Notices by My camera shoots fascists (mikal@sfba.social), page 2

No self-respecting Goth who visits Bogotá should miss a trip to the cemetery.

My original destination was the Bogotá botanical garden. I figured I would wander somewhat randomly until I got tired of walking and then take a cab or a bus. I saw the cemetery on the map, so headed there.
The English translation of the common name of this flower is "Cock's Comb", Erythrina crista-galli. It's related to the "Coral Bean", Erythrina flabelliformis, common in Arizona.

A row of old mausoleums in Bogotá's Cemetario Central. I can't help but think what a cool movie set this would be.

For the record, I am posting about these places well after I have left them. Now, it's probably unlikely that criminals who stalk tourists based on their social media posts are on Mastodon yet, but unless there is an immediate need to live-post, such as breaking news, it's a good security practice to not pinpoint yourself, especially if you are in uncrowded or remote areas.

At the botanical garden they have a whole exhibit dedicated to angiosperm (flowering plants) systematics (the science of classifying organisms based on their evolutionary relationships). At the entrance there is a display with a cladogram (not shown) and this graphical representation of it (first pic), which is then reproduced as landscape art with representative species for each order planted and labeled.

#FensterFreitag #WindowFriday
Bogotá

#FensterFreitag #WindowFriday

Bogotá

(reposted to link to my ongoing Bogotá thread.)

#FensterFreitag #WindowFriday

Bogotá

#FensterFreitag #WindowFriday

Bogotá

Alas, sad to be leaving Colombia and heading back to Crazilandia. This morning I hiked the old stone path up Montserrate, but took the cable car down. Unfortunately the funicular wasn't running.

First pic is the path; second is the view of Bogotá from the top.

#FensterFreitag #WindowFriday

Bogotá

The #GoldMuseum in Bogotá is amazing. I went there last time, too, but it's not like you can really absorb it all. The detail of the work indigenous people did a thousand years ago is incredible. My little old phone can't really capture it, but here are a few snaps.

How I feel heading back to the U.S. right now.
Pre-colonial indigenous shaman's mask, Gold Museum, Bogotá.
(My phone screwed up the color. It's really gold-yellow.)

The seat-back flight tracking screens on my United Airlines flight call it the Gulf of Mexico. I'll check again when I come back in 10 days. If they've changed it, I will make sure they hear all about it.

I'm on a long planned paragliding trip in Colombia, with inconsistent Internet access. It feels really strange to be out of the country right now when so much shit is going down.

Whenever I get back online, it's not doom scrolling so much as clown scrolling. "Red white and blue land"? Subpoenaing the (deceased) members of the Warren Commission? "Gulf of America"? It's all so fucking stupid.

But it's also obviously a convenient distraction so we don't notice little things like gutting the CFPB.

#Blep of La Unión, the nearest town to our hotel.

Not sure how much I'll post, but I'll thread this Colombia trip.

Whew! Other than flying into powerlines, another pilot in our group and I had the biggest no–no experience in #paragliding today: mid-air collision. Luckily, we were at the same altitude and it was just our wingtips that collided and then came untangled after a few seconds. Both of us and our gliders are fine.

Another guy in our group was hit by a pilot from a competition that was happening. That comp pilot's feet hit the top of the glider and ripped part of it open, so our groupmate pilot had to land on a partially deflated wing.

Two in one day is...bad. The other pilot and I have the exact same recollection of what happened, but hopefully some of the guides saw it and can help with a debrief.

But, hey, my launch and landing were perfect.

On our first push out to the valley, I did manage to get my phone out and snap a photo of the glider in front of me. Zarzal is the small town we're headed toward in the distance.

Being a fairly novice pilot means that I really don't have the free hands or the headspace to operate a better camera, but the photo possibilities on a day like this are awesome. One of these days I'll get there.

#paragliding

#paragliging in #Colombia
Things have been a little bumpy this week, between me having some low-grade stomach bug and the weather being flaky, but today was awesome. Best flight ever.

Yesterday and this morning, we had an extremely narrow launch window between when the clouds lifted high enough above launch to fly but before the rain started up on the mountain behind us. About 30 minutes to get all of us in the air, but we did it.

We were able to stay on the lower ridges of the mountains and gain altitude. As the rain moved east, it pushed us out into the valley but by then the thermals were working really well.

I was with my group and guide for a while, but then a couple people landed out and I ended up getting lucky and catching a good climb out over the town of Zarzal. Our guide had to land, so I played around a bit at cloudbase – literally the wispy underside of the clouds at the top of the thermals – then half heartedly headed north on a long glide to landing.

The nice thing about playing amateur naturalist after landing is that by switching gears, what would otherwise be an unremarkable 10 minute walk to the road becomes a whole other hour-long adventure.