On Saturday afternoon Mike (Colombia), Raul (Ecuador), David
(Brazil) and I (USA) headed out from the airport in Cali for the little
agricultural town of Roldanillo, base station for the 2011 Colombian National
Hang Gliding Championships. Once Mike and I had made our way through the
congestion (enhanced by the streets torn up for new construction) of Cali, we
had smooth sailing on a perfectly good highway (much better maintained than the
road to Canoa in Ecuador), highway 25, north through the valley (we could see
the two mountains ranges on either side). Roldanillo is a good ways west of the
main highway up against the western mountain range on a tiny road that belied
the fact that a substantial town of 30,000 resides there.

Coming into the main commercial section of town the one and a half lane road was
stopped up with vans pulling off to the side to drop off passengers. The street
that we would normally take to the hotel in the middle of town had a trench down
the middle of it, so we detoured and parked at the corner a hundred feet down
the street from the hotel. Dinner was immediately served at the hole in the wall
"restaurant" right next to the parking place. Shredded chicken in a pita like
thick tortillas spilt in two and stuffed with sauce (very mild) and Guacamole
(runny). No hot sauces at all, which I found a bit strange.

We walked on the pedestrian street to the Hotel La Posada across from the local
Museum which look very elegant. The hotel was not so elegant but at $10/day, hot
water, and shower and toilet with each room, it was well worth it. I didn't
notice a Best Western as an alternative.

The pedestrian street at the hotel's door step had plenty of benches and seemed
to be the place to be as the evening wore on. As is the case in South America,
much happens in the cool of the evening, that doesn't take place during the day.
It's been very pleasant temperature wise here.

The registration was a short block away at another hotel (they had WI-FI, but
not hot water, which seems strange). If you can imagine a hotel without hot
water, I guess it makes sense if the temperatures are always pretty moderate.
Beer was served with registration and we got our Hombres Pajaro tee-shirts. This
theme of birdmen continues here in South America, which I think is very cool.

The town looks poor and rundown by US, Australia, and European standards, but
seems pleasant enough. Rough edges, but serviceable. We'll see how it wears
during the week. The people seem nice enough.

Mitch Shipley has been here and was flying on Friday. It ODed early but he had a
good flight, even though he launched late at half past noon. This is supposed to
be the dry season, but it looks awfully green. Lots and lots of sugar cane
fields. Some just planted thankfully.

I did find the main town square right down the pedestrian street one block. Lots
of activity. An overflowing and semi open air church on the square.