Everyone is Arriving in Tenacingo

Dec 27-28, 2008

Departing the West Coast of BC on Dec 27th was perfect timing with the storms and nasty weather, but this posed a problem too, translating to delayed and canceled flights. Our flight to Mexico City had several delays, Christine & I arrived at 4am the morning of Dec 28th. My daughter’s flight was completely canceled and rescheduled for another day. Our Seattle guests Doug Marshburn, Scott and Robert's flight was on time but were late getting to Tenancingo after taking a taxi to Tulancingo (a city in another state)! Norman Lawler arriving the afternoon of the Dec 28 on time, Norman took the Caminante Bus service direct from Mexico City airport to Toluca for $11 US and then a taxi to Tenancingo for $30 US. This is the best way to come to Tenancingo if you do not bring a vehicle.

In the afternoon of Dec 28th, Norm, Doug and Scott decided to fly La Malinche. Norm had a big flight to 14,000, Doug got about 9,000 landing at casa del piloto field. Scott a new pilot twisted his lines in while in front of flight, threw his reserve as his wing inflated . We could hear Scott cursing as he was coming down for a soft landing. No damage, no sap, just a bruised ego.

That evening Doug flew La Malinche, soared and top landed.

Brad

Fly La Malinche before arriving in Mexico

You can now virtually fly La Malinche and Tenancingo on the simulator at http://www.paraglidingearth.com/en-html/index.php?site=9851

Look for the simulator link in the upper left area of the general data window.

You might first need to let a program download to run it. Give it time to load completely, and the ground features will be surprisingly detailed, more so in the surrounding areas than at launch. What was really surprising to me, is that the thermals in the simulator are actually located more or less where the house thermals are located in reality. I guess their program was pretty good at predicting that based on terrain etc. I would say that by studying where the thermals are at in the simulator, WOULD be of some help to those who fly here in reality later.

Try differient routes to Malinalco, or try flying past Chalma to Cuernavaca, for a great cross-country flight.

Good Flying,
Daniel

Paraglidiing Season starts for 2008/2009

Casa del Piloto is getting prepared for 2008/2009 paragliding season. New this year is a finished La Malinche launch, finished renovations and yes full water pressure! I will be arriving in Tenancingo Dec 27th, with Christine and Melanie Madill (daughter). Norm Lawlor will be right behind us arriving Dec 28th! We will be celebrating the New Year in flight !


On behalf of Casa Del Piloto I would like to thank our friends, Daniel Miller, Roberto Villegas, Marcelino, Daniel Pedroza, Manolo Uribe Rameriz in Tenancingo for their help during 2008.
Brad Henry

House Renovations for 2009/10 done!

2008 Renovations are finish at Casa del Piloto. Upstairs tile work is completed and looks great! After a long day of paragliding a place to chill and tell stories.

Our friend Daniel Miller helped us by painting over the graffiti on the front of the building . Thank You Daniel

Looking forward to another awesome flying season.

The weather is already hot and dry(er) in the days, and colllld at night, and I am doing high altitude tandems with adults again.

Here is one of my favorite photos from last year, flying on my old rag of a Boxtair. My 20 year old variometer was reading 15,300ft msl at the time, but I have since found out with GPS that it had been reading several thousand feet less than reality at high altitudes, so it could have been more like 17,300 ft, and a few times I flew even higher, but did not take photos.

Sorcerers Legends from Tenancingo Mexico

Hello Everyone,

My name is Daniel Miller. I have been a pilot of free flight methods since 1987 in Southern California, where I learned to fly and used to live. Now I live permanently in central Mexico, having arrived at my spiritual homeland, where I feel at one with the spirit of the region.

Before the Spaniards came to this region, the Aztec (Nahuatl) people lived on the hilltop above Acatzingo, that is now where our launch area is located. The Spaniards built a big church down below in the valley, and encouraged (to put it mildly) the savages to leave their hilltop fortress and palace, to live as “civilized” people down below in the valley. The catholic priests indoctrinated the people to believe that their former hilltop home is inhabited by evil ghosts and witches that can do all sorts of damage in the night, and to this day there is no one living up on that hill for that reason, although it is composed mostly small private lots.

