CO'26 1.2. (Las Aguilas) > Chicamocha Canyon > San Gil

Sun. Very similar wx to yesterday. We met Edinson on TO at 1000, as he has slept at home. Lots of humidity in the air, so only Michael flew; Kari and me groundhandled a bit.

Kari kiting Peter's LeelooX

Afterwards we started the drive through Chicamocha Canyon to San Gil (the place for this night), stopping several times along the way to have a look at the LZ, some possible TO's and just to enjoy the views.

LZ at the bottom of the canyon - can be used till around 1230, then the valley wind becomes too strong!

Chicamocha Canyon

Cepita

San Gil by night (after a very disappointing dinner)

Tomorrow, the wx is supposed to be better (we shall see!), so we'll leave early in order to be ready on launch by about 1000...

CO'26 31.1. BGA - las Aguilas

Sat. Having spent a short night at Puerto Berrio, we left at 0800 for the 200k- drive to BGA. But with heavy traffic, a stop for breakfast and another to buy some fruit, the 3.75hrs drive took almost 6 hours.

Puerto Berrio

'Las Aguilas' is Edinson's home site and after a short site intro the flying started.

nice LZ below

Edinson flying my LeelooX

Unfortunatley, shortly after I had launched it started to rain so I had to land at the LZ - I didn't want to try to topland in these conditions. Esteban promptly picked me up and after the rain had stopped, flying resumed. But it didn't stay dry for too long and Kari and Peter had a very wet glider after toplanding...

CO'26 30.1. (Matasanos)

Fri: At 0845 we keft our hotel for the 1.25hrs drive to Matasanos - another beautifully prepared site. Unfortunately the low clouds/ fog persisited throughout the whole morning. 

Matasanos

...parawaiting...

Without having had a chance to fly, we left around 1245 for airport MDE (at Rio Negro). What should have been a 2.5hrs drive turned into a small 'nightmare'. The GPS led our coach into a road which became steeper and slippier the longer we continued. In the end it has been a 30% grade and our car couldn't advance any further :-(  So we needed to turn around (not easy with only very limited space available) and head back down all the way. Still it looked as we could make the deadline (gate closure) at 1645. Unfortunately, just a few kilometres short of the airport a car accident blocked the road... We arrived at the terminal buildung at 1644 - no way we could be at the gate by 1645. What next? - we decided to have dinner first. There I booked rooms at Puerto Berrio: according to GoogleEarth 184km (and 3.5hrs) away.. But the average speed on Columbian roads is max 40kmh. So it took us almost 5hrs (!) to get there...