Comparing Valle de Bravo and Roldanillo (Valle del Cauca)
American hang glider and paraglider pilots can head south of the
border in January through March for some good flying when it is too cold in the
US. Valle de Bravo is a popular spot and I've been there on two trips with Ole,
as well as on a trip with him to Guatemala, Lake Atitlan.
Another possibility rather than going to Valle de Bravo is to head a little
further south to South America to Colombia and Roldanillo and the Valle del Cauca. How about a little comparison
shopping?
Airfare round trip to Valle del Cauca (Cali, Colombia):
From Orlando: $450 (American)
From Miami: $380 (Avianca)
From Los Angeles: $730 (Copa), $1000 (Taca/Avianca)
From New York: $650 (Avianca)
Avianca is a no hassle with your hang glider airline. $120 each way (sometimes
nothing).
Airfare round trip to Mexico City (you still have to get to Valle de Bravo):
From Orlando: $300 (Delta)
From Miami: $390 (American)
From Los Angeles: $340 (United)
From New York: $400 (American)
No word on bringing your hang glider.
Drive from Mexico City airport, center of city, to Valle de Bravo: two hours.
Drive from Cali Airport (on the outside of the city to the north on the road to
Roldanillo) to Roldanillo: two hours.
Drive to Roldanillo on divided highway, smooth, and beautiful. There is also a
beautiful "back" road on the west side. Paved, two lane. Fast.
Drive to Valle de Bravo, colorful, slow, bumpy, through small towns.
Valle del Cauca - a huge north south valley. Big flat expanse between the
mountain ranges of cultivated green fields. It is a mix of mountain range flying
over very mellow mountains and flatland flying. The Valle del Cauca is green all
year round
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_del_Cauca_Department
http://www.colombia-sa.com/departamentos/valle/valle-in.html
http://www.virtualamericas.net/colombia/departments/valledelcauca.shtml
Valle de Bravo - there doesn't seem to be a valle (valley) there. Maybe it's
under the lake. Dry and dusty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_de_Bravo
Valle del Cauca - thousands of flat smooth fields to land in both at the bottom
of the launch and through out the valley during cross country flights to the
north, south and west.
Valle de Bravo - the piano field, very hilly and small with fences all around at
the bottom of the launch. The lakeside field, small. Field next to the gas
station. Various other scattered fields throughout the hills.
Valle del Cauca - six paraglider launches at Roldanillo and three hang glider.
Additional launches near Cali, half an hour from the airport.
Valle de Bravo - two launches.
Valle del Cauca - hang glider launch is half an hour on paved road to
launch (except last few hundred feet), four wheel drive for the last bit of road.
Valle de Bravo - long drive from town, long rough slow road to launch.
Roldanillo - very light winds on launch. Steep north launch with cross winds
light. South launch moderate slope, with light cross winds (more on these
later). Must be able to launch in no wind conditions. Other launches are more
applicable for paragliders. Some launches are flat. Plenty of setup area for as
many hang gliders as you please, thirty on top in the most convenient location.
Valle de Bravo - good moderately steep launch with strong breezes up the launch.
Reasonable setup area.
Roldanillo - $10/night hotel. Basic, shower and toilet, nice firm bed,
courtyard, TV (in Spanish :-) ), plenty of outlets, 120 V, 60 cycle, US plugs.
Valle De Bravo - $?/night
Valle de Cauca - smooth pleasant thermals, over the mountains and over the
flats. Lots of cu's marking the thermals. Easy to do low saves over accessible
landing areas. Light lift off of launch. You have to work in weak lift at first
under a low cloud base.
Valle de Bravo - big (and often rough) air.
Valle del Cauca - low cloud base 3,500' to 5,500' AGL. Valley floor 3,000'. Cu's
every day. Cu's thick over the mountains, and scattered out over the valleys.
The launch is often above the cloud base early in the morning. You launch very
early (10:30 AM if you want). You go up to launch at 8 AM. Sometimes you need to
get off before late afternoon before the west wind kicks in.
Valle de Bravo - high cloud bases, often blue. You go up to launch for an
afternoon launch.
Roldanillo - lunch - $1.50 - $3.00
Valle de Bravo - lunch - $?
Roldanillo - ice cream cones - $0.50
Valle de Bravo - ice cream cones - $?
Roldanillo - ensalada de fruitas - $1.75
Valle de Bravo - fruit smoothie - $?
Roldanillo - breakfast (fresh squeezed orange juice, two huevos fritas) $2.50
Valle De Bravo - breakfast - $?
Roldanillo - driver - $2.50/day/pilot
Valle de Bravo - driver - $?
Valle del Cauca - best season - January and August. Dry season January through
March and July through September
Valle de Bravo - best season - January through March
Valle del Cauca - late afternoon onshore flow from the Pacific ocean over the
mountain range. Light winds otherwise.
Valle de Bravo - winds - ?
Sky conditions:
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Roldanillo
- site of the PWC in 2011 and site of the super final PWC
in 2013.
Valle De Bravo - site of the previous FAI/CIVL Paragliding World Championship
Vale del Cauca - safety - I didn't see any FARC activity nor cocaine cartels.
That was the first things I thought of when contemplating going to Colombia.
There was no deep jungle to shelter the FARC. Other than the traffic, the town
and road appeared safe and there was only a small presence of the military.
As reported here: "As of December 2010 the U.S. State
Department warns against travelling to Valle del Cauca and
Cali."
There were plenty of paraglider pilots around and they didn't seem to be
worried. I would say that it is as safe as any rural area in the US.
Valle de Bravo - lots of drug violence in Mexico, but not near Valle de Bravo.
Check here.
Roldanillo - I didn't get "sick" while in Colombia. Often pilots mention that
they get ill in Mexico. I ate all sorts of food, including shaved ice at the
landing zone at El Pomo, without any bad consequences.
From here: "Mexico
is so notorious for traveler's diarrhea that it is often called "Montezuma's
Revenge" (Venganza de Moctezuma). The reason for this is not so much the spicy
food but the contamination of the water supply in some of the poorer zones in
Mexico. In most of the small towns that are less industrialized, only the
poorest Mexicans will drink tap water. The best policy is to only drink bottled
or purified water, both of which are readily available."
Valle del Cauca - a major hang gliding competition is held in January (and
August)
Valle de Bravo - paragliding competitions are often held in March.
Write and tell me what is important to you that I have left out.
Daniel Velez Bravo writes:
The most important and valuable thing about Roldanillo and Colombia,
and that's probably the thing that we should be most proud about, and that's the
people.
Roldanillo, as the other flying sites of Colombia are all about the people. The
pilot community (specially the hang gliding community) in Colombia, and the
ordinary local people are always kind and available to give a hand to any
foreign pilot that comes around. There's always a smile, and somebody willing to
help out unconditionally. As contrary of what happens in Europe, the tourist is
not a "plague", nor a "problem", but an interesting and fascinating stranger
that does not speak Spanish, as extraordinary as seeing a pink elephant.
So yes, foreign pilots can take a great advantage of traveling overseas to
Colombia, as you will find yourself with a lot of "nice" attention and focus,
where you will become not another boring tourist, but a really "VIP" on this
tropical place.
http://OzReport.com/1300710789
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