Rio "Wonder City"

Heading back south for Christmas....

my take off in Pedra Bonita, Rio de Janeiro

I couldn't help a little stop in Rio to fly. The day was just gorgeous!
and Rio is really one amazing place in this planet!

long time no see

Is been a looong time since I last wrote something here. Yeah, is a trip after trip... A no ending adventure...

the Rally Bus

After my travels and flying in Bahia, it was time for the S.O.S Sertao Race and Rally Series (www.sossertao.com.br). I hooked up with the Rally Bus and left to Recife where the event would start. It was a week of flying, each day in a different place, crossing six states of Northeast Brazil.

take off in Aliaca, state of Pernambuco, the first leg of the Rally

More than the flying itself, the whole experience of traveling in such remote and isolated areas was priceless. The people, the food, the environment, the culture and music and even the different accents, made me feel like I wasn't in my own country. I discovered an entirely different face of Brazil.

a very common site in my travels around "sertao"

Beside the flying, the S.O.S Sertao aimed to bring aid to these very poor communities trough the distribution of basic food supplies and educational programs with doctors, nurses, teachers and entertainers. They administered talks in methods of contraception, in how to avoid some common diseases, nutrition, hygiene and etc. The organizers also put together a little mobile “adventure park” with a climbing wall, a trampoline and even a hang glider simulator for the kids at each of the little villages where we passed. Most of the people there had never seen a hang glider before, or even heard of it.

a normal scene in this rally... sometimes was very hard to set up and/or breakdown our gliders

Flying wise was more like an expedition than a race. Amazing and very strong sites, a couple of them where never flown before and in the last leg to Maranhao only two guys faced the challenge of flying with absolutely no landing options. They managed to find something not so bad to land, but most of the other pilots not even started the leg, after climbing up and realizing what we had ahead of us. And I was one of them.

Lencois Maranhenses, the ending point of the rally. Just Amazing!

Quixada, my new favorite place to fly!

But a couple of the sites that we flew where the best I have ever flown. Patu, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte and Quixada, in the state of Ceara. I was so amazed by Quixada that I decided to go back there after the Rally for one more week of flying. And it was intense! Strong winds, strong conditions and the result was my best flights ever! In my last day there I flew 217km, the best mark ever flown by a Brazilian female! Yhaa!

a very happy girl

Lagoinha and my new passion

Well, after all that flying was time to a vacation at the beach to meet up with Joe and Priscila again. I missed them sooo much! And here I am in Lagoinha, I just can't leave this place! A kitesurf paradise and I'm having a blast! I think Priscila found a new home....