Every day as we prepared for another adventurous day in New Mexico, we turned on the TV and there was the 40th Annual International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. Oh, it was so awesome and exhilarating, we just were glued to the TV. It was carried LIVE from Albuquerque everyone of the 9-day Festia days in New Mexico from the first through the second weekend.
We watched the balloons go up at 5:30 am and watched them heat up and inflate in the dark. And what made it even more incredible for us was that we were scheduled to be at the Fiesta site watching LIVE in person in a few days. Yes, this Tauck tour was taking us to that Hot Air Balloon Fiesta! The Fiesta is called “The Greatest Show Off Earth.”
So, every morning we got to see some of the 550 hot air balloons and 600 pilots from all over the world go up row by row so they wouldn’t hit each other.The balloons are laid out in rows in the green grassy Fiesta Park and are completely surrounded by so many people you could not even see that grass.
The balloons went up a row at a time. It looked like the balloons were stacked on top of each other as they inflated them. Two hundred were up when we were watching the first day. Can you just imagine 200 balloons in the air at the same time? Can you imagine 550 balloons at once? And all the 800,000 visitors also watched during the 9-day fiesta.
Sometimes Mass Ascensions occur when all balloons go up at once. This is beyond incredible! Several times during the Fiesta, Balloon Glows are held. These night time static displays of illuminated balloons, known as Balloon Glows, became part of the Fiesta in 1987 and now are among the Fiesta’s most popular events.
“All Burns”, when all the balloons fire their burners and light up at the same time, are perhaps the most spectacular single event in all of the Balloon Fiesta. After the Balloon Glows, a fireworks display is held. Two of the five Balloon Glows exclusively feature special shape balloons. The Krispy Kreme Morning Glows, a mini-glow featuring a few selected balloons, precedes the Mass Ascension.
Albuquerque was chosen as the annual site for the balloons in 1972 because of the perfect low wind conditions. It is called “the box”. Balloons can go up using the 5-10 mph northern wind in the lower atmosphere and then go up to the upper atmosphere where the winds there are going south. So the wind brings them back to where they started. When they land, that makes an imaginary rectangular “box” and that is why Albuquerque is so perfect for the
International Balloon Fiesta.
On TV, we saw the following “special shapes” balloons go up: the Wells Fargo stage coach, Select 55 beer, Annie the lady bug, the Creamland cow, Darth Vader balloon, State Farm, Tweety Bird, Sunflower face, Joey the Bumble Bee, Little Cops, Nelly-B the elephant, Lady Jester head, Humpty Dumpty, many multi colored ones with different patterns, Dr. Pepper, a butterfly, Gus-T Guppie, Stinky the skunk, the stork (carrying baby), Betty Jean the Butterfly, Tic Toc the clock and Intel.
Each balloon costs at least $35,000., and had a custom-made wicker basket gondola hanging from it where the pilot stood to operate the 13 gas tanks and burners. So if the pilot wanted the balloon to go up, he would turn on the burners and a 3-foot flame would shoot up toward the balloon and that would heat the air in the balloon. Hot air makes the balloon rise. And when the pilot heats the air, the balloon GLOWS and looks like a light had been turned on in it and the balloon was visible for miles. It is so beautiful and exhilarating I just screamed!
To get the balloon up, a crew of 12 people was needed to unload the gondola and lay out the balloon pn the ground that is rolled up into a ball. The balloon is completely laid out flat with the gondola attached lying on its side. Then huge fans that cost $1400 each blow air into the round 5-foot hole in the bottom of the balloon and slowly the balloon rises until it is straight up and so is the gondola.
So when do the people get in the gondola for a ride, you ask. Well, they get in a few minutes while the gondola is lying on its side before the balloon is full and rises straight up. Balloons can hold 8-24 people. I have been in one in Tanzania that held 12 people and one in Kenya that held 18 and was the #2 largest balloon in the world at the time. The largest balloon in the world at the time held 24 and it was located in Amsterdam.
To get in the gondola while it is lying on its side, each person has to crawl in and place feet on the bottom of the gondola and sit on a ledge while looking out over the edge of the basket. It is kind of a contortion move that works. And then the exhilaration begins as the balloon rises and slowly moves over the land into the upper wind stream going north.
The souvenir at the Balloon Fiesta, besides wearing the official T-shirt, is to trade pins. We saw some people wearing jackets just full of pins. The Balloon Fiesta has been making the pins since it started 40 years ago, and these plus other pins made throughout the years, are the ones prized, bought, sold and traded.
At each Fiesta, balloons play games while in the air in a race. They use the winds at different levels to steer the balloon to the target. They played a game called Fiesta Hold’em, a version of Texas Hold’em. Three-foot high cards are placed face up on the ground and the balloons have to swoop down and drop sandbags on the cards they want to make their winning hand. The games have been going on as long as the Fiesta.
On the day Tauck had scheduled for us to go to the Fiesta Park, we awoke at 4 a.m. and boarded the bus at 5 a.m. to head to the Fiesta for the sunrise Mass Ascension. It was raining lightly and it did not look good for the balloons to go up that day but you don’t know until you get out there, so off we went.
We were welcomed into the Hospitality Tent next to the bus parking area. And from there, we were able to spend our allotted two hours to walk the huge park and see the trucks loaded with balloons and gondolas waiting for the word to be announced at 7:30.
And the word came. All events for the day were cancelled. We learned that balloons don’t go up in the rain because water causes mildew on the balloons and ruins them. So the pilots keep them dry. The Fiesta shops were glad we came because shopping was open and we did check out the souvenirs. This little glimpse gave us the layout of the land and the desire to come back next year and really see, experience and enjoy it again.
Carolyn's TraveLog 