The Guadalajara Reporter

A ‘trike’ flight above Los Pozos is taste of ‘unbounded freedom’

Not long ago I got a call inviting me to fly over the Salt Flats of Sayula in a tiny aircraft called an ultralight, which I learned is a kind of Delta Wing with a small engine and room for two persons. It has three wheels and is also called a trike.

 Up to that moment my policy about high and dangerous places was that I preferred to enjoy such views only when wearing a harness and attached to a rope. Nevertheless, I picked up the phone and called hang-glider expert Rodrigo Orozco for an opinion. “You have a chance to fly in an Ultralight?” he said. “Go for it! My wife and son both loved the experience!”

Safe in the knowledge that his wife and son had not only enjoyed their trike flights, but had also survived them, I accepted the invitation.

As a result, last Sunday Rodrigo drove me into Kordich Air Sports Club where I had an appointment to soar into the sky at 9 a.m.

This club is located next to a pueblito called Los Pozos, only 17 kilometers northwest of Lake Chapala (as the pelican flies) on the edge of the great Salt Flats of Sayula, a mere 30-minute drive from Guadalajara’s Periférico.

“Los Pozos International Airport” is what neighbor David García calls the place, because hang gliding enthusiasts from all over Mexico and a few other countries gather here regularly to float upon the extraordinary thermal updrafts created by the unique geography of Los Pozos, which is bounded by a high, towering cliff on one side, desert-like, treeless flats on the other, plus 80-kilometer-long Lake Chapala nearby.