Safe Flying

Monday May 19th

Today we had a half day journey to Nasca where we were supposed to get a 2 O'Clock flight to see the famous lines. But due to typical South American efficiency, it was nearly 3.30 when we took off in our 6 seater single engined plane. We weren't sure why the delay bu it managed to annoy us all.

The flight itself was OK (for me). There i no other way of seeing the lines but in order to see them the pilot does a lot of acrobatics. It makes it a bit of a job to hold in lunch. But I was OK. The figures themselves are a bit hard to see at some points, you have to be almost directly over them. I did miss a couple of them. Some of them were OK though, but photos were a bit hit and miss (mostly miss).

I said I wasn't ill, but I did nearly chuck it when I saw Jono take the controls. Now I know he has a pilots licence and is trained in single engine prop craft, but we were on a commercial flight and he does't have a commercial licence. In no way should the pilot haev offered him the controls.

I was furious, not really with Jono, who just took an opportunity when he was offered it, without thinking of the consequences (sound familiar). No my fury was at the pilot but I was hardly in a position to do anything until we landed. In the end I just went to Marika the tour leader and said they should seriously think about using these guys for flights as they are obviously unsafe. There wasn't much else I can do, except to say do not use Aero Condor for Nazca flights.

We ended the night playing pool and table tennis in Nazca (all the commotion and delays meant it was too late to move on to our intended destination, so we camped in Nazca. It worked pretty well.

Today was also the day on which I got the bright idea of extending my trip by a couple of weeks to Quito. I had already decided not to go to Rio, and was actually coming home a week early, but once I made sure I could afford it, I thought why not stay. I want to see some of Northern Peru, and Ecuador sounds nice too.