Paragliding
Journey in the New Era in Chile
Daniel Crespo - Aventurarse
Collaborator
Long
journeys are usually involved with mountain climbing or
bicycles, sometimes with kayaks or skiing. This time,
it is paragliding's turn. The New Era Journey is the SAT´s(Safety
Acro Team)latest challenge. SAT is an acrobatic team composed
by the world's greatest exponents; the challenge consists
of 30 days of flying, across most of Chile's territory.
The
adventure began on the 15th of January, in Santiago de
Chile. Pablo López (Argentina), Félix Rodríguez
(Spain), Bárbara Uranga (Argentina), Ricardo Parot
(Chile), Hernán Pitocco (Argentina), Daniel Crespo
(Venezuela), Raúl Rodríguez (Spain), David
Eyraud (France) and Peter Brinkebi (Sweden). The long
awaited trip was about to begin. It would extend from
Chile's Northern extremity to the city of Pucón,
in the South. It would travel over mountains, across deserts
and throughout the Pacific coast.
The
journey was to end with an acrobatics exhibition in Pucón,
on the 18th of February. Daniel Crespo, from Venezuela,
it telling the story of this exciting adventure. It starts
like this:
Flight
in Antofagasta
26th
of January
After
a week of playing in the dunes of Iquique, we headed towards
Antofagasta, 400km South, where the Zircosur Paragliding
Competition was going to take place. We were surprised
to find out that we would be staying in a luxurious hotel
where we would be able to rest and get connected with
the world via the internet. We have been sleeping about
four hours a day, and taking it easy is not a bad idea.
We
thought of participating in the competition, but we finally
decided to remain in the line of acrobatics, which is
our inspiration as a group, specially for this journey.
The
take-off point at Antofagasta is 200 meters high, and
ideal for freestyle. That's what we did yesterday. We
played along the waves, swooping close to the ground,
adjusting speed. The enwind got stronger as the day went
by, until it got rough(above 35 km/h). That's when we
began practicing the "turns of death". We did
this with an ample margin of safety, because the local
sea has high waves, and the prospect of falling into the
water is unattractive.
After
an afternoon of resting, we got together and planned two
things: Tomorrow we will go and fly in Hornitos, a place
we were recommended fervently, and on Sunday, just before
saying goodbye to this region, we will spend the afternoon
and the evening in La Portada, a beautiful arch-shaped
rock formation in a cliff area near Antofagasta.
27th
of January
To
get to the Antofagasta take-off point, we had to travel
for more than an hour. We had to leave the coast and cover
the desert with care, without straying from the established
route, for it was full of mines and other war remains.
It
was well worth it. We stared at the panoramic view for
a long time. 1100 meters above the ground, the possibilities
of this take-off are yet to be discovered.
28th
of January
Our
last day in Antofagasta was as good as it gets. The flight
in the mine was beautiful. We took off only 100 meters
off the ground. The thermic activity would then catapult
as up to 1200 meters, then you could choose between exploring
the region or, like Raúl, Pitocco, David, Barbi
and López, you could loose height rapidly and then
rise again to perform more maneuvers. Meanwhile, the events
of the Zircosur Paragliding Contest took place successfully.
In
the afternoon, just like we had planned, we flew to La
Portada. For hours, we enjoyed one of the most overwhelming,
twisted sceneries I have ever seen. We were so excited
and frenetic that, at times, we flew so close together
there was little room to maneuver. Ricardo Parot and Raúl
Rodríguez performed negative landings; this consists
of doing a negative at a height of two meters, and then
turning round again to land on your feet. I must say that
trying this out can end up in a mouth full of sand.
That
night, once we got back to the hotel, we enjoyed the last
events of the Zircosur competition. It was gratifying
to see the interest people had in this activity in the
region, they saw it as an effective way to promote tourism.
They truly have good sites to fly, around here there are
exceptional landscapes and I'm sure there many places
that have not been discovered yet.
Tomorrow
we are parting towards San Pedro de Atacama. We are already
feeling restless, we want to keep on moving and seeing
new places.
The
Atacama desert
29th
of January
A
day of preparations and road kilometers. In a trip like
this, not all goes as well as what I ´ve told you
about until now. Today, since we left Antofagasta, we
have had to fix 5 flat tires.
Before
leaving, we had to make many preparations, but we were
finally able to set our heading towards the Chilean Plateau.
