Testimonials
Fred and Lori MacDowell joined us on the Europe trip. Fred is a pilot and Lori flew tandems
with us:
Louis,
I can't begin to tell you how incredible our trip was. I wish I could come up with words that
could define my experience but I am at a loss. I've been looking at the pictures and videos
and I watch as if it is a movie and I'm wishing I was the girl that did all those incredible
things, I just can't believe it was really me. You will never completely understand the gift
you've given me and how close I will hold the memories in my heart and mind. Truly, this was
all a first for me and there is no one else I could have enjoyed doing it more with than you!
Now when I look up at the sky I think, I've been there and I've touched the clouds!
I've never seen the world the way you showed it to me and I think I could recount every moment
of every flight I took with you and Todd. I don't know if you know this but I got up 2 hours
before departure every day just to appreciate the view from our apartment and watch the day
come alive. I never wanted to forget how beautiful it was and how peaceful I felt while I was
there. Every day I thought I'd seen more beauty than my heart could hold then you would take
us somewhere even more breathtaking than the day before.
Everything about the trip was incredible, from the accommodations, flight locations and the
people I got to know who I now consider friends. I hope you understand how effortless you made
it all seem to us and how much we all appreciate the effort you put into making the trip such
a success. I absolutely adore you, love flying with you, and can't wait until we can do it
again!
Lori
Kim and Jay Browder learned how to fly at Atlanta Paragliding. This email was sent to the
Southern Para Pilots Club discussion board:
Hey guys...well the weather finally cooperated and we were able to get our FMF clinic in at
Tater Wed-Fri. What an incredible time! What a beautiful site. There was more wind than Luis
would have liked, but with patience and parawaiting, we were able to get in 4 really nice flights
over the two days and loved it! The two things that strike me the most about this sport here
in our area are 1)the people...we have met the nicest people in this sport! It was really nice
to meet
Richard & Bob and we just love Bubba & Beth, the couple that came up from FLA were
a lot of fun too and 2)we are so incredibly lucky to have Luis and his family here as an instructor!
It is really awesome to be able to fly and learn from the best! Look forward to being able
to fly with all of you and have fun tonight at Lida & Johns house...wish we could be there!
Kim & Jay
Lindsay Matush after the Europe trip 2008:
Hey everyone!
I'm back in the flats and missing y'all already! just wanted to say thanks for such
a wonderful 10 days with all of you. I think I tell as many stories about each of you
as I do about the incredible flying! You are such a wonderful group of men and I just
can't think of many people I'd rather spend 10 days in france with. Thanks for all of
your tips and tricks, teaching me things and cheering for me as I progressed in my flying -
I learned so much this last week, and I'm so grateful that all of you were such a part of it. I
have lots of flying photos too, of course, but I attached just a few group shots to make you
smile. I love and miss you all!
Lindsay
Iquique statistics and comments by Susan Kent:
Wow! I am so impressed by Jim and Deb's stats. They are incredible for just a week or
so of flying. 20 hrs and 15 hours are fantastic! Great job Matuches!!
Miss you guys.
My stats: 26 hours over 14 days. But I didn't log any kiting hours and didn't
log most of my flights at palo buque except for the XC with Luis to los verdes.
Longest flight
was 3 hours 22 minutes and 60 km from Patillos to playa bravo. i actually
went to cavancha but came back to playa bravo to land in front of mangos. That's a personal
best for me in distance!! (60Km) It was a wonderful flight, and highly memorable because
I almost sank out just north of the airport. Luis sunk out trying to show Bob where the lift
was, but walked up the hill and relaunched. I ended up flying literally over Luis's head
and scratching two or three feet over the lowest part of the hill. It was my lowest save ever,
and then I made it back to Iquique! What a spectacular flight!
My second memorable flight
was flying with Todd from alto hospicio to past los verdes, almost to the airport and back.
It was my longest out and return at 45.6km. Todd and
i both tried to top land at alto hospicio (nature was calling) but got rocketed up by
a very strong thermal over launch so continued to playa bravo where we were met with pizza
and beer from Bob and Douglas at Mangos. You just can't beat days like that!! A
great flight ending with beer, friends, and food!
I put my four best flights on Leonardo
if anyone wants to see the tracks:
CLICK
HERE
I think I still have them on my 5020 GPS as well.
Other bests:
Best and most fun paragliding tour I have been on (four to date)
Most consistent flying site
Luis and Todd--best tour guides.
