On this trip, I most enjoyed visiting the Medellin area. Smack in the middle of Medellin – "The City of Eternal Spring" – lies Cerro El Volador, The Hill of the Flyer. To fly there, you launch from a huge wooden deck overlooking the city. This deck faces north into the prevailing wind and wraps around to the east where the terrain drops off to the Medellin River and down-town.
Landing on the deck is not advisable. Instead, the locals fly east toward the river, then work their way up along a small ridge. Landing is then reasonably easy with the use of spoilerons. The Mach has none, so I flew back and forth in front and back of the ridge to bleed of speed until I could set the plane down in a patch of grass.
Our host was Jorge Puello, a native Colombian full of boundless energy and enthusiasm. His wife and two young children joined us on every slope trip, and the six of us happily tooled around in his VW Thing. From the Puello house, we had a great view across the city to Cerro El Volador, so we could easily check if the wind was coming up; when the "chulos" (vultures) started flying, it was time to head for the hill.