Winston
    Freethinker and globetrotter Winston without argument deserves his own chapter. Winston is a former Czech who emigrated by way of Hungary to Austria at the age of 21 years old, without knowing a word of German. Gradually he travelled through North America, South America, South Africa and Spain, having finally nieghed anchor on the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. Here he also found his wife. After eight years , however, he packed up his wife and children and saved himself by fleeing Gran Canaria and the megalomaniacally growing tourist industry and civilization, to the peaceful and virtually unkown to tourists island of La Palma. At that time only one boat went to this island, and that once a week. There was no streetlighting on the island, the only cars on the road were jeeps that carried bananas from the plantations. In the beautifully clear waters it was possible to dive and harpoon lots of fish, women had to swim in dresses, not swimsuits, and German tourists still had no idea where La Palma was.



    After 18 years of satisfied life on the island of La Palma , Winston is 53, his Spanish wife is three years younger and of his three adult children only his youngest daughter, who is in high school, is seen at home regularly, and sometimes even his son. Winston is unbelieveably vital for his age, goes swimming in the sea every day and diving, goes on mountain hikes and knows every rock on the island and almost every villager. He gave us very pleasant accommodations for an even more pleasant price in the already-mentioned village of Fuencaliente (Los Canarios), distanced barely 1km from the nearest windsleeve, but he also, with his detailed knowledge of the local terrain, helped us in mapping the runways, landing strips and many other things. We agreed on a special price for accommodations for toursits from Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia with Winston, which is approximately 470 Czech Crowns in conversion per person per night. This is a more than attractive price for the Canary Islands. Those of you who would like to visit the island of La Palma, e-mail to lapalma@skyfly.cz or have a look at the web pages we're preparing for Winston at http://www.skyfly.cz/lapalma/.

    Winston's life philosophy is stunningly humble and simple and we really hit it off, conversing over excellent local wine. Long before this we had a idea this is the way human life should be lived, but in the hurried, exhausting, hamburger, hectic, aggressive, and numbing, commericial stuffed central-European civilization it is very difficult, if not impossible.



    Winston visits the Czech Republic at most once a year for a week or two to see his brother, and as he himself puts it, it's enough. He always gains about 10kg because instead of fruit from his garden and good meat he stuffs himself with roast duck, and occasionally the classic pork, dumplings and sauerkraut. That is also the reason why each time, upon returning from Europe, he has to buy a new pair of bigger pants.

Concepción
    Mirador del Concepción is the name of a round look-out point with a railing atop the crest of the cliff above the city of Santa Cruz and so we're talking about a runway on the eastern shore of the island. The revolving look-out can be directly accessed by car, comfortably, along a perfect asphalt road. From the lookout point, in the direction of East, a sharp crest runs out over the ocean, from which it is possible to take off on both its sides. For this reason that the crest is stituated from West to East, it creates a border between the sunny southern side and the shady northern side, a majestic break edge which functions very well even during the creation of a continuous cloud cover above the shore and the resulting impossibility of sun warming.

Las Indias
    Mirador de Las Indias is again the name of a lookout, this time right by the main road from the village of Fuencaliente (Los Canarios) to the city of Los Llanos on the southwest side of the island. The lookout lies barely one kilometer from the village and the runway about 300m further along the road. The road roughly divides, altitude-wise, the pine forests from the bushes and cactus-covered steep banks. The surface of the latter is of black lava rocks that in the afternoon sun heats up to a high temperature and numerous and strong chimneys are thus created above the slopes. The Las Indias runway is an excellent starting point for flights along the southwestern shore in the direction of the Puerto de Tazcone harbor. Another good reason for taking off in the northwest direction is the landing strip below the runway, which somewhat reminds one of a construction site among banana plantations, is not too big and is not near the ocean.


Puerto Naos
    The runway above Puerto Naos is a typical afternoon thermic location on the southwestern shore of the island with a wide and relatively steep wall, which begins to work reliably soon after noon. The possibility of landing on a sandy beach directly beneath the runway makes it one of the easiest runways on the island, even if the overheight of a mere 250m places it is among the lowest runways on La Palma. The only disadvantage is maybe that it is somewhat difficult to find the first time.




El Time
    Mirador el Time (pronounced as it is written, not as it would be in English) is the name of a lookout point on the sharp crest above the port of Puerto de Tazcorte at a height of not quite 600 meters on the southwest shore of the island. The crest continues on above the lookout up to about 2000 meters, the runway is however located not quite 50m above the lookout. Driving to the runway however requires about 3km of driving, which halfway through becomes an unbelievably bumpy run along a narrow, rocky road. Taking off is possible from both sides of the crest, while its southeast side consists of a virtually vertical wall, lit only in the morning hours. The northwest side of the crest is much less steep, formed by an expanse of banana plantations and dry grassy surfaces that wake up thermically around noon. The banana plantation leisurely drops down towards the ocean and end up with a vast, western and virtually vertical cliff wall.



    The landing strip is again very pleasant , in the form of a huge rocky beach in the port of Puerto de Tazcorte and from the lookout at Mirador el Time it is possible to see it through an installed pair of binoculars in detail. Of course, only after inserting coins of the appropriate value.



    From a thermic standpoint this terrain is very interesting, often almost wild. A not too strong wind is better for taking off, and for taking off from the other side, a windless day is better. Even so it is necessary to have strong nerves to take three steps and jump off into nothing. But after that it's definitely worth it.