Air Festival

Two Sundays ago we went to the Air Festival hosted by the Air Force here in Iquitos. This was my first air show ever, and I was thoroughly impressed. Coco was in charge of most of the publicity throughout the city. His work paid off as they estimated that over 10,000 people came throughout the day. The Peruvian Air Force hosts the event every three years and its held in a different city each year. One of the main points of the event is to connect the Air Force with the community. And it was great to see all the children crawling all over the planes and looking inside. The little boys seemed especially thrilled about getting to touch the planes and climb all over them.












There were plenty of planes pulling off plenty of tricks. Here are three planes flying together low over the ground.









Eventually they circled back around and broke off from each other and did some loopty-loos...or ¨maneuvers¨ as Coco calls them.



There were also several rounds of skydivers falling from the sky throughout the day. They looked quite peaceful as they came down from the sky. They reminded me of jellyfish floating to the bottom of the ocean.



















The children treated the skydivers like celebrities. They chased them down once they landed and wanted to see their parachutes and some of them were even asking for autographs.




There were alot of merchant booths and booths from the Army, the Coast Guard, and Rescue services.












There was a museum which showcased old planes from the Air Force and some of the first documented flights over the Amazon.







There was also a museum that featured the stories of two of the biggest heroes in Peruvian Aviation.
Jorge Chavez broke many altitude records throughout Europe and eventually crossed the Swiss Alps.



Jose Quiñones was a brave pilot that sacrificialy crashed his plane into the enemy lines in a battle against Equador.



There were ongoing concerts throughout the day.



My favorite was the band from the Air Force. The musicians were a group of cadets Coco had been in charge of back in Lima. They put on a great show and Coco was happy to have a little reunion with them.





There were some traditional dancers performing in full costumes. So beautiful.












Planes were constantly passing by.




There was a helicopter demonstration by the Army.




Then the Air Force helicopter came by and more soldiers were dropped from a rope to the ground.








Eventually a huge rainbow showed up right over the runway. It was a big beautiful perfect arch that seemed strategically placed right over the center of the runway, as if the Air Force planned it. But really rainbows are a common occurence here with all the rainstorm, sun, rainstorm, sun, rainstorm, sun business that goes on. Imagine trying to do laundry in that weather when your clothesline for drying has no roof over it....yep. Its awesome. But I do appreciate the rainbows, especially like this one.









We really enjoyed hanging out and taking it all in. It was great to be together with our friends taking in all the talents of the pilots in the Air Force.






And of course the day ended with a fireworks show. When the smokey smell of the fireworks hit our noses, Coco said, ¨Smells like Christmas.¨ I had almost forgotten how fireworks are a tradition here on Christmas Eve. Oh, how I love Peru!