I was the first pilot to start flying in the valley some three years ago, and the first pilot to fly La Malinche site, and continue to be the sole pilot most of the time throughout the year. Many of the local people, including some of the witches and shamans are in awe that I would met myself into the air, directly into the mouth of the spiritual forces of the area, and indeed it feels that way. There is a humbling power in the strong thermals, turbulence and gusts of wind in the area, that demands a respectful attitude.

The word in Nahuatl for both Spirit and for Wind, is Ecatl. Thus, the Holy Spirit, is one and same as the gust of wind that suddenly hits you in the face when you put your attention out to the valley; it the same as the giant dust devil that is prowling near the landing zone, carefully observing your behavior, and your karma. Ecatl is the spiritual name given to me in two manners last year, by a local shaman, and in a more miraculous way by the spirit itself. Ecatl, the wind, or Spirit, then, is something that while it always remains ultimately unpredictable, if one develops a respectful relation with it, one comes to know it better, and receive the benefit of the doubt in any given situation, until the Spirit decides that your time is up, and then the Spirit always has the final word.

I post mostly on another blog site that deals with these native spiritual issues, and my prime interest, aside from flying, is knowing the local native spiritual figures, and developing my own abilities in controlled dreaming. You may learn substantially more of my activities, and more importantly about the strange sightings and legends of the region, at the thread that I moderate called Sorcerers Legends from Tenancingo Mexico, where my screen name is Henry Morgan.

http://www.artforthemasses.us/castacon/viewforum.php?f=48&sid=9fd11f927684828a4a2d8e27807bbce5

Cheers,
Daniel

New Banner for Casa Del Piloto

We have a banner which is now posted with the West Coast Soaring Club.

La Malinche Looking great!

Daniel P sent us recent pics of La Malinche Launch. It is fully grassed, groomed and double the size from last year. He was showing the new Launch site off to a TV crew for local television.


For those of you who flew last year you might remember how brutally dusty the site was.

I would like to extend a thank you to Daniel P for all his efforts in the site development.

CasadelPiloto Renovations Report

Our friends Manolo, Roberto and Marcelino have been busy with helping us with renovations.

Here is the latest report on the house renovations, we have full water pressure, all bathrooms are fixed, outside cement work on the entrance stairs and side are complete and our biggest project is well on its way, tiles are replacing the carpets upstairs. The tiles are a welcomed addition the carpets are very old a dirty and 30 years old. Time to go!

We start our booking 1st of November and look forward to the 2008-9 flying season

PS I am told the locals are flying actively everyday.

Hidden Places to Retire in Mexico (Tenancingo)

Hidden Places to Retire in Mexico January 25

Filed under Blog by Julia Taylor | 3 comments

It’s exciting to think about how there are so many wonderful little “hidden” places to retire in Mexico.

Today, on our way to purchase new blades for the rototiller (there aren’t any available in Morelos) we think we found a town that may be a great place to retire. Tenancingo (pronounced Ten-an-sing-go, sometimes called Tenancingo de Degollado) in the state of Mexico really welcomed us as we drove through.

We noticed that it is orderly and tidy, with a variety of shops open. It is laid out on a grid making getting around efficient and comfortable, yet the people showed a relaxed, easy going way about them. It is a little south of Toluca and not too far from Mexico City, so would be relatively easy to access, yet avoids being too urban. It has many trees and plants, giving it a shady, green feel even in the dry season.

Surrounded by greenhouses, Tenancingo is located in a mountainous region, though is relatively flat. Surrounding areas provide plenty of lovely mountain vistas and scenic small towns. It’s high elevation would mean that temperatures would remain cool throughout the year. The main industry in Tenancingo is flower cultivation which keeps the local economy strong and you can’t get any nicer than that. It is also a good place to have horses, if you like that sort of thing. While I can’t say for sure because we were just passing through, prices are probably not as high as in other places due to it’s relatively “undiscovered” status.

Finding this lovely place reminded us that when one is planning to retire in Mexico, it would be worthwhile to spend a few months to a year, just traveling through the unbeaten paths and seeing if there are any perfect little places to retire. While in the process of retirement planning it is difficult to get good information about places to retire in Mexico unless they are already really well-known. I think that traveling the back roads of Mexico and discovering one’s own perfect place to retire is the way to go.


Before you live or retire in Mexico read this humorous, practical e-book.

——–

This blog has been reposted with the permission from Julia Taylor:

Please visit her site and get her book http://home-sweet-mexico.com

From Greg SolvbJerg Group

Here is a quick email just to say thank you for a great week in Tenancingo. Mike, Barry, John, Deryk, Steve and myself stayed in Casa del Piloto the first week of March. Great location for a base only a few hundred meters from the main LZ.

