After 3 months of travel with Mathieu Rouanet in Peru, Chile and Bolivia in 2009, I missed South America a lot. I was happy to receive an invitation from our Ozone distributor in Chile, Francisco Fluxa (FLX Parapente www.flxparapente.cl) to make a paramotor show in Santiago during Feria Pro Tiempo Libre – a big event for outdoor sports in early autumn. Apart from the Feria and the show I had no other plans for my time in Chile… and that’s how three months of adventure began!
Feria was a big event organized by Santiago City to promote outdoor sports. Paragliding and paramotor was a discipline represented by Francisco Fluxa and local pilots from Santiago. Francisco and I made a PPG show over the city of Santiago flying Slalom 19 and Speedster 19, Here is a video: https://vimeo.com/55070059
I travel a lot all around the World with my motor and I have to admit that the warm welcome I received in Chile was wonderful and totally unexpected. As soon as I arrived I had some problems with my luggage (not all of my paramotor arrived) – everything was sorted and organized for me within a few days. I received invitations from local pilots to visit many places in Chile and Argentina to fly PPG with local pilots. I visited all the nearest to Santiago local flying sites such as: Colina, Vizcachas, Maintencillo. I also had the opportunity to fly with Elke Reinarz in Puerto Montt, who is the only female PPG pilot in Chile. Elke’s house is situated on the cliff above the beautiful bay of Couhuin, and we had a great time flying together for several weeks.
Another event, this time in Licanray, was at a lake surrounded by volcanic mountains. Many PPG pilots arrived from Santiago and Temuco. It was the biggest number of Chilean PPG pilots that had ever met in one place in Chile. The weather was wonderful and we enjoyed many hours flying together. The biggest gift for my last flight in Chile was an evening fight to the beautiful Villarrica Volcano. The late hour and the lack of power in high altitude didn’t allow me to climb all the way to the top but I was within 200m of the summit (Villarrica is 2847)! Landing in the campsite after the dark I thought to myself, “next time! At least I have another good reason to come back to Chile.”
Thank you my Chilean friends for all your help and sharing so much time together! See you next year, you are awesome!
Source: Ozone Paramotor