To get to Cusco from the coast, two itineraries were possible. Either follow the coast along the Panamerican highway and then climb the mountains to get to Cusco or take a more direct but longer route, directly through the mountain range. We opted for the second option, as it promised to be much more scenic and that it would maybe give us the opportunity to fly along the way.
First mountains after the coast
We made a pit stop in the city of Ayacucho, a fairly big town lost in the mountains that was once the headquarters of the Peruvian Maoist guerrilla organization "Sendero Luminoso".
Ayacucho has a great feel with its beautiful colonial Plaza de Armas its many churches and crowded streets. No terrorists anymore :).
We decided to intent to get a flight on the local spot above town. We got some information of a Belgian guy Rene who once used to paraglide there. Rene met us for a beer and offered us to accompany us to take off the next day.
Climbing up to take off with Rene, we could see that he hadn't fly there in a while and wasn't quite sure of where the take off was. Anyway we found a field at the top of the hill that looked like a potential take off and got ready as fast as we could as we could see the clouds starting to overdevelop in some places.
View from take off
Geo took off first without problem and I followed him straight away. We got some pretty good altitude straight away and started to get some nice views of the city and the surrounding mountains.
Geo over Ayacucho
Some overdevelopment in the distance
Going ahead
Doube Geo
As the sky looked pretty menacing in many directions we decided to push into wind towards the friendly looking cumuluses. We were flying really close to each other. It was great fun. No need for the radio to discuss the next decision, just need to shout!
We flew over some beautiful red looking mountains to the next valley. The lifts were working really well and maybe a bit too well with some thundery looking clouds in front of us I took the decision to go land even if there was definitely a potential for a uch longer flight. Security first I guess :) .
Getting to landing
On landing we met up with some very funny kids. They played with our VHS radios and then took us to the local swimming spot. Maybe landing there was a good idea in the end.
Selfie time
After the swim we got into a minibus back to Ayacucho. The bus stopped in a little village. As we got in the local tienda a big group of people were sitting there driking beer it was Sunday after all... Even the bus driver stoppd to have a little drink.
Geo having a drink with the locals
This flight was fairly short (about 15km) and I think we could have pushed a bit more but it was super enjoyable. The combination of the views, flying together with Geo and a nice encounter at the end of the flight made a great day! The track
The next day we jumped in another bus towards Andahuaylas (8 hours) and finally Cusco (another night in the bus) through green mountains and impressive valleys. The sky looked absolutely amazing maybe we should have been in the air rather than in the bus...
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