Paragliding Adventure Part 2

After Leaving Crucita Larry, James and I headed south to another site, San Pedro. We stayed in Libertad Bolivar, about halfway between Montanita and San Pedro. We had a glorious evening flight.  Larry Flew for over an hour, I had two different flights. Handing my wing off to James so he could fly for a bit. We all enjoyed the smooth afternoon air. All of our flights on the coast were in consistent even air.

       Larry and I flying together, so incredible to be in the air with my mentor for so many years!

 The next day we tried to fly and the winds were light. When we arrived we were thoroughly questioned by the local pilots about our abilities and they wanted to see our credentials, Larry didn't bring his and I'm not even licensed yet. The day before they had been in a meeting about the site. The villagers want to make money from the tourism and tandem flights that are done there. Ecuador is trying to bring all ultralight aircraft under one umbrella, similar to USA and European standards. The guys at launch were taking the opportunity to practice their toughness. I reacted pretty strongly and told them that we flew the site yesterday and that we were perfectly competent to fly. After negotiating and another guy coming in to mellow out the fellow that approached us first the winds were too light to fly anyways. We hung out and got the download about the situation in San Pedro. Rightly so, the locals want a piece of the pie and the work at the launch. During the weekends if the winds are right the pilots may be giving over ten tandems each, $35 apiece there making pretty good money. The locals want to be hired as ground crew and given a percentage of the earnings. We were told that the fee that we were to pay to fly, $20 yearly, $5 for a day, would go towards the village. Asking further they told me that 90% would go to keeping the grass launch well maintained and 10% would go to the village. Seems to me that the villagers should get a bigger slice. The Ecuadorian built the launch, put in bathrooms and a big sign on the highway advertising paragliding in San Pedro under the funds appropriated for community development.

It was interesting to learn a little about the politics behind the well maintained launch. We had one glorious flight day so we were ok with not flying the next day. We had fun hiking out to the point that is Montanita's most interesting natural feature.

                                                        The phalic punta, of Montanita

 Larry ordered shrimp soup one day and received a single shrimp the size of his hand. When he fished it out of the depths of his bowl his first reaction was bordering on horror, he said, “ I don't know whether to eat it or run away!” All three of us laughed as Larry went to town on his shrimp.

The following day, Friday, we made the seven hour journey from Libertad Bolivar to Cuenca. James left the same day to return to Colombia. We found a nice hostal right in the old part of Cuenca. A pilot in San Pedro gave us a contact in Cuenca. We arrived on a friday and the next day was a Corn Festival in a town near Cuenca, called Paute, that also had multiple launches. The local pilots organized a fly in for the very next day. We called the pilot and he told us he would pick us up between 6:30 and 7 to get out to the launch early. We arrived early but it took a while to organize the other pilots and get us all in cars and up on the launch. When we did the launch was a steep rocky slope with a road cut 50 feet down the slope. Larry and I decided to let the other pilots launch first, to see how things went. The wind was steadily picking up and after watching some pretty hairy launches Larry and I decided to get a ride back down to the park where the festival was happening and the pilots were landing. I had tried to take out my wing but the winds began to gust so we called off any other attempts.The winds in Paute come up from the Amazon. Because of the narrow valley the winds become very strong. We were reading winds up to 35 km/hr on launch before we left. Which meant that nearer the valley floor where there were less obstructions the wind would be going even faster.

When we arrived on launch the winds were strong and super gusty, extremely difficult conditions. Both of us felt good with our decision. Other pilots were kiting, ground handling practice, in the field so Larry and I pulled out our wings and had fun in the challenging conditions. It was exceptional practice, and it served me well in my flight the next day. I had a few mishaps, draping my wing over a parked car and getting pulled off my feet by the errant wing. After the conditions got to strong Larry and I stuck around to see the rest of the festivities.

There was motorcross and off-roading going on a on a track in the park, live traditional music and a dog show. We mostly chilled in the shade until we got called for lunch, Horneado, whole roast pig. We got a plate with pig, corn and rice with a spicy salad of onions and peppers. We both ate two plates each, so tasty! After lunch we watched the off roading, tricked out jeeps and trucks taking on the track. There was nothing but caution tape dividing  the spectators from the cars as they jumped, drifted and rumbled around the track. The announcer kept on telling people to back away but that didn't really do anything. Larry and I were relaxing under a tree between the river and the track when a car lost a wheel, it literally ripped right off the axel. The wheel seemed to have mind of its own, even though it fell off the opposite side of the vehicle it barreled towards us, narrowly missing us and leaping off into the river below. One of the pilots brought a kayak so he leapt into action and saved the wheel from traveling all the way to Brazil.

On Sunday we got to fly, we launched from a much bigger site called dogs head, at 2,600 meters above sea level, and because of our kiting practice the day before we were ready for the strong winds. We had an amazing flight, both of us were glowing and content with our three day wait between flights. 

                                                        The view from Launch in Paute

That afternoon we took off for Banos, we had to make it to Quito by wednesday, because Larry's flight was set to leave on Thursday morning. We arrived in Banos late but managed to find a reasonable hotel very near the Baths that give Banos its name. Again, a pilot in Cuenca gave me the name and number of a pilot in Banos to contact. I gave him a call and we met that very evening to discuss flying the next day. Edgar Soria, the local instructor, was very welcoming and we set a time to head to Niton, the flight site. In the morning Larry and I took a hike around Banos around the hills surrounding the beautiful little city. It is nestled between the Pastaza river and the Skirt of Volcano Tunguraua. We made it back from our wonderful hike in time to eat and get over to Edgar's paragliding agency to get a car up to launch. We were met by a few other local pilots and we soon assembled and drove to Niton. The site is similar to Paute because the winds come up from the Amazon, except that just before the mountain the valley widens out, so flying is done in the afternoon rather than the morning. The sky cleared u pas we arrived to the site and we were told that we hit the best weather in two weeks. Soon we were all in the air, the site was incredible. Tungurahua cleared up and we were flying looking directly at a 5,016 meter volcano. The air was smooth for a notoriously turbulent site. We were able to get up higher than launch and fly up and down the ridge. The other pilots were doing acrobatics and having one heck of a time.

                                                    Larry taking off in front of Tungurahua

The next day Larry decided to take it easy, I went rafting down a class 4 stretch of the Pastaza River. It was an hour and a half of pure adrenaline. It had been raining a lot recently so the river was swollen, the rapids were big! I was on a boat with two other guys from the states and our guide. We paddled well and our guide was stoked that none of us fell out. The scenery that we passed through was incredible, we were rafting through jungle, waterfalls cascaded down the sides of the cliffs, it felt like we were entering the land before time. I met up with Edgar again in the afternoon, there were six people coming along for tandem flights. The weather at launch was variable and there were lots of fast moving clouds. I never flew but got to watch some of the most incredible flying I've ever seen.

The following day was Wednesday so Larry and I hightailed it back to Quito. We stayed with my old host family for a night and then my friend Rommel and I took Larry to the airport for his flight.

Larry and I had a great time traveling together, he was so easy to travel with and open to anything. I had so much fun being tour guide and translator, I think I should make it a part time profession while I'm down here. Larry is Ecuadoras first investor and we are so grateful for that. I think we got enough flying in to call our two weeks together a success. Thank you Larry!