Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Every year in October dozens of the balloons are taking off and stay in the air for hours. Wanna to see it? Go to New Mexico! Every October the Balloon Fiesta takes place in Albuquerque and this event is the biggest hot balloon festival in the World.

It starts long before dawn... Only cats can see clearly in the dark, but it doesn't stop hundreds of guests who are waiting... Waiting for the sun and colorful balloons to take off...

 

This is the mystical time when only the moon brings some light (not much, actually)... But finally... our eyes can see something, mostly the shapes and flames of the burners... and at a certain moment something big and bright starts shaking, moving, growing... 

The hot air is hissing and  the balloon looks more and more like a... balloon ;) A few more minutes and it is standing vertical and ready for taking off... And another one... and another and... They are not in the air yet, but everyone can see how impatient they are... This is an amazing show and everybody is trying to be as close as possible. 

And here is the moment when the very first one leaves the ground and airborne now! It starts slowly moving across the field and towards the sky. The show is on now!

But most of the balloons are still staying on the ground, but acquiring more air and attracting more observers to admire. 

The flames are escaping the burner and the crew is ready. Everybody is waiting for this moment when more and more balloons are taking off and just in a few minutes hundreds of balloons are rising into the sky...

Colorful balloons and fantastic creatures are floating around and going up and down, left and right... Some of them are landing before going airborne again, some of them are moving far away from the field... The fiesta is on the move and nothing can stop it...

Here is a video, where we tried to catch the best moments and atmosphere of this morning.

And here is the official video from 2013 event: 

Pictures were taken on October 09, 2016.