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Rediscovering Colombia

Part 1- By: Jacob Glass

By KAVU

January 18^th, 2022

Over the last couple of years, I've been drawn to Colombia. The people are wonderful, the culture rich and colorful, and the flora and fauna offers someone who's into bird watching and exploring this incredible planet lifetimes of KAVU adventures.

It's also a world-destination for passionate paraglider pilots to find reliable lift under white clouds, over green lush jungles, with good landings and amazing food to cap it off.

This year, I wanted to start my trip in Apia. It's a place I'd not previously spent much time. I was lucky enough to hook up with Manuel Alejandro, a local instructor who's become a good friend, and he graciously showed me around Apia and introduced me to some of his friends.

Before flying, Colombian coffee and an epic pastry was the obvious way to start my first KAVU day down here!

My first flight of the trip was a fun triangle. Flying over the town of Belalcazar in a perfect convergence line of reliable lift, I was able to look down on the second largest statue of Christ in South America. Art, culture and religion are opaque parts of day to day life in Colombia. It is always amazing to get a bird's-eye-view.

After landing, I found this painting in the country home of the ex-mayor of Apia. The images celebrate the treasures of this area: beautiful birds, great coffee, paragliding and Tatama.

Tatama, "el lugar donde los nubes nacen" is locally known as.....

"The places where clouds are born"

After meeting up with new friends, I was taken to explore more of the area's ecosystem. The "Apia Team" of KAVU's Wildlife Division comprised of Victor, Nataly and me. It wasn't long before we found some wild Orchids which pleasantly smelled like watermelon;-)

Victor is a 23 year old bird guide with abundant pride for Apia and it's environment.

His immense knowledge, humor, and amiable personality made us fast friends. I literally cannot say enough good things about him!

As both a pilot and, someone who loves the natural world, it was so cool seeing bird life which was new and foreign to me.

Birds like the Golden Tanager, Masked Trogon and a Saffron-crowned Tanager were fun to find and photograph and the forest/jungle's sounds and smells made exploring with my friends super fun and relaxing.

Back in town, Ave Maria played from the church every day at 6 am and 6 pm. This beautiful song could be heard throughout the entire town. It was so obvious how much the people here love where they live.

I had to get a photo of Tatama at night. Tatama is over 13,000' high and marks the northern extension of the western chain of the Andes.

Stay tuned for the next part of my trip, if you're interested in coming along. I'll be hooking up with friends from home in Montana for laughs and hopefully..... lots of airtime.

Nothing brings me more joy than living "local Worldwide" and sharing my KAVU days with hopes they'll inspire you to go out and find your own adventures!

Go get it!!

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