Bob and Dion showed us around the first day which was very helpful. We were briefed on La Malinche and El Picacho. Daniel Vallegas was very helpful to us the week we were there and provided a lot of good local flying information. Even though Daniel Pedraza spoke limited English and we spoke limited Spanish he was a friendly guy who always had a big smile on his face.

The flying during the week we were there was good but quite often the winds got to strong even for launching. After talking to both the Daniels it seems like December and January would be more mellow and consistent for paragliding in Tenancingo. Our experience was that March can the quite strong both in terms of winds and thermals.

After a few attempts we managed to get up from La Malinche and fly back to Las Insurgentes LZ next Gari's store. La Malinche is a great site with lots of potential but it is highly technical since it is only 300 meters above the deck and you have to get up 300 or 400 meters to make it back to the main LZ. It is with great satisfaction though when you do make the mini XC flight back to Tenancingo from La Malinche. We flew El Picacho twice and that site is more forgiving in terms of landing. The semi-desert views there are spectacular.

Tenancingo is the real authentic Mexico. We did not see a single tourist the week we were there. We quickly became "the gringos with back packs"
and the people were friendly and curious about us and the flying. The taxi system works great and is cheap. That's a perfect way to meet the locals as well.

That's it for now. Hopefully we get to fly Tenancingo again in the future.

A few pics from our trip are attached.

Hasta luego,
Greg

End of Season

We are wrapping up our stay at Casa del Piloto, Tenancingo and had a dinner party with the local pilots last night.

The flying has been best at the end of the day 4- 5:30 pm, with easy altitude gains to 1000 + meters over launch, soft thermals and sunsets. The afternoons thermals are strong, so we usually avoid launch 1-3 pm, except yesterday when i decided to give it a go at 1pm, it was a roller coaster from 6 meters lift to 4 meters sink..... Very active flying ,"top gun" flying stuff. The launch is being reshaped every day and is now suitable for top landing. Daniel Pedreza started to seed across the top half and once we are gone Daniel plans to groom the launch with 10 truck loads of fill. Daniel Villegas made us an official sign outside the house.

Looking forward to a grassy launch at the La Malinche fly in December 2008. Christine & I are home this sunday.....hoping to get some Fraser Valley spring.

Improvements to Casa del Piloto 2008

All the partners have been spending extend time into the improvements of Casa del Piloto.
*Water system has been fixed through the house
*House computer with Spanish lessons
*Fixed washing machine
*Repaired outside water fountain

Jobs to be completed before 2008 Flying season
*Remove all carpet and replace with tiles
*New tile for kitchen counter tops
*Tile front and rear stairs
*Wax all the cedar furniture

Delicious Local Treat

A local delicious treat in Tenancingo is Trucha (trout). The climate is cool and the water in the area is very clean. The trout farm is located about 2 kilometers from Casa del Piloto house. The business is called Monte Cristo with is a water purification company. The trout is 60 pesos ($6us) per kilo.

Good Friday Flying

Flew late yesterday evening at 5:30 pm cumulus clouds where still present and of course so was Daniel P working on launch. Alfred Carsolio joined us (also local pilot). We both flew the ridge to the south west for 5 K and topped 2700 meters. The sky was clear and and lift was glassy with soft 1- 2 meter thermals. We flew over San Desierto Monastery an pleasant evening Xcross triangle. Landed in the dark shade and this time I did not make it to Insurgentes.

Christine, Daniel and I went the local good friday parade in Tenancingo called the "Precicion of Silence", silent march to mark the death of Jesus. They dressed in purple and white suites that look like Klu Klux clan.

Bob Vickars and his wife have joined us. With another Canadian pilot and we are off to Malinalco today..

Tenancingo Flying Mid March

Even though the rainy season is just around the corner, the flying in Tenancingo is still great. Two days ago Daniel Miller flew two tandems from La Malinche one at 11:30 am and the other at 2:30 pm, he gained heights to 3200 meters and 2800 meters respectively . Christine and I were in Valle De Bravo two days ago and the commercial side of paragliding is definitely winding down as they did not have enough pilots to drive the truck to El Pinion or Torre. As it turns out I got Montezuma's revenge in Valle de Bravo, first time ever for me and did not fly anyway. So Christine went horse riding with some friends at a world class ranch, the equestrian business is bigger than paragliding in Valle ! It is still flyable in Valle de Bravo except between 12- 3pm (this is when the freight train winds start, perfect for Al the Hammer!)

