PUFA\Newsletters\newsletter-Mar03

Fred Glasbergen, President
Daryl Hegyi, Vice-President
Sandra Clark, Treasurer
Debbie Major, Secretary

Mail to: Pacific Ultralight Flying Association
102-16071 82 Avenue
Surrey, B.C. V3S 2L6

PUFA Newsletter published by Glenn Ursel
PUFA Website Version edited by Walter Klatt

The latest from Ottawa just arrived today with the revised implementation dates of the passenger-carrying rating and the new knowledge requirements for the Pilot Permit Ultralight Aeroplane. As you may be aware, based on recommendations from the ultralight aeroplane community, the Canadian Aviation Regulations [CARs] will be amended in late 2003/early 2004 to include new pilot licensing regulations and standards for holders of the Pilot Permit Ultralight Aeroplane. The licensing structure will allow ultralight pilots to obtain the licence qualification necessary to carry a passenger while completing all of their training and testing at ultralight schools, in ultralight aeroplanes with ultralight instructors and examiners, without having to obtain a Pilot Permit, Recreational or higher licence. Candidates will have to demonstrate their pilot skill by way of a flight test, just as they do today as part of the Pilot Permit, Recreational or the Private Pilot Licence. Like all ratings, the new passenger carrying rating will be optional. Ultralight pilots who have no wish to carry a passenger will continue as they do today, retaining their pilot permit restricted to "no passenger". The experience requirements for the passenger carrying rating are as follows:

-minimum of 25 hours pilot flight training in ultralight aeroplanes under the direction and supervision of the holder of a flight instructor rating-ultralight aeroplane or a flight instructor rating- aeroplane.

- 15 hours dual instruction flight time , including a minimum of 2 hours cross-country flight time with a cross-country flight of two legs of a minimum of 30 minutes each, and

Transport Canada will be publishing a Flight Test Guide which will assist candidates with the procedures used, and the performance expected, on the flight test for the passenger carrying rating.

Here is hoping that Ottawa is finally going to move ahead with the long awaited passenger
carrying.

In the December issue of the PUFA Newsletter, I mentioned succumbing to Fred Glasbergen’s sales pitch for an updated Vancouver VTA chart, new Canada Flight Supplement, landing light and strobe light. While...I did it again this month by buying a brand new Rotax radiator which costs about $900. I recently noticed that the car rad that I have bolted onto the engine mount below the engine has started to leak. I was showing this to one of the ultralight enthusiasts at King George when he offered the suggestion that the rad position was probably reducing the thrust of my propeller. Since I have been complaining about the reduced thrust of my 582 over the previous 532 ever since I got the new 582, I am hoping he is right!

I made another trip to sunny Mexico in January to visit some of our local ultralight brethren who escape there each winter as snowbirds. Since nobody has offered me a story for this month’s newsletter, I have fallen back on a short story of my little holiday with a few pictures of my peregrinations in this issue of the PUFA Newsletter.

As part of my preparations for the trip to Mexico, I had to get Mexican car insurance. There is an insurance company in Chilliwack (Cartmell Insurance Services Inc.) which is readily available and seems to provide competitive rates. The cost for 6 months full insurance coverage for my 2001 Honda Accord was $384 CND. Most people select 6 months coverage because it is not much cheaper for shorter terms and the longer term provides more security in case you stay longer than planned. On January 8th, I loaded my windsurfer onto the roof racks on my car and set off for Mexico to visit some ultralight friends that had previously left in December. After clearing customs at the Peace Arch border crossing, it was a 2 day drive down the I-5 to the Mexican border. I stayed at a hotel on the San Diego side when I got there the evening of the second day since I have previously found it is always better to cross the Tijuana border early in the morning to avoid the heavy traffic of Mexicans returning to Tijuana after a day’s work in San Diego.

About 7:30 am the next morning, I approached the border crossing and waited for the green light to proceed. After getting the green light, you are supposed to watch for Mexican customs agents waving you over for an inspection but I have never been stopped in the 3 or 4 times I have crossed in recent years. I have been told that cars are seldom stopped but trucks or RVs are subject to more frequent inspections.

After clearing the border, the next step is to proceed down to Ensenada to get your tourist card which is called “Forma Migratoria Para Turista” or “Migratory Form for Foreign Tourist” in English. The procedure is to first visit the office to fill out the application and then the Mexican Immigration officer holds your passport while you go down the street a few blocks to pay the fee at one of the Mexican banks. While you are at the bank, it is a good idea to withdraw at least 3,000 pesos for the trip down the Baja Penninsula since you cannot use credit cards for gasoline, motel or food purchases at restaurants. You get this amount of pesos for between $445 to $460 depending on the exchange rate for the day of withdrawal. After you pay for the tourist card at the bank, you then got back to the Immigration office where the officer stamps you tourist card and you are ready to proceed further into Mexico. I asked the officer is I could get a car permit there but he advised me that I should get it at the La Paz ferry office. You do not need a car permit for the Baja Peninsula but you do need one for travelling in mainland Mexico which I was planning to do.

