Come Fly With Me

I took the day off today. I did not intend to, but the stars just aligned that way or something. Yesterday, I was cutting through a mall on the way to lunch when a tattoo shop caught my eye. Got your attention? Well, it is not what you think; when I looked into the tattoo parlor, there were three men opening a box that contained a new Futaba R/C transmitter. I knew there was no hobby shop in Santa Cruz, because I did extensive research before I left. I didn’t think there was any R/C activity at all. 

I stuck my head in the door and started a conversation, part English, part Spanish, part R/C. It turns out that there is an R/C flying club, and, at least according to my Spanish, the field seemed to be about an hour towards Samaipata. One of the heavily tattooed men in the shop, Paulo, offered to take me to the field the following day. I could meet him at the store at 1:00. I thanked him but in my mind was thinking, “There is no way I can afford the time. And what is the chance we got the details right, speaking three different languages?” I wrote it off as a nice idea but not likely to happen. I did file the experience away for next time I was down in Bolivia, though.

Today, I was walking from a meeting back to the hotel when someone darted out of a café and greeted me. It was Paulo! It took me a minute to process the greeting but soon put together who he was. He invited me to go flying again, getting across that he was about to leave for the field. I thought, “Man I have a lot of paperwork to do, and I don’t know this guy from Adam. I wouldn’t let anybody for whom I was responsible climb into a car with a complete stranger and drive an hour to God-knows-where. But he is a R/C flyer, and I have never met a bad R/C flyer. (OK, a few irritating ones, but not bad!) And the planes he has in his car are worth way more than any money I have on me, so…why not!“ 

We headed out of town on a road that was familiar to me but, about an hour out, we turned off the main highway. I was frantically trying to get my bearings in case I needed to bail out and get back to the city. I briefly wished that I had not sent the GPS back with Brent. He explained, sort of, that this was the road to Argentina and that we would be there in 10 hours. I hoped he meant,  “If we continued on the road” and, sure enough, a few minutes later I saw a big sign for the model club. My mind relaxed, and I forgot about formulating my escape plan and began wondering what a Bolivian Model Airplane Club might look like.

We were the first ones at the field, and it was very impressive! There was a shade canopy, a paved runway and a club house…but not just any club house! This club house had a games room complete with pool table, a bar and dining area, a kids play ground and a swimming pool. Yes, a swimming pool! Two flush toilets, two showers, and a huge storage locker so you did not have to pack your airplanes home every day. I managed to glean that there were about 25 members total, and over the course of the day I met about 15 of them.

The group were very hospitable, just like R/C flyers back home. It wasn’t long before I was helping Paulo with his trainer. It turns out he was new to fixed-wing; he normally flies helicopters. His instructor showed up and got him in the air, and part way through the fly, Paulo offered me the controls. Pretty trusting for someone he knew nothing about. I flew the SuperStar .40 for a few laps, and his instructor seemed to relax a bit. Then motor quit, and I set up for a dead-stick landing. Fortunately, I greased it on. The instructor looked at me and said “oh, butter landing!” Funny how even the slang is similar in the R/C world. I spent the rest of the day on the instructor side of a buddy box or reading the English instructions to program transmitters or assemble kits. It was a great day!!!

I look forward to meeting up with the group the next time I come down. It looks I will be bringing airplanes down every time I come to Bolivia. A big thank you to the Santa Cruz model airplane club, and I can’t wait to fly with you again!  Keep in touch with me at ggilchrist@oldscollege.ca