Inca Thermals 3

After my great first 2 flights here I was desperate to get airborne again, so after a little break to celebrate Peru's Indepence I found myself back at Cerro Sacro...

31/07/2015

Only me at launch today (no tandems at all). A few clouds around and a bit hazy so conditions didn't look that good. Climbs were punchy and a bit rough, similar to my first flight here. Also quite windy in the air so difficult to push out away from the hill to find a good climb. I wasn't really feeling it and after drifting back with a climb that petered out (without much height) I just headed down wind. Found a weak climb quite low and got up to nearly 5k then headed East to get away from the flightpath the wind was taking me towards. The clouds were building to the north around the mountains however and starting to mushroom upwards. Didn't like the look of them and with a big cloud building nearby me I decided to land. First time the weather has forced me down! The right call though as the clouds continued to build. Not good flying weather. 

Ground handled for a while in strong gusty wind until an old guy came over with a few rocks to hold my wing down! He said a lot, I think saying I should climb up the hill and takeoff again (and not mess around here?). Who knows, but he also wanted money! I eventually caved and he was delighted with the one soles I gave him.

01/08/2015 

The day looked more promising than yesterday (and I felt better) and had a nice chat with the tandem pilots before I launched. I was warned about the conditions however as one of the pilots choose not to fly his solo wing after finding it a bit rough on his tandem. I was still confident for a good day however and took off around 12.30. 

Unfortunately he wasn't wrong! 

Felt like there was an inversion around 4700m and my first few climbs ended in big collapses when I hit the inversion. And that continued throughout the whole flight - I've never had so many collapses! 

Trying...

I wanted to fly over the inca ruins near Maras but I tried pushing out into wind twice and found nothing both times. I never managed to break through the inversion and with the wind picking up I eventually drifted back over the hill without much height. I survived for a while longer, drifting with the wind and only finding weak climbs (and more collapses) until I landed near the lake at Piuray.

My journey back was much more enjoyable. I was greeted by some lovely kids including 2 very sweet and curious girls who easily persuaded me to buy some bracelets from them. After a short walk I found a motor taxi to take me up the dirt road to Chinchero. In the shared taxi back to Cusco I had a nice chat with an old man who invited me to join him for a beer at some point (didn't have time unfortunately). And that night we had a Pachamama ceremony at the house followed by a techno bus party. 

Great saleswomen