An unexpectedly great day!

We set off around 10:30am and drove over to the big parking lot at the Chedraui grocery store where we planned on leaving Igor while we hiked up to the paragliding liftoff point in Monte Alto State Park.

It's about about a 5 km (3 mile) hike from there, gaining about 450 meters (1,500') in altitude. So it's a decent hike with a beautiful view at the top.

From there, the plan was to watch the paragliders take off so that Lindsey, Justin, and the kids could get a better idea of what's involved so that when we did it on Thursday or Friday they wouldn't be so nervous.

Gorgeous view of Lago Avandaro from the top of Monte Alto.

We got up there, and there were no paragliders taking off, which I thought was odd because conditions were really good. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I thought we should be taking advantage of the great conditions because you never know what Thursday or Friday might bring. So I sent my instructor Raul a message and asked if he thought today would be a good day to fly. He replied "Yes!". So I told him that we were already at the top and asked if he could gather up enough pilots to take our group. They were obviously not busy, because 45 minutes later they arrived at the top with four pilots to take four of us. Sadie and I would remain behind and two of the pilots would return to the top for us.

The group, getting ready to fly!

Ruth, getting ready for takeoff.

And, there she goes!

Lindsey getting ready.

Getting some last minute instructions.

I took a video for you of Lindsey, Cameron, and Justin taking off...

Raul and Cameron.

Raul and Cameron.

They all had their flights, and our instructor Raul and one of the other guys came up to fly down with Sadie and I. Raul knows that I want to take the solo flying course that he offers, so he asked if I wanted to do an "instructional" ride.

Most definitely I did. This would be our fourth time going paragliding, and the last time I really paid attention to what they were doing, how they got things ready, and what the pilot was doing to fly.

So he told my pilot Manuel to give me some tips. This was definitely my best flight to date... conditions couldn't have been better. While we were flying, he was telling me a few things, and eventually I even flew it myself for about five minutes. Very exciting. Now I am even more looking forward to doing a solo flight.

Sadie was flying with Raul. I landed before her, and then took a video of her landing...

And meanwhile, Ruth had taken some shots of me landing.

So glad that we made the decision to go right then and that Raul and his crew were able to accommodate us.

But we were starved, and we know of a great restaurant in Valle de Bravo that does typical enchiladas. Delicious! What a way to end a fantastic day... hiking, paragliding, and eating!

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