São Miguel seems as familiar as it seems strange and new. The island has all of the modern conveniences of Europe and all of the farms and fields of a paragliding destination. We launch and land among the cows and we find food on streets named “Rua dos Santos” and such. I look just like people here. Sati might have a hard time finding me in crowd. Good thing there are no crowds. Anywhere.
paragliding
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Uncategorized Off to the Mid-Atlantic
It is interesting telling people that Melody and I are headed to the Azores this summer. Most people either look at me quizzically and say “where?” or less often say some thing along the lines of “Wow, that’s a far from everything place.”
The Azores are a group of nine islands in the Mid-Atlantic. They lie approximately 2500 miles from Boston and 1000 miles from mainland Portugal. The Azores are part of Portugal and are considered the farthest flung outpost in Europe. We are headed for the largest of the islands, Sao Miguel where we’ve arranged to live in a farmhouse in the rural community of Lagoa for the next two months.
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Uncategorized Beyond the Shark’s Fin
Thanks to the southerly trade winds and a ribbon of ridge line, the Bukit Peninsula is home to epic soaring. In the month since we arrived less than five days have been unflyable. Typically, the wind has a bit of east in it, limiting the paragliding to about ten kilometers of ridge line between the Nikko, a soarable resort hotel to the east, and the Bali Cliff, the ruins of the abandoned presidential villa to the west. The ridge dies out at the Nikko, but pilots can hop over to soar the updraft on the hotel and wave at the tourists in the pools and on the beach. Below the Bali Cliff, the beaches disappear, leaving pilots without a bomb out landing. So, it’s a rare day to fly further west, but with the right conditions, an unbelievably beautiful fifteen kilometer stretch opens up to pilots lucky enough to experience it.
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Uncategorized Hello Indo!!
Our first week in Indo. has gone by so quickly!
We’ve been having a blast with Elizabeth and Cooper. There has been a couple of fantastic flying days. One in particular where I got a 3 hour flight and got to show Cooper around the flying area. On the other I broke out the mini-wing (Niviuk Zion19m) and got to fly it around the ridge at Timbis. Flying that wing is super fun with all its speed and banky goodness!
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Uncategorized Spring, Summer and Indonesia
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Uncategorized Starting 2012 in Valle de Bravo
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.
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Uncategorized Post-SkyPack: 1000km and Still Learning