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Friday January 17, 2020
Yesterday I grabbed the clippers and tried to give Buddy some badly needed relief from that heavy fur coat. We took off a lot of hair, and he is visibly appreciative and more active, but he still has a thick coat.
There was the Fiesta going on in the main park and we met Aram and family there. Liliana complained of queasiness and they left. We tired of the music rattling our ears, teeth and bones so we left right away as well. What the heck is the fascination with horribly distorted loud music anyway?
Dr John showed up only with his assistant Julianna so the four of us left here at 6:15am to get to Roldanillo to watch some hang gliding competition. I had intended to bring the Nikon and Canon but, in the end, I left the manual-focusing Nikon behind. People come from all over the world to hang glide here. Now I can see why. Adiela had said that competitions began at 7am but that was wrong. We stopped for food supplies and breakfast before climbing the mountain behind Roldanillo (where Cristina was raised) to catch some of the action. Many gentlemen and ladies were in town with all their gear, either for the competitions, or just to hang glide for fun. I didn't talk to too many but I did meet people from the UK, Ukraine and Sweden. I also heard some French being spoken.
We were actually early because things didn't get rocking until about 9am. It looks like so much fun but it is also quite the process to unfold the thin nylon kites and untangle all the tiny lines to control the kite. It is neat how the big backpack becomes the cat's cradle sling for the rider. All competitors have some electronic devices probably to record altitude and for contact if they get in trouble. Many riders have helmet-mounted cameras as well. I honestly have no idea what was involved in today's competition, possibly height, because nobody seemed to be leaving the area for any long-distance flying.
It was not long before the riders were leaving just a few seconds apart with the help of some experienced marshalls. Many were jumping off an adjacent mountain as well. Soon it was mind-boggling at the number of "cometas" (kites) in the air, seemingly so close together.
John took us on a long backroad on the way home stopping briefly at a dam at Lago La Reprensa, and going home via Rio Frio. I offered to take a bus from Tulua but he would not hear of it. We came home here for a beer and had a quick look at all the photos we managed. I took 260 photos and John had taken many more.
I got cracking at processing the photos and kept 170 although I won't bore you with that many. It was 33.4C in the house and I could only get it down to 26.5C overnight with all the fans working.
In the evening Cristina hesitated to go to the Animal Park on Chappy because there was to be a "Cabalgata" (sp?) of Paso Fino horses down our street. She went and, shortly thereafter, I could hear the stacatto clack clack of the horseshoes. Remember that the main street above us is closed down and most of the traffic had been diverted to our street. Now, for about 4 hours, these 2 main streets were closed. I kept working on my photos and only went to watch and take a few shots for about 10 minutes. This horse parade is too long and too slow as they stop and go only every 10 minutes or so, busy chatting and drinking...
Cristina had to park on a side street and walk home. It was another 2 hours before she could retrieve Chappy.
And, the neighbours decided again that any fiesta means that they should serenade the neighbourhood with blaring music all night. It is still going on...
They are already trying to deliver my new lens to my sister's! Yahoo!
I hope you enjoy the pictures. I won't bother with many captions. That was the day’s excitement.
Al
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NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.
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| Buddy is much cooler |
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| Fiesta time |
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| A lovely morning |
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| Juliana, Cristina and John |
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| Great jump off site, world-class |
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| 1874M high here |
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| John and I had a decent place to shoot from |
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| La Reprensa |
