Tayrona & Cabo de la Vela

The next week was spent on the coast, passing through Tayrona national park, Palomino and right up to Cabo de la Vela on the Goajirra peninsula in the far north east.

Tayrona national park has some lovely classically Caribbean  beaches (white sand, palm trees etc) and 2 camps you can stay at in the beach. It's one of Colombias top tourist destinations now, so the camps cater for large numbers of people and as you might expect, lack a degree of charm. The standard hammock area was full so had to plumb for the "premium" hammocks on a beautiful outcrop of rock. Great view but somewhat exposed to the relentless wind. After failing to sleep for a number of hours I found some respite from the wind by sneaking into an empty room on the upper level of our beach shack. Such a relief! Getting up for sunrise still wasn't a problem.

The luxury beach pad

Cabo de la Vela is a remote single street village in the desert, a 2 hour ride away from the nearest town across cactus fields and sand - a cool place if you like that sort of thing. A surprising number of people live there given there is no fresh water and everything (bar fish and lobster) has to be brought in. 

Other than day trips to the most northern point of South America there isn't much to do, but as it also happens to be really windy and with a shallow bay it makes a pretty good kitesurfing spot. So hired a kite for a day and a half and took to the water. The strong offshore wind of 30 odd knots took a bit of getting used to, but I  had a lot of fun once I'd nailed down my upwind riding technique and could afford to play around a bit.

Also spotted in the distance what is most probably Colombia's only wind farm. A respectable 14 turbines. Using  all my technical nous I would say they choose a good spot.

Spot the turbines...

A full days travel got us back to Santa Marta. Had a messy night out and managed to misplace my debit card, then hopped on a night bus and headed back south to Bucaramanga.

The Lost City

In severe need of a post carnival detox, me and one of my carnival buddies Shawn signed straight up for a four day trek to find the Ciudad Perdida (the lost city) - somewhere to the south east of Santa Marta.

It´s a beautiful trek through the jungle and "finding" the lost city itself was magical. I was the first up the many steps and wandering through the city alone, as the early morning mist lingered on the stone terraces, felt like I really was discovering something ancient and mysterious. It was exciting to climb up through the different levels of the city (once of 2000 people) and you're rewarded with an incredible view when the centre of the site reveals itself. 

Having had such a delightful time exploring on my own I was somewhat surprised to find armed soldiers guarding the top section. Turns out there's still gold there and an army base to protect it. Seems the main source of amusement up there is watching the gringos through binoculars - was certainly causing a lot of laughter in the ranks. 

Had a good group and our guide Jose was excellent. Very cheery and although he didn't speak any English he spoke so patiently and clearly it felt like you understood everything anyway!

Ant crossing

The Lost City is in Kogi Indian territory and we frequently passed them on the trail, dressed in their traditional (pretty grubby) all white garb. It´s quite apparent they don´t like gringos, but the kids will happily take your sweets. 

Kogi village

I finished the trek in style, riding out atop of a sturdy mule. My unfortunate excuse however was that I was overcome by a severe and prolonged bout of vomiting in the mid morning and could barely walk 20m without having to stop and turn my guts inside out. The trail of green bile following me down the path was impressive.

Carnaval de Barranquilla

I packed up my glider for the coming few weeks and took a more traditional flight up to Cartagena and then on to Barranquilla for carnival. 3 days of craziness ensued; parades during the day (of which we managed to see a few hrs) and then big street parties at night. Sat had the most going on, with energetic parties kicking off on the street all day long. 

Was a lot quieter during the other days otherwise but everyone came out at night. For the 2nd biggest carnival in south America, it didn't feel that big, and the parades themselves were good but not spectacular. So really just all about the street parties!

We got to experience some of the thrill of the parade firsthand; the street opens up as soon as the last troupe has passed and we were able to follow the parade until it wrapped up a mile or two down the road. Our little gringo troupe got a few cheers from the remaining crowd. 

No good photos unfortunately as my nice camera didn´t leave the safety of the hotel in Barranquilla. 

Roldanillo

Was getting a bit bored after 3 days of rain and not much flying, but some good weather did finally arrive. I met up with a few Scottish pilots out here on a tour and tagged on to their group down in Roldanillo - was nice to have some company after a pretty quiet time in Anserma!

