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I awoke at seven and was able to get back into my room. I was in such a good mood that I didn’t even complain about being locked out. I got myself organized to go paragliding and then sat down to breakfast with Kevin, Martina, Misha, and Leon–a South African who had just arrived. I had already reserved my at Casa de la Gringa for the night thinking that going to do another Ayahuasca ceremony might not end up being as interesting as staying. Over breakfast Martina encouraged me to skip the ceremony and spend he evening with the group–glancing at Misa as she said this.

As we were finishing eating, Simon arrived and asked me if I was, “Just about ready to go?”

“Yep.”

“There is more room in the van if anyone else wants to go.”

Both Kevin and Misa immediately jumped at this. They had both expressed interest in paragliding when I had spoke about going, but they were afraid that they would not be able to join last-minute. They quickly got their things together as I told Simon that I wanted to cancel my reservation with the curandero. I had been interested to experience Ayahuasca with a different shaman in a different setting as a point of reference, but the circumstances were less than ideal. I knew very little about this curandero and felt that I might be jumping into this a little too quickly. Since I had left the jungle I continued to feel better and better each day. I didn’t want to do anything to upset my new-found wholeness, better to allow this magic to play itself out. And of course there was the prospect of another night with Misa.

We walked down to San Bles where we caught our van and met Leo Infantas, the owner and operator of the paragliding company that would be taking us into and over the Sacred Valley.  He loaded us into the van and we were on our way.  Also in the van was another pilot and a couple from Souix Falls.  Annette was a down-to-earth attorney, and Shimi was a entrepreneur with a larger-than-life personality.  They were on a several month trip and had just come from Brazil.  I asked if they had been to any trance parties in Brazil.  They said, “No,” but Shimi recommended an outdoor trance party that went on every Sunday in Cusco called Chaos.

The drive took about 45 minutes.  It was stunning.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  The road wound through the mountainous landscape affording views of green fields, lakes, and jagged snow-capped mountains.   We pulled off to the side of the road where there was a small parking lot and a small shop selling trinkets.  Just below the parking lot was a small grassy field where another operator was already launching paragliders.  Up the slope from the parking lot were ruined Incan storehouses.

We stretched our legs and wandered a bit while Leo and his assistant offloaded the gear.  Then Leo explained the launching and landing procedures.  It seemed relatively simple.  There was a seat, not much more than a padded harness.  The pilot sat in the rear and the passenger sat in the front.  The parachute would catch the wind and we would run down the slope until we were lifted into the air.  Once we had gained enough altitude that we were sure not to come back down the pilot would signal that it was time to pull yourself back into the seat.  From there you would simply ride until it was time to land.  We would land seated with our feet up and our hands in.   The pad would absorb the impact.  Simple enough.

It was a beautiful spot.  Kevin, Misa, and I sat and chatted while we waited for the wind to cooperate.  When it did the Anette and Shimi went first.  Each under a separate parachute.  They took to the air almost instantly and soared gracefully away–climbing along the side of the mountain where they could ride the thermals.  The landing zone was actually uphill from where we were taking off.  Their flight lasted about 45 minutes, and when they came back they were both glowing.

Kevin was anxious to get suited up, but Leo insisted that Misa and I go next.  Misa took off only moments before I did, flying with the other pilot.  I put on my helmet and was strapped into the harness.  Leo attached my harness to the parachute.  He briefly went over the instructions again.

The chute inflated behind us and pulled us back a step.  An assistant pulled hard on the harness in front of me and the chute swung overhead.  I took three steps forward, and we were airborne.  In less than a second we were 50 feet off the ground.  Leo told me I could sit, and I pulled myself back into my seat and tucked in my arms.  We banked hard left and my stomach dropped.  I screamed from sheer exhilaration.  It felt amazing!

Paragliding was fantastic!  We hugged the contours of the mountain, looking for updrafts just over the treeline.  The chute was incredibly responsive and maneuverable.  The landscape was spectacular.  When I’ve dreamed of flying, this is how it felt.

An eagle flew over us and Leo tapped me on the shoulder excitedly.  He pointed to the bird, “My teacher.”

I couldn’t stop smiling.  We swooped and turned, climbing higher and higher.  We looped over the landing and back into the next valley.  We had been up for about half an hour and Leo checked in with me, “How are you doing?”

“Really good.”

“Good I want to go longer.  OK?”

“Yes,” I grinned. This was fantastic, and Leo seemed to be having as much fun as I was.  He explained to me that the two of us together were the perfect weight for the craft.  If we were any heavier we would sink too quickly.  If we were lighter we would go to slowly.  He was excited.  He encouraged me to lean into our turns as it helped us to climb.  When he was not speaking to me he would speak to the wind, coaxing and encouraging it.

We climbed and climbed.  The view was fantastic.  I could see down into the sacred valley and across a broad plain to the mountains on every horizon.

“We go to Cusco.”

I laughed, “Cool,” thinking he was joking, but we continued to climb.  He showed me the GPS. We were at 4500 meters altitude and traveling at 60km/hr!  I had no idea that these rigs could move that fast.

We continued to climb and I asked, “Are we really going to Cusco?”

“If we want to go to Cusco we have to touch that cloud.”  He pointed over my shoulder at a cloud far above and ahead of us.

Leo encouraged me to put on gloves he produced from a pocket in the harness and instructed me to take off my helmet and put up my hood.  It was getting colder.

We reached our maximum altitude at about 5500 meters.  I was cold and had to pee, but I was literally on top of the world!  I could see Cusco on the horizon and he told me we would be landing in Sacsayhuaman.  I could hardly believe it.  We were going to land in the Incan ruins atop of Cusco, the most important archeological site in all of Peru and the ancient capital of the Incan empire.   Totally amazing.

Leo pointed to the airport and told me we’d have to watch for planes.

We circled over Cusco and looked down at Plaza de Armas and Plaza San Blas.

We circled back over the Sacsayhuaman ruins and Leo got a big kick out of running our shadow over a group of tourists.  We came around and made our decent, landing softly between Incan stone walls.  Leo asked the surprised-looking site staff not to call the police.  They politely agreed.

I gave Leo a big hug and thanked him profusely. He told me that it was very unusual to be able to do this and wanted to know if I had gotten any good photos.  I showed him the videos of our takeoffs and landings and he made me promise to send him a copy.  We collected our gear (after I made a long-delayed trip to the bathroom) and sat warming in the sun while we waited for Leo’s crew to come pick us up.

They dropped me off off in San Blas with hugs and handshakes all around.  I stopped to pick up an Alpaca jacket for 110 sols before returning to the hostel to find the others.  They were all very excited to see me and to hear about my flight.  We walked down to a restaurant called Pacha Papa (Kevin’s recommendation) for lunch.  Martin and Leon joined us for lunch.  The food was fantastic, if not too cheap.  We sat and recounted our adventures.