La Malinche Jan. 20

Up to launch by noon, and I didn't want to launch too early like I did yesterday. Daniel Miller had come up with us this time, and launched around 12:30pm. It looked OK, but not epic climbs, but he eventually made it high enough to land back at Tenancingo. The rest of us waited for it to get better, and spent the time flipping over rocks and looking for scorpions (we found 3).

Jim was next around 1:30pm or so, and he got higher, and ended up making it to Malinalco about 10 km away. He had been itching to fly there all week, so he could land near a certain restaurant and have their ceviche (raw seafood marinaded in lemon juice...the acidity of the juice "cooks" the seafood).

Meanwhile I had launched in a bad cycle. One thing I've found is there is huge sink in between the huge lift, and if you launch in a bad cycle, you'll end up low very quickly. That's where I found myself this time, below launch in short order and not finding any lift. I went to the west point to try and find something, but no luck, so I had to bail out to one of the fields on the outskirts of San Antonio (total airtime: 7 minutes :). Landed in some tall 3' grass and had to wade out to another field to pack up in, which turned out to be a cilantro field.

I was quite disgusted with myself, especially after seeing Jim on his way to Malinalco and Chad on his way to Tenancingo. When I launched I didn't get yarded up like in the past, and I actually had to run down the slope a bit before getting airborne. The launch AGL is so low that I think you *want* to be yarded off launch, to get as much altitude as possible right off the bat. Oh well next time I'll make sure to launch in a stronger cycle. Lots to learn about this site!

Took a taxi back to Tenancingo and learned something else..."especiale" means you get the taxi to yourself and it's an express ride to your destination, and "collectivo" means the taxi will stop for other people on the way. Collectivo is cheaper than especiale. So if you are flying here and take a taxi anywhere, ask for the "collectivo" rate.

Back in Tenancingo and met up with Daniel M. and Chad in the LZ, and up to the little restaurant near Casa Del Piloto for our own ceviche. I've missed real Mexican food for so long! (Yesterday I bought a huge papaya and some mini-bananas, both of which you can get in Vancouver, but are expensive and not as tasty as the local variety.) Everything tastes so much better here!