Ever heard of paramotoring?

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During our many hours of relaxation at Punta Mala we read through a local advertisment magazine and found a hotel that caught our eye. Timarai Bamboo Resort The ad had pictures of surfing, kiteboarding, paramotoring, wakeboarding, etc. Slightly more entertaining than raking, so we went to check it out on our "free day".

There we met Kent and Pablo, who had just recently been hired to run the resort's activities. Kent is a pro kiteboarder, originally from Indiana. Pablo's expertise was paramotoring, and he came from Argentina.

Side story: We were talking to Kent and Pablo in the office about kiteboarding for about an hour when we first got there (that's what I hoped to do). During the discussion I was describing where I'd learned to kiteboard and I realized I was wearing my "Iowa Great Lakes" t-shirt, which has a picture of the Spirit Lake / Okoboji area. For some reason I rattled off all the lakes on the map and as soon as Pablo heard "Okoboji" he said "Wait, Okoboji? I learned to kiteboard from a guy from Okoboji. Do you know a Murphy?" That was a shock to hear. Turns out Pablo and I learned to kiteboard from the same guy.

So anyways, back to the day. The wind was strong enough to kiteboard, and the tide wasn't low enough to mountainboard or kitebuggy on the beach - so instead Nikki and I decided to relieve our boredom with a little paramotoring. Paramotoring uses parachutes similar in control as those used in skydiving, but you strap a two-stroke motor and a propeller to your back to push you forward and create lift. And since we're still here to write this I can probably tell you all that FAA does not allow paramotoring to be operated commercially for any reason. But this is Costa Rica....Pura Vida!

Nikki went first (my idea) and then we swapped and I went up. We flew for about 30 minutes each. Pretty cool. Probably the closest thing to flying - but we'll have to try hangliding next for comparison.

Oh, and sorry we don't have a sunset photo this time.

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Photos

Timarai Hotel Pool
The pool at Timarai. Nice place. Built entirely out of Bamboo.

Preflight Instruction
Pablo gives Nikki some instruction while Kent fires up the motor.

View from above
The ship in the distance is actually in the Quepos marina, and the rock just barely visible past the land is in front of Manuel Antonio Beach.

View looking North
Timarai is near the "bottle-neck" where the ocean on the left and the lake on the right are closet to eachother.

View from the Beach
Whoa! That's pretty high

Chris and Kent waiting on the Beach
"You know, from this height, I could really hock a loogie on someone" thought Nikki.