So, after completing the forgoing tasks, I headed south and drove all day through occasional villages like San Vicente, San Quintin, Rosarito and Villa Jesus Maria to Guerrero Negro just south of the border of Baja California (North) and Baja California Sur (South) which are the two Mexican states in the Baja. I got there at dusk and found a motel room for 180 pesos (about $28). It is very important to get off the Mexican highways before dark because there are free ranging cattle that often wander onto the highway at night due to the warmth of the tarmac. Hitting one would definitely ruin the finish on your car, possibly even you. It is not uncommon to see dead dogs, cows and horses along the sides of highways in Mexico. Mostly these have been killed by trucks which do drive at night.

A word about water and food in Mexico. I have eaten food everywhere in Mexico and have never been sick but I try to stick to purified water although I once had a glass of cold, clean looking water that the Mexican waitress called “agua basura” or waste water. I don’t think it was actually waste water but just not purified water. I didn’t get sick either that time but I do recommend that people contemplating travel to Mexico get the so-called twinrix vaccinations for Hepatitis A and B since these diseases can be picked up in the water.

The next morning (January 11th) I continued south and east, passing through San Ignacio and Santa Rosalia to arrive at Mulege around noon. Mulege is 997 km south of Tijuana and only 22 km from Playa Santispac which is the beach that my ultralight friends were staying at.

I picked up two ice boxes of block ice from a grocery store owned by a Mexican named Pancho. Pancho is famous amongst the local Canadian and American tourists for wearing a toque and scarf around his neck in winter even though the weather is often verging on the sweltering by our standards.

I arrived at Playa Santispac around 2:30 pm and was warmly greeted by Gordon and Beverley Denham, Bill and Pat McIntosh, Claude Leclair and Bill’s sister, Arla. I learned that Beverley was just getting over a very bad period of stomach sickness but she appeared to be reasonably well when I arrived.

The picture above shows the gang in front of Gordon and Beverley’s pallapa which is a frond covered roof affair that you get with your camping spot to protect you from the sun. The ones along the beach where Gordon and Beverley were situated were more or less permanent ones that had walls whereas the others elsewhere had only roofs for the most part. Some people, mostly Americans, had bought these permanent ones and came each year to stay for up to 9 months in some cases. It is a lifestyle that appeals very much to some but not as much to others. However, Gordon and Beverley love it and have
travelled there about 8 years!

After a day or so of relaxing after the 3 1/2 day marathon drive to Playa Santispac, I got my windsurfer out to give it a try. On a whim I had bought the thing about 6 years ago from a neighbour of a Forest Service friend of mine and had only tried it out a few times at White Rock due to the coldness of the seawater there. By contrast the water of Bahia Concepcion at Playa Santispac is very mild, even in January.

However, I didn’t find it easy to master the intricacies of windsurfing and found that, although the board is quite large which is good for stability, the sale area is also quite large which makes it difficult for a neophyte like to myself to control the sale in gusty conditions.

While I was there, I slept on a bed in Gordon and Beverley’s pallapa as they had their 5th wheel trailer parked behind. This time I had brought a gas lamp to read by during the long evenings. On my previous trips to Playa Santispac in 1999 and 2000 I had found the long nights very taxing on the patience since I did not have a light to read by. The regulars like the Denhams and the other American tourists have satellite TVs with VCRs in their 5th wheels and closed in pallapas so they don’t find the evenings a problem. While Gordon would glowingly refer to the beach area as paradise, I often railed that it was more akin to prison. This time it was much better as I read one of James A. Michener’s epic books “Iberia” which I have owned for decades but never got through before due to its minute detail on the history and architecture of Spain.

A few days later it was time for Claude to leave for home as he had to return to work. Claude is looking forward to retirement soon so he can stay longer in Mexico.

After 11 days at Playa Santispac, I also left “paradise” and headed south some 500 km to the ferry terminal at La Paz. Josef Kietaibl had very kindly invited me to stay at his Mexican home in Ajijic on the north side of Lake Chapala. There are several internet cafes in Mulege and I had emailed Josef an approximate date of arrival. These internet cafes are very useful for accessing your online bank accounts as well as sending or receiving email messages. They cost about 15 pesos for about 15 minutes.

I got there shortly before 4:30 pm and was advised by the Immigration office there that I was too late to get a car permit that day. However, I got 3 copies of my tourist card, car registration, driver’s licence and passport at one of their offices on the 3rd floor and returned for the car permit. They processed my permit without comment even though it was past 4:30 pm. Incidentally, when you get your tourist card you should always ensure that you select the farthest point in Mexico that you plan to travel to and put that as your destination. You will not be allowed to apply for a car permit at La Paz if your tourist
card does not list a mainland destination. The fare for passage to Topolobampo was 1,760 pesos or about $290 CND. I got on the ferry about 11 pm that evening of January 22 and arrived at Topolobampo around 11 am the next day. I then drove down to Mazatlan where I found a clean hotel room to 150 pesos right on the beach. The price included underground locked parking for my car!

