch of empanadas and cervesa.

We returned to Ruitoque for some afternoon flying. I found a cloud street and headed out over the city. I was officially baptized by the vultures as I noticed a dark splotch on my wing. Now I am marked.

We went out for dinner to another nice restaurant. They had a trio of singing guitar players that visited every table. It was great to hear some local music from Santander (the state). After dinner the 6 of us walked off our meal and saw the city life on a friday night.

February 4th

A mellow start to the day with a steam bath and massage. Then we went to town to get airline tickets and visit the Colombian version of a Costco. We stocked up for the Mesa then back to the club for lunch. Another afternoon at Ruitoque. The view of the antenna landing zone is pictured. Note the paraglider shaped spot landing. Be sure to arrive with plenty of altitude as there is much sink before the runway. It makes for interesting hikes though.

We returned to the club for our 3pm check-out, a convienent hour. It was the first drive to the mesa for the rest of the group (Rob, Peter and Morgan). They were pleasantly surprised at how nice the mesa and the ranch are.

February 5th

We planned to fly Chicamocha canyon today but ended up getting a monster tail wind and clouds on launch so we bagged it and went to check out the property. We got a tour of the neighbor's house. Nice place with a great loft and view. We stopped at the local tiende for some empanadas and Aguila. The rest of the day was a siesta day. We checked out the local sunday market. Plenty of everything local. Again, the most gigantic papaya I have ever seen. Horseback riding for the kids and lots of local art. We went for a hike around the neighborhood and saw some really nice places. Diner time! Richi's mother, Libia, feeds us well. Every meal is a new sample of original Colombian home cooking.

February 6th

Another canyon morning. This time we all got to fly. What a great flight. There was a cloud on the launch side of the canyon so we all went on glide to the far side. When I arrived I noticed a huge dust cloud ascending the cliff under the viewpoint. It looked like an upside down avalanche! Morgan (pictured) and I used this to our advantage and explored further up the ridge. When we found no glory that way we returned to the viewpoint thermal and went to cloudbase high above where the tram construction was going on. It was about an hour flight for us when we decided to return to earth before the afternoon venturi winds.