Day 9: Paraglided over the Patagonian Sky

Called Ernesto last night after I got back from Esquel. He said, “Si, look like we can take a flight tomorrow.” I tried not to be overjoyed yet, since I have been here for a few days, one thing I am quite certain is that the weather can be very uncertain and can be changed drastically over night. Woke up at 8:00am this morning, supposed to call Ernesto at 9am, but it is Easter Sunday, most of the shops were closed. I was not able to find a public phone. Went to a supermarket, asking the security guy for a telefono, first he pointed me to the mobile phone accessory section. I pulled Ernesto's number written on a paper, and made my hand sign like I was calling on a phone. He finally understood, he seemed to say there is no public telephone around, he ended up lending me his cell phone to call Ernesto, that is very kind of him. Ernesto confirmed me it is still a go! Holy mole, I am going to fly today, I screamed inside. It is muy muy exciting! The sky was partly cloudy, but I didn’t care, I just wanted to experience that feeling of flying.

Ernesto picked me up at 10:30am. We met up with Paulo and another guy (forgot his name, he had long hair, wore goatie and a pair of white sunglasses). Done some admin stuff like writing down my name, birthday, passport number and address (I was supposed to also sign an insurance release form too, but because I don’t read Spanish, he was like, I guess you don’t need to sign that, wonder what might happen if (touch wood) something were going to happen to me). After that, we changed to another jeep to drive up Cerro Otto, the road was bumpy. At one point, from the backseat, I was like looking at these 3 macho rough looking unmarried men talking in Spanish in the jeep with a broken windchill driving in some mountain roads up the hill and into the bushes, I wondered what I have signed myself into. We stopped at one side of the hill and Ernesto said we are going to test the wind here. It is a smaller take off place. He took a plastic bag with him when he got out of the car, he picked up some old cans (crashed them) and also empty bottles on the side of the road and put in the plastic bag, I wondered how he gotta test the wind with that, whether he would collect enough weight in the bag and throw it into the air. Turned out those are just trashes he would threw them into a bin at a station later. Geez... There was actually a thinly standing flagpole at the cliff, they looked at it to see the direction of the wind, he also threw some sands up in the air too. It has been a calm day, not much winds, and quite cloudy, not much sun. He said it is possible to take flight, but without wind and some thermal heating from the sun, we may not be able to stay in the air that long, for 10-20 mins top, common for autumn days here.

We ended up driving up further to another take off place, where we waited for the winds to pick up for a while. It is so complicated, one day it was too windy, next day it was not enough winds. Because I am light weight, even without winds, we could still easily take off, with some winds, it could be easier and better. He started to prepare me, put me in this jump suit and a helmet, all securely fastened with chains and belts. Some other people joined us at this second take off spot, I was not sure if they were with Ernesto, or they were just other paragliding fanatics and gonna do a flight themselves at some points. Anyway, they helped Ernesto to prepare the giant yellow wing which we would fly with. They laid it flat on the ground, with many tiny little strings hooked to Ernesto backpack. The take off place was actually a slope off from where I went up with a cable car a few days ago, it was not scary to stand there, but you better have some shoes that have teeth at the bottom to grab on the mat or soil. We were all set, he hooked himself up with my belts standing behind me, and he would say go, and I needed to just run forward (downward along the slope actually). We did, within a second, the wings were lifted up and we were in the sky already.

I meant the take off was just in a split second, I didn’t even have time to scream, and I was already got absorbed into that Mary Poppin moment and of course the sight in front of me, I think I mumbled, “Wow, this is amazing!” (a few times). I looked down, it was not that scary actually since the backpack I was carrying, it would turn into a seat once I let my arms got through the strips, quite comfortable actually. You totally felt in control. We circled in the air a few times, almost like an eagle would have done. He let me control the wings a little, pull downward was almost like a brake, and it slowed down the descend. Letting go of the handles, you felt the winds running on your face again meaning we were gradually descending. “I am loving this!” I thought. I definitely need to do this again someday.

As he expected, we didn’t stay in the sky that long, just no winds and heat in the air to keep us up. The landing itself was interesting, we were going to land in a small backyard. Depending on the angle we landed, there are different things I am supposed to do. One type I am supposed to run forward as we land, the other, to be honest, I missed what he said. I was kind of distracted on the air. I thought I am going to run anyway. But it was not as easy as you think, it took a lot of strength, since the wings may still be pulling you in the back. We got very close to the ground, I could jump off my comfortable seat and start running. But in a split second, I fell forward on the ground already, turned out Ernesto was running much faster than me, so I fell forward, it didn’t hurt or anything, and we already landed anyway. Simply amazing! Ernesto is very experienced, have been taking flight for over 21 years. Just a friendly dude. I think his skill made me at ease too, I am so glad that I have done this today.

Ernesto took me back the apartment, I called Ana to arrange key drop off with her. She came by the apartment at 2pm. She was very kind and took me to the bus terminal, kissed cheeks and said ciao ciao. Off I went. 

Well, paragliding is definitely another check marked on my Argentina checklist. Still alive, yay! To complete my full South America travel experience, the next item on the list is a long distance cama bus ride from Bariloche in Patagonia to Buenos Aires (the New York City of South America). How could I come to South America and not take one of these long distance buses!? I imagine I probably am the only one who actually interested to experience this. :) I only have planned one overnight bus, everywhere I go is by flight. I may be dead tired tomorrow or I may be fine. It is a 20 hours bus ride, I know that probably sounded terrible. But it scheduled to leave Bariloche at 3:20pm, and is supposed to arrive Buenos Aires at noon tomorrow. Timing wise I think it is perfect, I would be just sleeping here on the bus. Not too crazy about sitting next to a youngster who originally took my window seat. We started off with the wrong foot, oh well. He is sleeping now. Maybe it would be ok. More to report about this bus journey tomorrow.