Taking to the skies

Day 55

I have always dream about taking to the skies since watching a particular episode of "The Amazing Race" a few years back. If I remember correctly, the participants were in South America and one of the challenges which they had to complete was a tandem flight from the mountain top. The view of the surrounding area when they were up in the air was spectacular. Since I have decided to come to South America, this has become one of the must-do items on my checklist.

And what better time to do a tandem flight than on Christmas Day?

It was a bright and sunny morning. My pilot, Jose Luis, was punctual in picking me up from the hostal which is something very rare in the Peruvian culture. We drove for approximately 1.5 hours before arriving at our destination called Chinchero.

View of the surrounding area

Even though it was all sunny and windy up at the top, Jose mentioned that the current wind situation was not ideal for paragliding. We will have to wait for the warm air current from the bottom of the mountain. By doing this, we will not only be able to fly for a longer time, but will also land closer to our take-off station and hence, less walking.

Jose preparing the wind stripes

Jose laying out the wings

Orange seat for me and red seat for Jose

We waited for another 2 hours before we are ready to take off around noon. Before I realised it, I was suddenly up in the air! Was I nervous? No, I don't remember feeling so. Rather, I felt a sense of exhilaration. The feeling of being up in the air is incredible - I felt really light and carefree. During the flight, it was really windy and I felt cold. However, cheapo me refused to tell my pilot in order to enjoy the feeling of being up in the air much longer. We ended up spending 35 minutes up in the air which is considered longer than average. During the flight, not only did I get to enjoy the beautiful landscape of the Sacred Valley, but it was truly memorable to fly above a farm with a dog barking at us, a herd of sheep grazing at the field, and even flew next to a flying bird at one point in time!

I tried to take a video of my tandem flight for the first 10 minutes but failed to realise that it was not on recording mode. Pity, pity, pity!! Luckily, I took a couple of photographs when I was up in the air that will remind me of my first paragliding experience.

View in the air

In case you call me bluff, see my shoes at the bottom left corner?