Leaving...
Is it so dangerous to go there as it is told here..?
We searched the travellers webs and found almost more positively reports about the country..
In comparision to other "dangerous" countries which we visited
we decided that it cannot be worse if we stay away from the frontlines.

The arriving... day 1 agosto 02 thursday
our flight came in via venezuela, and the first land we saw after crossing that atlantic
really looked like that venezuela which we knew from literature descriptions.
then, passing the andes, colombia looked very cloudy, and so it often is, high in the mountains.

around bogota: a large plain between the andes mountains,
altitude about 2600m. close to the equator, temperature
almost about 12 to 20°C.
caused by a very dry air it does not feel very cold.
winds mostly from the west.

go to: bogota

agosto 03 friday day 2, first workshop.
first job was to teach some dozends of local teachers how to make stuntkites, so that
they can give this knowledge to their pupils, which are some 10.000's kids from bogota.
unfortunately the flying field was in the "sponsor's garden",
a little windsafe place between a building and some trees,
so that it was not really possible to fly stuntkites.
but, we all had fun in the theories,
especially for the mixed-up languages.

go to: workshops

agosto 04 saturday day 3, second workshop.
unknown place, because we missed it.
the others said, that no problem, because there was not much to do.
so then,
we were lucky that we took opportunity in the morning
to climb the "montserat" mountain
to a height of some 3145m (thanks they have a cable car...)
for to fly our kites.

close to the top at 3145m.
bogota downtown (2600m) straight below.

agosto 04 saturday, afternoon workshop #3.
same place like yesterday, bad wind-condition.
our 'protests' for the location were not heared... :)
workshop theme was "traction kites", practice was theories.
nevertheless we had good fun in talking, some flying
and learning from the colombians!

agosto 05 sunday day 4, free flying in parque simon bolivar.
better place for better wind conditions, even if not "perfect".
information of the day was that medellin kitefest is cancelled
due to 'sponsor problems' and that cali kitefest is delayed for 3 weeks.
so, there is nothing organised on schedule after the bogota events.
thatz colombia! -
nobody worries - we'll find "our" skies!

go to: workshops

agosto 06 monday day 5, workshop #4 in parque simon bolivar.
today's afternoon plan was workshop to instruct teachers in flying kites with some 1000 pupils,
but it was cancelled due to taxi strike.
so that we just had some time
playing around with our own kites ... and those of the others.
the guatemaltecs prepared their giant barriletes kites for the next day festival.

agosto 07 tuesday day 6, the bogota kite festival!
parc bolivar. all streets around were crowdy, and we saw many booths
selling traditional and also plastic-kites around.
our task was to fill a arena-style stadium with kites alive.
thread was the wind situation in an arena like this.
...gladiators in the storm ...te salutant ....
until noon the stadium was filled with some 10 ... 15.000 spectators, and they had fun there
like with an football match!

at all there were some 60.000 people in the parque bolivar,
plus 40.000 more on the streets of barrio bolivar.
the kiteflying was a part of the"Festival Simon Bolivar" - there was
also music, dancing and a car-race.
at all there were 1 million people celebrating on the streets of bogota.

go to: bogota kitefestival

agosto 08 wednesday day 7 workshop #5.
same place, in the parc. today the kids arrived.
maybe some thousand in the morning, and the same in the afternoon - all around us with kites.
the kites were plastic single-liners, sponsored by the "Institute Distral Recreacion y Deporte".
would had been more fun maybe to see selfmade, original colombian-shape kites,
but it nevertheless was a great tohuwabohu!

agosto 09 thursday day 8, guatemala helping-workshop.
yup. the bariletes kites from guatemala were not finished yesterday.
everybody likes the idea to help the guys.

agosto 10 friday day 9, travel to medellin.
happy! medellin! this town has a lot that is missing in bogota:
sun, warm weather, chaotic live at day and night, live-art culture & more.

agosto 11 saturday day 10, medellin warm-up
hangin' around here and there. out with the kites, flying with the group and
medellin skiters in the afternoon on mount volador.
at noon a visit at the yaripa's nice office and fabric rooms.

planning balloon and kite-art stuff with medellin artists,
visiting "vinacure" friendly art-bar + gallery.
they already had indoor kite shows there!

go to: medellin kite+culture

agosto 12 sunday day 11, kitefly at the parque de las aguas.
arriving late at the parc, which is 1h outside the town, we cannot find the group.
the parc is a very big leisure installation with much water thingies inside.
not lucky! no-one told us to bring our swimming suits!
it is horribly hot in the sun.
the sky above the area is filled with many many kites.
what to do? it is no question!
:)
go to: medellin kite+culture
for the last night we cruised 'pueblito paisa'
and some other real-interesting barrios
with an old 'lada' (carro karajo).

agosto 13 monday day 12+13, the returning

leaving at 5a.m.,
it takes some 33 hours
to reach our german home.