Bucaramanga Colombia

[wblamb]

I had a great time flying in Bucaramanga Colombia. Richi is a great host, and his hostel is right at Las Aguilas launch. Morning flights were fun but following the chulos (vultures) proved a little elusive. I only managed to get one good morning flight; most of the time I would follow a group of thermaling chulos, make a few turns and find the lift and chulos had disappeared. How do they do that?

Conditions are strong midday, and for the most part only the tandems fly. Evening flights were very consistent. Between 3:30 and 4:30 things would mellow out some and flying down range in ridge lift was easy. The wind is generally 14 to 20+ and getting a thousand feet over is not unusual. Burning off altitude and top landing is the challenge at Las Aguilas. Sometimes we could fly way out over the city without loosing much altitude, about a 30 minutes flight at 8 or 9 mph into the headwind, the trip back to launch was about 5 minutes!

My brother and Bob H joined me and we did a side trip to Barachara, a beautiful old Colombian city where they like to eat ants.

Benson

http://www.pbase.com/wblamb/colombia_07_08

[Jeffy]

Excellent pictures Benson!