Ibarra: First stop in Ecuador

After a pit stop in the border town of Tulcan which doesn't have much more to offer than a few motels and a bus terminal we headed up to Ibarra, an Andean town with flying possibilities.
Ibarra is located inbetween the border with Colombia and Quito at an elevation of 2200m. The feeling is definitely different from the Colombian valleys. Here the setting is volcanoes, flutes and ladies with hats. At first sight the people appeared to us as a lot "colder" or reserved than their Colombian neighbours. But we had been warned that Colombia was just something else.

View of the Imbabura volcano from the hotel room

The good surprise was the food. When we strolled along the market we suddenly saw  hidden behingd the fried pork a lot of green stuff that had been seriously lacking in Colombia. It seemed that Ecuador had a lot more variety to offer us. That was welcome after two and a half month of rice and plantain bananas.

Market

We quickly got in contact with the local paragliding pilots (mainly Jorge Duque from Flying Ecuador) to enquire about the flying possibilities. They told us that it wasn't the good flying season as a lot of wind was coming from the Amazon bassin hitting the Andes. Therefore we forgot our first idea to fly from the Imbabura volcano. Instead we went to fly a small site close to the town centre.

We got to the site early in the morning to avoid the strong winds. In spite of the proximity with the town centre the site offered stunning views over the valley.

View from the site

The take off proved to be difficult with some tail wind, but once in the air I managed to catch a tricky lee side thermal that got me over take off. Interesting first Ecuadorian flight with a view on the volcano and the massive valley in front. I didn't do much more than boating around in the valley and practice a few tricks, but it was fun to get airborne in a whole new setting, the true Andes.

The valley

Ibarra in the background

Bonus, bus music: