CO'26 13.1. Ansermanuevo

Tue: finally a decent looking day. Even though during the night it had been raining very heavy, the day turned out quite nice.

view at Villa Luca

transport to launch

very nicely prepared launch

After a decent launch I rather quickly arrived at cloud base and decided to follow Peter direction South.

But already after the first transition I arrived low and didn't manage to 'dig' me out - esulting in an early outlanding :-((  Unfortunately the same happend to Peter as well. Oli and Vincent had a very nice flight ending in toplanding on launch; igor headed towards la Union, but didn't make the last transition.

actually I'm pretty happy with my landing here  (the clouds didn't look so dark - that happend during stitching)

pix by Oli

Dinner at Villa Lucas...

CO'26 13.1. Ansermanuevo - Video by Vincent

 

CO'26 12.1. Piedechinche > Ansermanuevo

Mon, originally we had wanted to fly from Piedechinche in the direction of Ansermanuevo, but in the morning it was clear, that this was no option for today. So we left by car and witha stop in Roldanillo we arrived (a bit late) on launch at Ansermanuevo.

'sugar cane-train'

Roldanillo: coffe time

our accommodation: Villa Lucas (seen from launch)

official LZ

over launch (rh side of pod)

As it looked nicer, we all landed a bit further from the official LZ; unfortunately, this resulted in a longer hike-out...

CO'26 11.1. Piedechinche

Again a very similar wx fcst, indicating a small flying window from approx 1200 to 1500. The radar showed xxRA in the morning for our area (indicated by the blue dot). Getting to launch on the steep and slippery dirt road proved difficult, but our (lady) driver managed it perfectly without any problems. Apparantely later 2 cars collided, but minor damage only....

Finally, after some parawaiting around noon it started to clear and launches commenced... 

...ending the day with a nice dinner :-)

>>> at our present location (Ansermanuevo), the internet is working very slowly and not at all times, so my posts are only short and sporadic - sorry! But we could fly every day so far :-)

CO'26 10.1. Buitrera

It has been raining quite heavily during the night so there has been no hope for a big flight. But we left -as planned- for Buitrera, a site south of Palmira. Actually yesterday Edinson and Kari had flown there (and back) from Piedechinche.

...tandem pilots parawaiting at the LZ...

Arriving at Buitrera,  the mountain was still covered by low clouds, so we visited 'Nirvana' a 'parque naturaleza' where we could see a small part of the immense flora Columbia has to offer. Later it cleared up and the tandems began to operate, so we headed for the LZ for a ride up to launch.

...looking better...

LZ Buitrera

The LZ at Buitrara is rather tricky as it has a slight downhill slope and is divided by 2 fences running across; we saw some 'not so nice' tandem landings. But luckily there is an alternative LZ, which requires a bit of a walk (less than 1 km to the road), but is free of obstacles and very large. All (except Oli) landed there.

Barlovento-launch (facing W)

I had a 'small' problem on launch as an A-line got caught. Something I didn't realize as there is no force on this line when I initially pulled up the wing with the manouever lines. Si I headed straight for the alternative LZ and managed a good landing. Later it started to OD and all landed. On the way back to Santa Elena we stopped at Palmira for shopping and changing money.

Buitrera looking West

CO'26 9.1. Piedechinche

Very similar wx situation as yesterday: nice flying and then OD with heavy rain in the afternoon. Some (like Gudrun and me) made only one flight, others 2.

             my TO on the NW-launch at 'Seven

Igor

Kari

Gudrun

launch on the rh side

excellent steak (with little salad) ;-)

CO'26 8.1. - Piedechinche - first flights

Valle de Cauca

Starting our flying adventure with a flight in Piedechinche (south of Santa Elena) - about 15' drive from our Hotel 'Siga la Vaca'. Today we have started a bit late as we left Santa Elena only after noon. But all could make a flight and landed safely and dry before it started to OD with heavy rain (xxRA).

transport to launch is by 4x4, as the road is rather steep in places

Piedechinche TO 'Seven'

...'ready for departure', but due to wind we had to switch to NW-launch...

Piedechinche 'Seven' - main launch facing W, NW-launch above the car

main LZ 'Daedalo'

LZ 'Daedalo'

xxRA

After flying we had an early dinner (including Oli, which had just arrived via Miami) at the hotel's restaurant, as nobody felt in the mood for looking for an alternative in this xxRA...

CO'26 0107 -Travel

Finally the long awaited travel day ;-)

At the airport in Zurich (LSZH, ZRH) I met Peter, Michael&Gudrun as well as Vincent for travelling together to BOG on an Edelweiss A350. The emmigration process here in ZRH has been rather tiresome as around noon many long haul flights are departing and queues at the border have been long and slow; furthermore the skymetro linking Terminal with Terminal E is undergoing a major repair/ upgrade, so all pax had to be transported to Terminal E by bus...

C-class on EDW A350

Inflight service has been really excellent - full marks to the EDW-crew: very attentive with good food. The only thing I didn't like on the flight (but that's not a fault of the crew): the cabin layout is still the same as it has been by LATAM (from where the aircraft has com). This means that if you ar sitting at a window, you always have to climb over the pax sittng/ sleeping next to you (but they said, that the layout  will be changed. That's also th reason that for the return flight I didn't choose EDW, but LH from BOG.FRA; they have a different, mor convenient layout - especialy for a night flight. 

departing rwy 16 in LSZH (the long rwy across the pix) with a tight left turn above the airport

Bernese Oberland: Finsteraarhorn, Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau

leaving Europe slightly north of Porto (PT)

Sunset in the Caribeean

ZRH-BOG -actual route flown (11hrs 6mins)

BOG-CLO

Already in the morning a schedule change had been announced, new departure time now 1445 (iso 1335)... After a smooth flight we landed in BOG at 2015- boarding time of our flight to CLO was at 2020, so no way we would make it even though CO-immigration has been really speedy despite the many travellers waiting to be cleared. Only Igor, who had travelled via Madrid (MAD) made the Avianca planned flight. Kari, arriving fom MEX landed around 1900 and has been taken to the hotel by Edinson and our driver (Estephan), so she wouldn't have to wait for our arrival at 2355. Finally ready to sleep by 0200 (= 0800 home time)...