My friend and colleague, Tanja, has been talking about going paragliding in the Sacred Valley for probably over a year now. Yesterday we made it happen!

We decided to organize the trip with our travel partner from work, Worldwide Exotic Adventures. We met at the offices at 8:00am and were driven out towards a town called Urubamba in the Sacred Valley. Before arriving there we went off-road and drove up to the top of a hill overlooking the valley. This is pretty much where all paragliders take off from as the wind conditions are mostly optimal here.

The second we got out of the car the pilot told us that the weather conditions were good and that we should take advantage by jumping immediately. Tanja went first (ladies first) and within minutes she was suited up, running down the side of the hill and airborne. She flew for a little over 10 minutes before finally landing in a field all the way down in the valley.

I stayed at the top of the hill admiring the views and the driver drove down to collect Tanja and the pilot, Edgar. While waiting a few more paragliders arrived and I got to chatting with them. Turns out it was a team of three world-class paragliders out for a ride. They waited for a while for the weather conditions to improve before taking off, but 2 of the 3 showed incredible skill… climbing as high as the tops of the surrounding mountains and cruising around for what must have been over an hour.

Then it was my turn. The experience I was hoping for included soaring in the clouds for an hour like the pros I was currently watching… even when I paraglided in Lima we had done some tricks, got close to buildings and went way up into the clouds. This experience was much more tame and controlled. Don’t get me wrong, it was super fun, the panoramic was incredible, the company was great, and all-in-all it was a lovely day… but I wanted something a little more adventurous.

To that end… parachuting is next on my list. The second the opportunity presents itself I’m in. If anyone else wants to join me or has some suggestions let me know.