Best and most friendliest support crew ---Fabian, Celine, Ellie
Most friendliest, happiest, and best group I have ever flown with!!!!!!!!
Best DVD of a flying trip (ok, the only DVD I have of a flying tour)
And many, many, happy memories!
Susan
Iquique statistics and comments by Debbie and Jim Matush:
Mi Amigos!!
Do remember we came as a family, so obviously had built in encouragement! and came 4 days early
because we needed some extra practice, (and Todd, thanks for the coaching!). Also, didn’t
fly much the last 2 days L
Jim: 16 hrs Kiting; 20 hrs 4 minutes Flying, (yes I loved every minute!)- 15 Flights
Between Kiting and Flying for the 12
days, it was an average of 3 hrs/day.
My longest flight b-4 Iquique was 20 minutes not including Tandem flights and I came to this
trip with a total of 8 hrs, so a BIG WOW for me!
I appreciate you guys putting up with us early adventurers, (beginners)!
My longest flight time was 2hrs 13 minutes but my favorite was Tuesday, 11/20, making it around
the South Point from Alto Hospicio, screaming down the front range, (more good coaching from
Todd and below cloudbase Luis J) at 2000’, past the golf course and Palo Buque at which
point I lost radio contact so headed back, all the way around the point again, over launch,
cross the zig zag, scratch and low save at Clevejo, making it back up 1000’ over and
out to land at Playa Bravo with the best for last, to meet Lindsay and then Deb landing at
Bravo as well, 20 minutes later. What a Day!! What a Flight!!
Favorite moments: Special times with each of you, especially Corey, flying in the air with
Debbie and Lindsay, (occasionally seeing the top of their gliders- but more often than not
looking up at them!), good food, great wine, flying firsts in every category, the international
community of pilots, the special coaching-Thanks Todd, Luis and Marcos, kissing the clouds,
Fabian’s ipod and stunts, Saline’s encouragement, Playa Cavanche, 2
Terramoto’s –an earthquake on the sand and one underwater, meeting up with old
friends from St. Louis-what a small world, and a 25th anniversary we can’t imagine anyone
else we would rather have shared it with! God is good and we were blessed. jim
Hey this is Deb,
A big howdy to everyone. I miss you all. As we were looking at the DVD a couple
of days ago, it was wonderful to relive the trip. Boy, I sure do have a loud voice. Todd
you did an incredible job pulling the DVD together. Thanks for giving us a permanent
memory.
As for my tally, I had 15 hours of flight time and 21 hours of kiting. WOW! When
I arrived in Iquique, I had 10 hours of flight time.
My highlights are these…my first soaring flight (I cried the first time, shh don’t
tell anybody), confident launching, learning to LOVE kiting, my longest flight ever – 2:06, feeling
thermals (1000 foot climb in one), low, low scratching saves, being one of 6 female pilots,
the Chilean people, watching Marcos, watching kite skiing, Todd’s smile, Luis’ “smooth
movements”, celebrating 25 years of marriage and having Lindsay there to enjoy it with
us, Celine and Fabian, long dinners, sleep, getting to know each and everyone of you and learning
to fly.
Miss you all and I hope your year is off to a flying start!
God Bless,
Deb
Iquique statistics and comments by Fred Mac Dowell:
I actually did update my log book when I got back but never really looked at the numbers, wow!
6 hours and 22 mins of flight time over 5 days.
3 hours and 45 mins of kiting (estimated)
I realize some of you flew more than that in one day, but this is great for me.
Before going I had a total of 4 hours and 10 mins (P2 + 0) all basically 5 min sled rides.
So basically everything was a personal best, including the time I spend on
the ground with all of you.
Fred MacDowell
Atlanta, GA USA
Iquique comments by Lindsay Matush:
Hey everyone -
I'm back at home and hard at work again on American soil!
Apparently while we were enjoying ourselves in the Southern hemisphere, my mid-Western hometown
of Joplin experienced a horrible drop in temperature, celebrated this holiday called Thanksgiving,
and got its first snow. As I was scraping ice off of my windshield this morning I thought, "I'm
definitely not in South America anymore..." I just wanted to thank y'all for making
this trip such a wonderful experience - I loved spending time with each of you. And of
course it was wonderful to fly, kite, sweat, drink, laugh, and eat strange and unidentifiable
food with you all as well. You are an incredible group of people and I hope to fly with
you all again soon. I hope y'all post back and let us know that you made it home okay. Kevin,
let us know when you get the picture/server thing figured out. Thanks for making this
such an amazing experience for me!
~Lindsay