I had a nice dinner that evening and bought a rosewood bear carving off a Mexican carver who entered the restaurant where I was eating to try to sell me his wares.

The next morning I headed off south for Guadalajara intending to avoid the toll highway in favour of the free highway which takes a little longer but is worth the effort in my opinion due to the savings of about one peso per kilometer on the toll highway. I stopped along the highway to snap the following picture on the way south of Mazatlan.

It was 300 km to Tepic and a few kilometres before reaching Tepic the free highway crossed over the toll highway just at the curve where Josef crashed his Yamaha Venture in December of 2000 when he and I were on our way back to Canada. I was glad that was a distant memory now. >From Tepic it was another 300 km to Guadalajara where I took the bypass around the west side of the metropolis to the highway going south to Lake Chapala about another 35 km further. I arrived at Josef’s house around 7 pm.

Ajijic is a great place to live since the lake is 5,000 feet in elevation and the climate is mild all year round never varying much from 24 to 29 degrees Celsius (75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit for those who are still not metricated).

There are a lot of Americans and Canadians with some Europeans that you meet in Ajijic and they all seem to be very friendly. Josef and his wife, Pat, spend an increasing amount of time at their Ajijic home each year.

There are a lot of great restaurants in Ajijic and, when you are in the mood, there are a number of bars when you can relax over a couple of beers and chat with interesting people.

While I was there, Josef and I went to visit the ultralight field at the town of Chapala about 15 km east of Ajijic.

This time I didn’t go up in a plane with an instructor as I did before in the spring of 2001. It was a Sunday and there wasn’t much action at the field when we were there.

On the way back to Ajijic, we stopped in the town of Chapala and walked along the waterfront. Sixty years ago the lake lapped the shores where we stood but now the lake has receded about a mile out from where we stood.

After two weeks at Ajijic, I was getting restless to leave for home and thanked Josef very much for his hospitality and left Ajijic on the morning of February 7th. This time, instead of going back along the west side of Mexico along the Sea of Cortez through Tepic, Mazatlan, Los Moches, Guaymas and Hermosillo to Nogales as Josef and I had done on our motorcycles 2 years ago, I wanted to go up the middle of Mexico for a change of scenery.

I drove north to Guadalajara to Zacatecas and then northwest to Durango where I spent the first night on the way home. I found another clean motel unit for only 180 pesos. The next day I headed north for the city of Cuauhtemoc which is west of the large city of Chihuahua. Along the way I went through some fairly rustic villages where I saw pigs running down a street in one village and a large pack of Mexican dogs running freely down a street in another village.

As I drove north the next day from Cuauhtemoc, I took a few pictures of the road signs one typically encounters such as “PRECAUCION POBLADO PROXIMO” Caution Populated Vicinity, “TOPES AT 300 M” Speed Bump at 300 metres, “CONCEDA CAMBIO DE LUCES” Dim Your Lights (I think), DISMINUYA SU VELOCIDAD” Slow Down, NO MALTRATE LAS SENALES” Don’t Deface the Signs and my favourite “NO TIRES BASURA” No Throwing Litter.

About 3 pm on Sunday, February 9th, I came out at the Mexican/American border crossing just below Colombus, New Mexico or about 130 km west of El Paso, Texas.

The border procedure that is in place there appears to be quite stringent at this time as they did some kind of X-ray scan of the entire line of cars after the occupants were directed to stand well to the side of the vehicles.

I made it to a small town called Glenwood in the Apache National Forest in western New Mexico that evening and checked into a motel for $35 US. The next day I drove as far as Flagstaff, Arizona where I got the car serviced and then carried onto the Grand Canyon Village where I checked into the Maswik Lodge for the princely sum of $66 US. This was the first time I had seen the Grand Canyon. I was impressed with this one historic sign that told of a famous Spanish explorer, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, who travelled all the way from central Mexico on horseback to the Grand Canyon in 1540. Two of his soldiers tried to descend into the canyon but couldn’t do so because of the steep cliffs that dropped straight down into the canyon. It seemed a long way by modern automobile in the 21st Century, never mind an endless ride on horseback in the middle ages!

The next day, I headed north around the east side of the Grand Canyon and northwest through the southwest corner of Utah to Arizona where I drove north to Ely where I checked into the Nevada Hotel for $33.30 US. The hotel has a casino of course and boasts of famous persons like Gary Cooper and Lyndon B. Johnson who supposedly stayed there decades ago in the hotel’s earlier days. I lost $5 US in the slot machines and quit for the night.

The second last day coming home I made it to Pendelton, Oregon where I stayed the night at a motel for $31 US.

On February 13th, I embarked on the seventh and last day of my marathon trip home via Highways 82 and 90 to the Highway 405 bypass around Seattle and up I-5 to the Pacific border crossing where I cleared customs with no lineups about 3:00 pm.

I put 10,000 km on the odometer and spent about $2,980 CDN but, heh, you only go around once, eh? It was a memorable trip. Maybe next year I’ll go back to my motorcyle for another visit to sunny Mexico!