Thursday the 29th – still no flying!!
5.30am: Phil and I get up and look out of the casa. The sky
looks dark and I see no stars. Instead I feel a warm breeze and even drizzle!
Not very promising for our first flight.
6am: the entire team with about ten people including the
technical inspector who has driven out from Havana at 3am are waiting outside,
keen to get going. But sadly we have to
disappoint them: for now, it’s still too dark to do anything and the weather
isn’t favorable at all.
We retreat to Iseult and Jorge’s house for an outside coffee
on the veranda as the house is now occupied with other guests.
7am: first light. Clouds are whizzing past at probably
20kts, the rain has stopped but it’s far too windy and unstable to get the
balloon out. The flight is cancelled. The boys retreat to the casa whilst I use
the good internet here to catch up with the blog and emails. (have some film clips but can't upload them now)
9am: breakfast at our casa
10am: meeting with the team and the inspector at the house
to show him all the equipment and paperwork. He is happy after checking serial
numbers and seeing the equipment. Then two guys from the military turn up, but
they also seem to be happy to allow us flying – but insist that we inform the
local hospital when we fly!! This certainly is new on our list of pre-flight
instructions!
12noon: the weather still looks terribly unstable with lumpy
clouds and a speedy gradient of 20kt. Not much prospect for an evening hop but
we agree to meet again at 7pm with the team.
John and Flippie in the meantime are busy doing all sorts of
flight planning and I go to town trying to change more money and phone cards
but the queues are endless.
1pm: am at the house where 4 Americans have moved in and
they kindly let me use the internet.
2pm: a mountain bike tour around the area satisfied my
bodies demand for exercise and provides a useful recce for more landing or take
off sites. Stop at one of the many caves and a quick look around this inside which was turned into a bar! The wind is blowing so strong that I have to get off the bike
sometimes to push up the hills. Flippie and John are very kindly taken by Jorge
on a motorized tour of the area visiting various cigar factories.
3.30pm: a drink in town with Phil then a dip into my
wonderful lake.
7pm: meeting with the team and driving out to our ‘launch
site’ – the only grass field in the area and near town. Winds are still howling
and we all agree to the saying ‘when the skies are closed – the bars are open’
and retreat to a lovely hill-top restaurant for a round of Mojitos and then a
delicious Cuban dinner.
10.30pm: bed time and hoping for the morning…
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