There is a lot of work being done at the La Malinche, I have been working with Daniel Pedreza, sloping the hill so that it is linear to the prevailing wind, taking out trees and advising the best I can. The launch also has been extended to the left if you are looking south. All the trees for 75 meters to the left except one have been cleared to facilitate a top landing and to accommodate one more paraglider. There is alot of dirt, it is very dusty and what they need is grass. Work is slow as groups of pilots keep showing up, a group of French Pilots are showing up this week.

I flew yesterday late at 5:10 pm, Is was light and soft and was just landing at San Antonio and I hit a glass off. I easily to lifted to 2800 meters for about an hour and boated around Crystal Rey and the town and landed at Insurgentes. Pretty nice I must say.

Kev and Al Theilmann Adventure

The Hammer and Kevin had a fantastic three days here in Tenancingo. We did an xc north 19 km on our first flight with altitude gains over over 4000 metres and Al had some moments where he got to almost 5200 m! Unheard of. On our second flight we flew across to the big statue of Christ and back to launch. Day 2 saw some more big elevation gains as we were joined by Brad and Christine. Brad skied out to over 4000 metres and quickly got a headache as his body was not used to the high altitude life yet. Kevin had a great flight in the late afternoon of day 2 after sinking like a rock off launch on La Malinche and found a bunny fart as he was on final and worked it eventually getting back to 3200 metres and flying almost to the town of Malinalco in sweet air. On day three we went out to El picacho launch near Malinalco where it was very strong. Al decided to give it a try and after pulling off a dynamic cobra launch he flew around for over a half hour in pretty rowdy air which was getting very rowdy on the ground. Eventually he landed in one of the top fields and had to jump on his wing to prevent it from relaunching! We took a four hour break and toured some magnificent Aztec ruins returning to launch at about 5 pm for what they call a restitution flight. Kevin hit the big one right off launch and went up to 3000m in smooth lift bobbing around for about a half hour while Al had to work with the rapidly calming air eventually flying out to fight a big headwind down into a field beside an orchard. Kevin top landed and the day was over as well our time in Tenancingo. Tomorrow we move over to meet our wives in Yelapa to sample some coastal air. One more note: On day one our friend and host, Daniel Miller landed after a big air flight in the regular LZ. Just as he dropped his wing he saw a huge dust devil approaching. Daniel grabbed his C-risers but the dusty lifted his wing up ripping it and then dragging him into a barb wire fence finishing off his wing! So if anyone has a line on a good used DHV 1-2 wing, Daniel would love to hear from you.
Finally huge thanks to Daniel Miller and Daniel Pedraza who drove us to and from launch four times and showed us muchos mexican culture. Wonderful gentlemen who we will look forward to seeing again! Thanks also to Brad, Bernie and Bob and Gerry for putting together a fantastic paradise place for pilots to bunk down after a big day in the air.

Web site released

We are pleased to announce the release of our web page www.CasadelPiloto.com. Please email us for feedback. Thanks !

Flight of Carlos Carsolio Feb 2nd `07

Here is the quote that I found on the web in reference to a very long xc flight by Carlos Carsolio one year ago in February, brother of local Tenancingo pilot, Alfredo Carsolio, where he passed by La Malinche and flew very far.

http://www.enelviento.com/imagenes/entrevistas/pharmaton/entrevistacarloscarsolio.htm

There were impressive flights during the crossing, like the 109 km flight that you made from Tixcatitlan (about halfway between Valle de Bravo and Ixtapan de la Sal) to Astillero. What can you tell us about that flight?


Upon arriving at Tixca I began my flight very low. I was about to land twice but a moment came when I gained altitude and I began to go towards Ixtapan De La Sal. That day there were cross winds, but such that the convergences were very useful, but very turbulent. But when I managed to link to Ixtapan it was excellent. I arrived hugging the ridge and once again a thermal lifted me up and I went to cloud-base.

I continued flying cloud-base over Tenancingo and arrived at La Malinche, there once again scratching low, and I was almost down when once again I got lift up to the top of the hill and there I found the best thermal of the day that placed me above the clouds. I meted myself into them and came out with lots of altitude.

