Just back from an excellent week in Valle de Bravo, so I
thought I should lighten the winter blues with a short trip (gloat?) report and
pictures. We had sweet conditions, flew every day, socialized with old friends (of the
Pemby monkey gang fame) and made new ones from Mexico and all over the world
(Norwegians and Germans were out in full force, and I got to listen to
paragliding instruction in German for the first time).
We explored the narrow cobblestone streets in town lined
with small stands and stores where locals sell nearly every sort of
merchandise. Friendly dogs everywhere. Just watch where you step… not only because
of the uneven cobblestones. Sadly, the scenic streets are often plugged with an endless
stream of cars and the associated exhaust.
We greatly enjoyed the delicious food (well, almost all of
it), which is, as we already learned during our visits to Huasteca, quite
different from what is offered in Canada as Mexican fare. Street
stands vendors sell jugo (fresh juice made from all kind of delicious fruits or
exotic things like red beets, carrots and avocado), roasted corn and all sorts
of tacos, but beware… the more rustic the eating places the higher the risk of
an upset tummy (but with the help of some Cipro even Pete managed to fly every
day).
One thing I just couldn’t get used to during our short stay
is the Mexican fondness for fireworks at all hours and church bells ringing
every 15 minutes (bring ear plugs). One night, when fireworks and polka-like music of the
Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe procession kept me up, I thought I may as well join in… it felt rather unreal to
wander the empty streets at 4 in the morning. On our last evening in Valle
there was also an earthquake about 100 km to the southwest, thankfully without
major damage and most of us didn’t even feel it.
Valle de Bravo is quite different from what most people
expect of Mexico,
no palms and beaches and humid warm temperatures. Instead it is situated on the
central highlands with rolling ridges and hills covered by tall pine forests.
The main launch at El Peñon is almost 2400 meters high, and Valle de Bravo on
the shore of Avandoro
Lake is at an elevation of 1750 meter. On less
hazy days the silhouette of Nevado de Toluca (4691 m) emerges on the horizon.
During the day the temperatures are warm enough for shorts and Ts, but in the
evening you want an extra jacket.
After some pondering I decided to leave my trusty Sport 4 (EnB) at
home and bring the new Artik 2 (since I just upgraded to EnC), and thus took things a bit slower at first.
After getting up on launch I checked out the El Peñon rock tower before cruising
over to the Piano LZ on my second flight (on the first one I got unnecessarily low behind the ridge and ran
away to land in one of the fields just behind … oops). I was told the LZ is called ‘Piano’ because its shape
resembles a Grand Piano, but later I heard a second explanation: the house
thermals in front of launch are so consistent that only those who fly like a
piano bomb out in this LZ. But the Piano LZ is rather attractive for several
reasons: a horde of niños comes running to pack up the wings ‘professionally’
(although comparison with previous reports indicate a bit of inflation in the
glider packing business). However, 15 peso beers are hard to beat, and tacos and other
yummy treats (jicama, nopales, tacos) are for sale. And last but not least, it’s super nice to sit in
the sun, relax and chat with fellow flyers.
After a couple of successful
‘test-flights’ in the Mexican thermals and a smooth evening scratch-fest on the Peñon rockface I got better accustomed to my new Artik 2 and more exploring of the Wall and G-Spot Mesa was in order.
Each day I pushed a bit closer to Valle de Bravo, first to the Penitas, then to
Casas Viejas and on Friday I finally made the almost 20 km arriving 700 meters
above Avandoro Lake, floated in a big circle over town and landed on the beach
for my well deserved landing beer. Meanwhile Pete and Alex set off on longer xc
flights from 20 km to over well 50 km to Los Saucos, Tres Reys, and Divisadero.
The flying is different from what our terrain in SW BC offers,
and requires connecting the dots in form of smallish hills on the high,
forested plateaus, or surfing the edges of big mesas. Cloudbase is pretty low
considering the elevation (400 – 600 meters above ground) making it an
interesting task to find lift on smallish features. But there is plenty of lift!
In summary, conditions were excellent; every day of our stay
was not only fly-able, but also xc-able, with occasional strong lift for my
standards (new record and max on my vario 6.4 m/s). Cloudbase was usually between 2800 and
3200 meters, not as high as it gets in January and February, but perfectly fine
for us first-timers. We had two flights every day, with a nice progression for me from day to day. On the days when lift was a
bit disorganized, the gaggle-flying at the launch was challenging, with 20-30
wings in the air. But away from launch other pilots were a rare and welcome sight,
as by the time I made my escapes from launch, Alex and Pete were usually long
gone, depriving me of their presence as thermal markers.
Definitely a sweet place to visit for pilots with previous thermaling experience! With careful timing, the lower air time flyers in our
group also made amazing progress, including first long thermal flights. Next
time we may try for a late November trip, hoping for fewer pilots and less
fireworks.