We arrived there late and tired, but we did have time
to get to know the center of the this small town. We eat,
and after providing ourselves with water, we headed towards
the Valley of Death(Valle de la Muerte), where we could
set up camp.
30th
of January
Waking
up was pleasant, although the height makes you sleep more
heavily. By the way, the place we chose was a sight to
see! Last night, on our way to the Valley of Death, we
found a strange and beautiful place between dunes and
curious, suggestive rock formations. While we ate, we
couldn't keep our eyes off the scenery.
The
dunes were an invitation that Raúl and Ricardo
could not turn down. They took the sand boards we had
been carrying around for days, and for a couple of hours,
we tried to learn this difficult sport. For every descent,
we had to climb the dune and wax the sand board for it
to slide right. It was a lot of fun, although we all took
falls and eat a lot of sand.
A
while later, some friends of ours arrived. They had been
staying in San Pedro, and were very familiar with the
sport. The way in which they rode the dunes was an infrequent
spectacle. But these lands were dry and inhospitable,
and we parted towards San Pedro, a true desert oasis.
We
were able to tour the city for a while. The first thing
that called our attention were the quaint, adobe houses.
The other surprise was the amount of tourists that filled
the place and gave it a pleasant environment.
Right
now we are camping in a n abandoned house, close to the
banks of a thin river. We all did some work, Raúl
took care of the fire while Félix, aided by Cote,
Josefina and Barbi, prepared dinner. I am taking some
notes on the journey and Coyote(Parot) is organizing some
of the details concerning the rest of our trip. We are
still missing many kilometers.
31st
of January
San
Pedro de Atacama is a beautiful place. It is also a place
where flying becomes a complicated endeavor. The first
thing we were told was that three people tried it and
two died in the attempt. It can´t be that bad!
It
is difficult, of course, and according to our observations,
the wind speeds up at 2:00pm. On the other hand, imagining
a cross country flight is difficult, because very complex
logistics would be necessary. This would have to include
oxygen and very warm clothes because we would easily reach
a height of 6000 meters.
We
spent the day relaxing, writing articles and interviews.
Francisco (from the Ave Fénix TV show) traveled
with us to co-produce, together with SAT, new audiovisual
creations and the following of the New Era Journey. We
had already worked thoroughly on aerial images and acrobatics.
There was still a lot of work to be done on the human
aspect, our personal experiences.
We
used a house in Bahareque to install our base. In the
afternoon, we felt like skateboarding, so we went up to
3200 meters and, running down a lonesome highway, made
a descent surrounded by impressive volcanoes.
We
did this for a while, and then we headed towards the Luna
Valley, a famous tourist valley that reminds people of
the moon. We captured a beautiful moment as Raúl
and Coyote descended a huge dune, illuminated by the sunset.
It was a wonderful combination of colors and textures.
That
night we enjoyed an exquisite dinner in San Pedro, where
we tasted excellent vegetables.
2nd
of February
We
set out very early in the morning. We had to drop Francisco
"Ave Fénix" in the Calama airport, an
hour and a half away from San Pedro. His flight was at
11:30am, so we were forced to say good-bye to the house
in Bahareque. As a souvenir, we each took about one kilo
of dust.
Francisco
has been an excellent companion throughout this trip and
we have been able to integrate and work as a team. That's
why our farewell was a sad moment.
From
San Pedro we were planning on going to the jungle. We
thought that some variety in the landscape would be interesting.
In the afternoon, we would arrive at the Pan de Azúcar
Natural Park, where we are now. But the landscape is far
from green, it is the land of cacti.
We
set up camp, hoping to enjoy some flying or at least some
fly surf. But in this region, the coast is quite abrupt,
cold and the waves are big. There are few beaches, and
they are full of rocks. The sea lions don't seem to care,
but we find it quite dangerous. Taking into account that
we are beginners in the activity of fly surfing, we decided
to be careful and not take any unnecessary risks.
It
is possible to fly in Pan de Azúcar. A mountain
range goes along the coast and there are several interesting
places. But on this occasion, we hardly flew, we spent
most of our time enjoying the sea breeze. The beach environment
and some delicious fish felt great.
The
journey will end on the 18th of February, in the city
of Pucón, with an acrobatics exhibition. But there
is still an long way to go, and there are still many places
to explore and skies to fly. I'll keep you up to date
on this incredible experience.
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