I headed towards Chalma and there I quickly began to worry because it was beginning to overdevelop. I was about to land when a few buzzards marked out a very good thermal for me and I got up to cloud-base again and then became aware that I could arrive at the Cuerna Vaca valleys which were clear of clouds, but I sawthat a few clouds behind were starting to drop rain.

I flew towardsTotoc (east of el Picacho) and I was very pleased because in that area there are launches to link to. (In reference to the overall objective to launch each day from an area where he landed the day before.) I had lots of altitude to arrive at Tepoztlan and I headed towards Cuerna Vaca but I was loosing a lot of altitude, now not finding new thermals and I began to come down. For a while I thought that I was going to land in Cuerna Vaca in an area where there were no landing zones because it was very urbanized, but I headed towards the university where I could land and just at the chapel I hit an excellent thermal and again went up to cloud-base, which helped me to cross the city and arrive at Tepoztlan. It was incredible.

In Tepoztlan I committed the mistake of the day. I thought that there was more developing when there wasn't and I became afraid when I got into cloud suck. Maybe if I had gone up I would have arrived at the Popo (referring to the giant active volcano in the state of Puebla). It was already in the restitution and I was approaching a few launches near Cuautla. Finally I didn't find anything and then went to land. I flew 5 and a half hours in all and it was spectacular.

See 2007.02.07"Triumphant day for the pilots, they achieve exceptional flights".

http://www.lineadelavida.com/

(Translated by "Daniel" Don Miller Feb 28,'08)

Cirus here I come

I was flying la Malinche when I got up to about 325 mol. At that point I was deciding to try to clime more or fly to Tenancingo. Well the Weather decided for me, I hit massive sink about 6 -7 m/s. I couldn't fly out of it, everywhere I went I was going down and down fast. I considered to maybe top land but thought once I am in front of launch that should solve the problem, Nooooot...    I was still going down and now my worry was to make it to San Antonio... Well I did make it and when I landed I looked back and saw this...

The cloud was spreading in every direction

Bernie

The Tepoxtepec Launch

The Tepoxtepec Launch is a southeast facing paraglider launch. Strong but reliable conditions, with cross-country options, and almost instant retrieval through the system of taxis, that takes you to and from downtown, which is about a 10 – 15 minute ride. The only complaints that I ever hear from the people in the many landing areas below, and seriously, I hear this quite often - "Why don't you land in our field sometime? We have a good field to land in too. Why aren't there more pilots flying?" Taxi from centro to base of Tepox - 6 pesos. There is a señor who will carry up your equipment on his burro for 20 pesos, and 10 pesos for each additional pack. Return from Tecomatlán (common short XC destination) to centro - 7 pesos, (or from base of Tepox - 6 pesos) 18.9632N/99.5259W approx.

12,800 msl over Malinche

January 24th `08, 5:30pm - 12,800ft msl over La Malinche looking north over Tenancingo.
- Daniel Villegas

SouthWest Route to Ixtapan

Recently a group of pilots came from the nearby Ixtapan de la Sal flying site to try out La Malinche, and they showed us the answer of the route for the long-sought-after way to cross the valley to the southwest towards Ixtapan. The trick is that thermals pop off the marked ridge, and a number of them made the crossing at high altitude following this route.
-Daniel Villegas jan 19, 2008

Hot Pools Of Los Delfines

Hi Brad,

While taking photos of "strange places" today, I also passed by Los Delfines, and talked with the owner, Carlos, who showed me around. There is not natural hot spring, but the pools are heated, the one at the top of the four being as warm as a hot tub, when I was there. They are open to the public on weekends and charge 50 pesos entry, but he said that if there was a group of you he could open a pool on a weekday. It is 6km east of Tenancingo on the road to Tecomatlan. Phone 714-142-4262

-Daniel Villegas

Work On Malinche

Flying in Tenancingo Mexico - Hi everyone, I am writing from Tenancingo where the weather is mostly sunny and the temperature is 20 – 25 C. The conditions are very similar as Valle de Bravo as it is about 2 hours away from there. Yesterday I was working on our new adventure “Casa del Piloto” a house for pilots to stay when they are here. Then I got a call from one of our local visionary pilots, who is building a world class Launch at La Malinche. I went up with him and helped for about an hour when I decided to pull out my glider and do some flying before it would shut down.

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This is a Casa Del Piloto blogger test