Does anyone have info on flying pg and hg in Guatemala? I am planning a trip in January or February. There are some guides/tours to be found on the web. Does anyone have personal experience? Any info appreciated. Thanks
Randy
Winter trip to Guatemala info request
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Winter trip to Guatemala info request
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John Anderson
- Posts: 125
- Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 9:25 pm
- Location: Vienna, VA
Re: Winter trip to Guatemala info request
Randy---
Let me give you some dope below, and then follow up in an e-mail with the contact data for a couple of PG pilots with whom I was back into contact around 2012-- that is, a decade after I was living in Guatemala & did my flying (2000—2002), then I went down for about a month (2012). NOTE that I recommend against February (see below). Meanwhile, I need to look for the email addresses.
I’ll also dig into my e-files and send you some lists & dope on flying sites, a bit of which you can also find online. I did more PG than HG when there (well, also did a good bit of HG triking down by the coast). My favorite free flight sites were:
** Santa Elena Barillas: love this place, named for nearby village: I did both HG ad PG here; a good possibility for XC, though I never did go far. You will need to go with the free flight (vuelo libre) gang, or otherwise you’ll never find it. Only issues are when wind is right; but also when cane is high, though a lot of LZs around for this site.
** Lake Atitlan: absolutely incredibly gorgeous launches over a lake rimmed by volcanos; from prime lauch you land PG in riverbed next to Panajachel; LZ for HG is small, easy to overshoot into lake. A commercial PG operator there (francophone Canadian, also speaks Engl & Span, of course-- an OK guy, lives in Panajachel, but will want to sell you access to what is a club site and he doesn’t own it); of course he does lessons, tandems, etc. My only comment is that I found Feb usually has strong N winds and nobody was flying at Atitlan the 2 weeks I was there: too sad. I think Feb is generally bad for Atitlan and probably for several other sites.
** La Cerra: most popular PG site since near to Guate City, where most FF pilots live. Launch is in a Natl Park, but you’d need fly chums to show you the road to top. Here some LZs can also possibly be an issue when cane is high, but honestly I have forgotten when that is.
Names: A couple of HG pilots I flew with (but more trike) are: Cesar Leon (and also his son, __), and Alejandro Dies (yes, NOT Diaz). I did not manage to contact them. But they are still on a list of 2012 national champs I saw thenabouts.
On the PG side: Jaime (“Jimmy”) Luna, Oswaldo Mendoza, Eddie Mendoza, Jurgen Vogel, Roberto (“Bobby”) Engel, Carlos Guzman, Estuardo (“Chino”) Palacios. All great guys (and there are lady Guate pilots, too) though I only managed to contact about three of these, esp since email addresses had changed, probably several times since I had lived there! Jaime & Bobby speak English, Chino and most others only Spanish, but any will put you in touch and take you out flying— and 3 or 4 of them will remember me, too. I will look for e-addresses and/or tel #s that may work.
Two or three U.S. tour operators do Guatemala, try USHPA pages. I don’t know about Guatemalan FF tours & services: I gent I don’t know (or don’t recall knowing) is Mario Palacios, who advertises for both HG and PG: http://hanggliding-guatemala-tours.com
And there is a website for the national FF association: http://www.vuelolibreguatemala.com:n I think you can link up to some other sites & data.
When I was there early 2000’s there was unfortunate bad blood between Guatemalan hangies and baggies (-- the HG group had the gov’t subvention, etc, bunch of other issues) , but I think a lot of that has been repaired since then, and many sites are flown by both, except that, of course, the PG gang has opened up more & exotic launches in later years that are only PG-hikable.
Anyway, I think you can do some fun flying in Guate, although since sites are hard to find unless you live there, you will want to either hook to a tour, or make prior contact with vuelo libre gang (not always easy, but I'll send what I have). I recommend (except for Feb !!) you plan to do at least a week in Panajachel for the Atitlan flying. But get some other opinions, esp as regards the best flying months.
--John
Let me give you some dope below, and then follow up in an e-mail with the contact data for a couple of PG pilots with whom I was back into contact around 2012-- that is, a decade after I was living in Guatemala & did my flying (2000—2002), then I went down for about a month (2012). NOTE that I recommend against February (see below). Meanwhile, I need to look for the email addresses.
I’ll also dig into my e-files and send you some lists & dope on flying sites, a bit of which you can also find online. I did more PG than HG when there (well, also did a good bit of HG triking down by the coast). My favorite free flight sites were:
** Santa Elena Barillas: love this place, named for nearby village: I did both HG ad PG here; a good possibility for XC, though I never did go far. You will need to go with the free flight (vuelo libre) gang, or otherwise you’ll never find it. Only issues are when wind is right; but also when cane is high, though a lot of LZs around for this site.
** Lake Atitlan: absolutely incredibly gorgeous launches over a lake rimmed by volcanos; from prime lauch you land PG in riverbed next to Panajachel; LZ for HG is small, easy to overshoot into lake. A commercial PG operator there (francophone Canadian, also speaks Engl & Span, of course-- an OK guy, lives in Panajachel, but will want to sell you access to what is a club site and he doesn’t own it); of course he does lessons, tandems, etc. My only comment is that I found Feb usually has strong N winds and nobody was flying at Atitlan the 2 weeks I was there: too sad. I think Feb is generally bad for Atitlan and probably for several other sites.
** La Cerra: most popular PG site since near to Guate City, where most FF pilots live. Launch is in a Natl Park, but you’d need fly chums to show you the road to top. Here some LZs can also possibly be an issue when cane is high, but honestly I have forgotten when that is.
Names: A couple of HG pilots I flew with (but more trike) are: Cesar Leon (and also his son, __), and Alejandro Dies (yes, NOT Diaz). I did not manage to contact them. But they are still on a list of 2012 national champs I saw thenabouts.
On the PG side: Jaime (“Jimmy”) Luna, Oswaldo Mendoza, Eddie Mendoza, Jurgen Vogel, Roberto (“Bobby”) Engel, Carlos Guzman, Estuardo (“Chino”) Palacios. All great guys (and there are lady Guate pilots, too) though I only managed to contact about three of these, esp since email addresses had changed, probably several times since I had lived there! Jaime & Bobby speak English, Chino and most others only Spanish, but any will put you in touch and take you out flying— and 3 or 4 of them will remember me, too. I will look for e-addresses and/or tel #s that may work.
Two or three U.S. tour operators do Guatemala, try USHPA pages. I don’t know about Guatemalan FF tours & services: I gent I don’t know (or don’t recall knowing) is Mario Palacios, who advertises for both HG and PG: http://hanggliding-guatemala-tours.com
And there is a website for the national FF association: http://www.vuelolibreguatemala.com:n I think you can link up to some other sites & data.
When I was there early 2000’s there was unfortunate bad blood between Guatemalan hangies and baggies (-- the HG group had the gov’t subvention, etc, bunch of other issues) , but I think a lot of that has been repaired since then, and many sites are flown by both, except that, of course, the PG gang has opened up more & exotic launches in later years that are only PG-hikable.
Anyway, I think you can do some fun flying in Guate, although since sites are hard to find unless you live there, you will want to either hook to a tour, or make prior contact with vuelo libre gang (not always easy, but I'll send what I have). I recommend (except for Feb !!) you plan to do at least a week in Panajachel for the Atitlan flying. But get some other opinions, esp as regards the best flying months.
--John