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We're up and about at 6:30 AM, with a high overcast sky, completely gray. Still
there are cu's under the overcast as there are every day here (so far) no matter
what the sky looks like up high.

Raul says let's fix my glider and we take it into the pedestrian street in front
of the hotel. We cart it out of the atrium of the hotel and go about putting on
the new downtubes next to the gate entrance to the Museum del Rayo (which isn't
open this early in the morning). The street is half a lane wide.

Mitch comes out and volunteers to lend a hand and soon the commander is taking
charge (which we appreciate). Claudia has some sail tape for me so Mitch and I
tape up the sail with him on the inside and me pressing against his hand on the
outside. It seems to work. We do a complete inspection and things look flyable.

We're going up the mountain range again at 8:20 AM as the prospects for the day
do not look so great. We're early, although not the earliest, but we still have
spots right next to the launch corridor marked in lime. The cloud base is below
launch (as it has been every day).

I set up the glider again and it still looks good. I'm ready to launch if the
conditions are favorable (it is blowing up the launch). Otherwise I'm not
excited about it.

Given all the grayness the task committee calls a very short task of 41
kilometers. The cloud base is very slowly rising until the day before. There is
rain to the west on the other side of the range (and we are very near the top).

I go to the side of the launch area to watch a few pilots launch. Their
technique is no better than mine from the day before. The only difference
appears to be that the breeze is coming in (a good direction) at 2 mph (very
light). They run, but they do not put the nose down. They run all the way to the
bottom of the mowed area.

As they run down they fall back a bit and their arms extend even though the
glider doesn't change its angle with respect to the ground. They are not pushing
the glider (although a naive viewer would think so), rather they are rotating
down and running down and the glider is flying a bit in front of them.

At about 11:45 (the first start time is 12:15) Daniel Velez announces that it is
time to launch as the rain is coming. We can feel a drop every now and then and
see that it is much closer to our west. The winds have been light on launch and
often none, but every once in a while a 2 mph wind comes up the face, with the
banana leaves flopping a little to the east of launch.

Daniel gets off and then the rain gets a bit thicker. David gets to launch
followed by Raul and Mike and half a dozen other pilots. Now the rain is really
here. You can see it full on down the course line and Daniel did not get up near
launch but flew way to the north to near the rain before he found good lift.

I decide that it isn't worth the risk after the day before and break down my
glider. I'm the only one to do so. The rain is coming down and David, Raul, and
Mike launch with other behind them soon launching. The launch corridor clears
out and no one is ready to join the pioneers. Finally we hear on the radio that
Mike has canceled the task as there is a wall of rain all along the course line
starting to the north about five kilometers. We can see it from launch so it was
pretty obvious that the day was likely to be called.

I'm broken down. It is raining and I want to get off the hill before the dirt
track turns to mud. I share a laugh with all the pilots (twenty to thirty still
on launch) who now realize that they are going to be breaking down in the rain
or waiting out the showers to see if it gets launchable later.

Mike, Raul, and David go out into the valley away from the rain and there is
lift every where under the developing clouds. A number of pilots, including
Mitch and Daniel head for the grass ultralight air strip just east of Roldanillo
and land there. Our guys are headed north.

I accompany Jose, the driver, and after dropping off stuff at the hotel, we head
north about forty kilometers to find that they have all landed in the same field
as the first day.

A few tidbits. The driver is being paid 5,000 pesos per pilot per day. That's
$2.50 (one tenth of what we pay in the US). Before we went out and chased the
pilots, I bought him a bowl of fruit salad. It costs 3,500 pesos. The driver is
a family man with at least two children. He lives in town not far from the
hotel.

The hotel room costs 20,000 pesos a day. On the way back from retrieving the
pilots we stopped at a hotel that costs 180,000 pesos a day. It wasn't all that
great. Mike's house is much nicer. The hot water here at out hotel is iffy.

There are scooters every where here. Apparently the Chinese imported scooters
are very inexpensive, perfect for South America. They cost about as much as a
bus ride to purchase (per day).

The scooter riders here in Roldanillo wear what look to be black baseball
batter's hats, instead of helmets. In Cali they wear helmets with the license
plate number of the motorcycle or scooter on the back of the helmet. This is the
help identify them. It comes from the days when rebels would come up on
motorcycles and shoot your car full of holes.

There are small businesses every where in town which seem to have very low
productivity. US productivity increased 4% last year and the US is producing
about as much output as it did before the Great Recession with twelve million
fewer workers. That says something about the future.

I have intermittent internet access now and thanks to Daniel and his phone I
have some at all. I won't be able to be on top of everything, so please be
patient.