Easter morning in Vinales and we got two more flights in!
First Phil took Daniel for his first ever flight. As they took off they flew
straight down the main road of Vinales.
Everybody was amazed to see this odd
thing in the sky and many took photographs and stopped on the roads.
As the heading was towards the hills and forest and
no-man’s land I only cruised at about 300ft above ground trying as hard as I
could to find a wind that would bring us closer to a road.
With lots of patience (and some luck) indeed the surface
swung round and we finally landed after another 30mins just by one of the large
tobacco farms. The owner – a very good friend of Jorge and one of the most
influential tobacco farmers - came out to greet us and two young gauchos helped
us to carry the balloon out.
After refuelling and packing the balloon, we celebrated our
wonderful flights with Spanish Brut and a hearty breakfast at Iseult and Jorge’s
beautiful house.
Getting everybody moving took some time, but we eventually
got on the road back towards Varadero. Kindly two guys from the parachuting
club had come all the way to pick us up.
The drive drags but eventually we
arrived at the Kawama skydiving centre at 5pm and off-load the balloon and
check that Betty is still there. She had a new mate on the tarmac in the form
of an old AN2.
Just as we were admiring this sturdy old plane, we had to
admire something else: the most stunning looking two young female captains
stepping out of the terminal followed by the group of skydivers. The girls with
their high-heels, dark glasses and tight-fitting clothes looked anything other
than AN2 pilots!! As they climbed into the aeroplane, the high-heels were
swapped for flat slippers and in no time they got airborne.
It was time to check back into Rosa’s B&B where Flippie
had been waiting. John had now flown back to Seattle to spend Easter with his
son, wife and grand-children. After a refreshing dip in the sea Phil, Flippie
and myself retreated for dinner and a bottle of wine.
The news from Flippie regarding the next destinations wasn’t
great. Despite endless preparatory work by Flippie and his wife Maryna who had
researched and requested flight permissions for Belize and Guatemala (and all
the other countries), there was still utter silence and no answers. Maybe this
was due to the Easter holidays, maybe due to slow internet.
Whatever the reason, it meant that we won’t leave tomorrow.
Oh well, there is lots to catch up with – like writing this and sorting photos,
washing our laundry, checking the aircraft, packing the balloon and getting our
head round the next countries.
Internet sadly is still a massive problem. Despite Varadero
being such a tourist hub, there is only one pub in town where one can tap into
some free wifi, but only with a valid telephone card which is hard to find and
buy.
Just to briefly add now what's happening today Monday the 2nd of April:
We are still struggling to get any answers out of Belize and they are making all sorts of complications for us with licences and medicals ...it's VERY frustrating and we don't know what to do next. Everybody being on Easter holidays of course doesn't help our problems!! Keep fingers crossed!
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