World Hot Air Balloon Championships 2014, TEAM U.S.A.: Getting Organized and Opening Ceremonies

Ok, typing fast here before I loose internet connection! If you are wondering, the internet at our hotel is HORRIBLE!

Anyway, yesterday (Friday) was a day of getting organized as well as the opening ceremonies for the event.

Organization: After waking up to the howling of wind through our hotel window and looking outside to see a massive amount of trash blowing down the street, we quickly realized that we were not going to fly that morning. So, instead of heading back to bed we went downstairs and joined the rest of the US teams in preparing various maps and computers. A big "shout out" to Paul who was extremely nice in helping us "newbies to Worlds" with our computers and thought processes. The big new task this year appears to be a Time to a Line task. Basically you will need to predict how long it will take you to fly between designated grid lines. Because of all the possible variables (wind speed at different altitudes, possible target along the way, when you must declare(make your prediction) the discussions have been very interesting. If this task is actually called, it will certainly be one that challenges every competitor.

After a 2 hour nap, we headed out with our crew for lunch and errand running. Not sure of I have introduced our crew. We have two local balloonists Raf and Jonathan helping us out. Raf is a student pilot who speaks a little English, and Jonathan who is a local ride operator who speaks no English. Great guys who really know there way around a balloon system. Communication can certainly be a challenge at times, however even after two days it has gotten much better. We kind of have a hand signal thing that is going. Todd and I also figured out that common "guy topics" such as beer and pretty girls carries across all languages!

As far as lunch yesterday, we left it up to Raf and Jonathan to decide where we were going. When the truck stopped at the restaurant I have to admit I thought that letting them decide where to eat may not have been such a good idea (Emily, you would not have gone in this one).

Turned out it was AWESOME! This little shop was owned by a local balloonist family. They had an all you can eat buffet (very common down here) that had some great food! They would make a little at a time so it would not go bad, so at times you had to wait, but it was always fresh! Biggest thing you had to get over was the garage door in the kitchen (also common down here).

After lunch we went to get the following: Gloves, fishing string, exchanged more money, white pibals, a fire extinguisher, and a cooler(ya. we will be the only team with a beer cooler-and wait til you see it). On this trip I realized a major difference between America and Brazil. In the States, we would have gone to one store(probably WALMART) to get these things. In Brazil not so easy. We literally went to 6 different stores for the six different things we needed. Not because we couldn't find what we were looking for, but because these are all mom and pop stores which only sell very specific things!

At the gas station to buy a fire extinguisher. Because that is where you by a fire exstinguisher in Brazil!

At the party store to buy pibals, Let it Go, Let it Go.......I know, bad joke!

Safety glasses are required for refueling in Brazil, the hat however. not so much.

After those adventures, we chilled at the hotel for about an hour then headed to the local Tennis Club which hosted the Opening Ceremonies. I will let the pictures speak for themselves on this one. All I will say is that there was plenty to drink and the US team really needs to step up our outfits!

Mark patiently waiting for a Caipirinha, the local Brazilian drink of choice. We all decided they taste great after about 4 of them, but prior to that they taste like crap!