Had a great first days flying in Roldanillo. With rain pushing in from either side of launch the only option was to head out into the valley. As usual I ended up flying most of it alone, but loosely followed Bren, Tony and Dave from the group, eventually catching up with them at Cartago, on the other side of the valley to the north, where we turned around and headed back towards Rolda. I got left behind again after hitting some strong sink which required a long climb to get back to base, but passed over Bren and then Tony who had both  landed out. Fought hard in broken lift to get a low save but made it back to base to then go on a long glide into a now blue sky, eventually landing just west of La Victoria, about half way back to Rolda. My first experience of flat land flying and a new PB of 62km over 4 1/2 hours - easy!

escaping the rain

Heading towards Cartago

Had 2 good flights the next 2 days, making about 30km going North and then South along the foothills, in fairly tricky conditions at times.The real highlight however was a very enjoyable afternoon spent chatting (or trying to) to the locals in a little village while waiting for a bus. Me and another Spanish pilot were made to feel really welcome and fed a big plate of rice and meat and given coffee. Given that Roldanillo is such a popular paragliding destination I thought that the locals would be fairly indifferent to pilots appearing from above and landing in their backyards. But no, the locals are still really curious and friendly and always ready to offer a ride to the nearest town or village.

Happy!

My last flight was a disappointing flop as I bombed out attempting to cross the valley above La Union, just to the north of Rolda. I did feel slightly better about myself though after watching a few other good pilots go down nearby and then met Johnny on the bus back who had landed in the same valley. Clearly difficult conditions!

Ansermanuevo

03/02/15
Didn't quite make a 100k but did have a lovely flight in the late morning, then a little cross country flight in the afternoon. Didn't choose a good route (there was only 2 other pilots today so no one to follow!) and got a bit stuck behind the first foothills on the edge of the valley. Led to an interesting slope landing...

Think i managed about 15kms which took me 3 hours to get back from.

Valle de Cauca

05/02/15

Yesterday promised alot but was ultimately disappointing (the weather not my flying!) and today was overcast so no flying at all. Had a wander round Cartago (the nearest big town) and even went to the cinema. "El Francotirador" turned out to be "American Sniper". It was quite a big cinema and I was the only one in there. Slightly bizarre, watching Americans shoot Iraqis. On your own. In Colombia.

Some general observations:

The busy / touristy areas in the cities are swarming with adolescent police officers. Must be part of the training program for new policemen. Nobody looks over 23. The few older policemen I have seen look a lot more serious...

The food: Scots rejoice, nearly everything is deep fried! Other than deep fried empinadas, the staple is (surprisingly) meat, rice, beans and plantain.

Mullets are in. And it seems they get bigger the further south you go.

Salento

Valle del Cocora

I'm now in Salento, which is a pretty little town in the heart of the coffee growing region and on the edge of the Los Nevados national park. Not much paragliding that I know of, but a had a lovely walk today in the Cocora Valley, which is dotted with wax palms - the world's tallest. Very scenic indeed.

Went on an educational coffee tour today and then had a lazy afternoon staying out the rain and watching the lightning before getting back on the road to find some serious paragliding. Arrived in Ansermanuevo, in the valley de Cauca, this afternoon. Proper paragliding spot here. Small town, not touristy but used to tourists, reminds me of Algondonales in Spain (but a bit more lively!). Didn't get to fly today but expecting to make at least 100 kms tomorrow...

Matisanos and Manizales

After 2 days of rain, I tried a new site called Matasanos up the valley from Medellin. Was hoping to fly back and although the day promised much, it was quite windy and the thermals seemed to be getting flushed down the valley. Other than a hang glider pilot the site was deserted (everyone must be down at the comp in Roldanillo as I've only met 5 other pilots, bar the locals, since I've been here). Managed 2 mini-xc's so got a few hours flying in. Too many pylons running across the mountainside for my liking however, especially with fairly rough thermals.

Landing spot in Matasanos

Spent a night in Manizales on my way into the coffee region, which is a small city nestled on the edge of the mountains. Before moving on to Salento I thought I'd sneak in a wee flight. There's a nice little takeoff round the back of the highest neighbourhood, overlooking the valley and with a steep bowl to catch the up-drafts. Conditions were a bit light though so I was only one there. I was just setting up for a top to bottom when I was spotted on takeoff and then asked to wait for a local pilot to turn up to give me a site briefing and charge me a small club fee. All well and good except 2 hours later I was getting pretty bored and itching to be on my way. It then transpired that the guy definitely wasn't coming but I could take off anyway. Great!

Did have a nice flight though, no doubt impressing my audience with my thermaling skills for 15 mins before I bombed out.

Chipre, Manizales