Within a day of arriving in the Pueblo Magico of Valle de Bravo, we had settled in to the rhythm of the place. We awoke each day in our room at Meson de Leyendas, a 17th Century convent turned bed and breakfast, and sat down in the garden for a big, delicious breakfast amid banana trees and sky-high bamboo plants. Fueled up, we made our way out to the cobblestone street to flag down a taxi or find a van to take us to the El Peñon launch.
A hundred wings all balled up and ready to fly on the launch looked like a giant garden in bloom. The gaggle of pilots began to form shortly after the first few good cycles came spinning up the mountain and when we were ready, we launched into the egg beater of circling wings, turning left or right depending on the date.
Valle de Bravo is a world-class paragliding site and it is known for big air and lots of cross-country potential. Each day, pilots flew over El Peñon (“the monolith”), over the wall, to “crazy thermal,” over peaks and ridges in several directions, landing at the LZ, or the lake back in town or in a field somewhere in the area. The possibilities were amazingly abundant.
Many pilots made their way to Jovan’s, an open-air family restaurant, out in the countryside between town and the launch. Each day, the food was different and we could see all the dishes in their big pots and pick and choose a few scrumptious items with fresh squeezed juice. Everyone told stories of their flight, where they had gone, what they had seen, how their landing was or what they had to do in order to get out to a road.
Most pilots were there in groups with a guide or had been coming to Valle for many seasons to fly. We were new there and on our own, but had a great time meeting so many awesome people from all over the world. On the van rides to launch or back to town, we told and heard crazy stories and laughed and laughed and laughed. I hope we’ll see some of our friends from Montana, Wyoming, New England, Texas, Montreal, and Germany again sometime.
We missed one epic flying morning (thinking it would be blown out), and took a trip to see the monarch butterflies at the Sanctuario at Piedra Herrada. The hike up took about 40 minutes and was a beautiful, clean, well-kept trail. Millions of butterflies clinging motionless to the fir trees looked grey and dead with their wings closed and weighted the branches like heavy snow. As the sun heated the trees and air, the butterflies took flight to travel downhill to drink water. When the air filled with butterflies all around us, the sound of their wings enveloped us. It was definitely something to see.
The town was packed with people traveling from Mexico City and locals out in the town center during the holidays. The street food was unbelievably good and highly recommend the al pastor and chorizo tacos at Taco Alley (of course), pambazos, the churro stand on the road down toward the Santa Maria LZ, the corn guy on Boca Negra, the homemade sweets and the frijolitos on the road to the left of the church. And everyone was right; Dipao is a great restaurant. It made for a perfect birthday dinner!
We both fell in love with Valle de Bravo and hopefully someday we’ll be back!