McConkey Declares Mexico "Really Mexican!"
Shane McConkey has pretty much solidified his skiing alter ego as a BASE jumper in the off season. Being that the states are experiencing a pretty dry early season (except you lucky dogs in CO and AK), McConkey saw fit to bust on down to Mexico and really get off the beaten path and rough it. Check out his update below:Some of us on the Red Bull Air Force recently returned from a really great trip to the state of Mexico in the country of Mexico near the city of Mexico City. It was really Mexican and it was a blast! We were there to shoot a multi sport TV show for the Mexican sports channel Televisa. Kind of like our ESPN. It was a show funded by the state of Mexico to help promote tourism in that area. Altius, the company hired to produce the show did a hell of a job juggling many different sports and trying to nail all the shots they needed in a less than a week. There were mountain bikers, break dancers, free runners (Parkour), Kirby one of our Red Bull Air Race pilots and then there was Mike Swanson, Jon DeVore, Miles Daisher and myself there to do some base jumping, skydiving, wing suit flights, mountain flying and swooping.
Right off the bat and immediately off the plane with no sleep I was
hauled off straight to a never before been jumped 300 foot cliff with
our local base jumper buddy "Gabo" and Miles D. That was sweet. Git er
done! All went well and we named the cliff Gabo's Moose Knuckle. Our
police escort, even all the way up to the exit point, ensured our
constant entertainment. These cops were blasting MTV's party to go 1993
anthems the whole way. It was hilarious. Miles, of course, stuck the
snot out of his signature skyak jump from the helicopter, landing in
the beautiful lake at Valle de Bravo. I was the follow camera for that
one and that didn't suck either. Jon and Mike jumped from the
helicopter and buzzed some mountains and a children's water park with
their high performance Ferrari's for parachutes while Miles and I
buzzed the same mountain with our wing suits.
Since it was a show to promote tourism for the state they found it
necessary to film us going to many of the stunning attractions they
have in the area. We didn't complain! So we spent all our spare time
going to see things like the place where all the Monarch butterflies
migrate to. This was absolutely mind blowing. There were millions of
the things completely enveloping the trees in the forest. They were
crawling all over us. We went to the Estrella Cave. This was a very
stunning cave system with passage ways all over the place. We went to
the best water park I have ever seen. Water parks are for kids right?
Not this one! It was full on. We went to the university to watch the
break dancers and the free runners. After seeing that I can no longer
feel comfortable calling myself an athlete. These were the best break
dancers in Mexico and, of course, the best I have ever seen but Miles D
served them up and then it was on! That boy's got some surprising
skills on the cardboard but I'm gonna have to give it to the pros, by a
hair! The pros were shocked to see him throw down some pretty tight
moves though! The free runners have skills and strength that was mind
blowing. Think Jackie Chan times 10. These dudes Chase and Cole were
flipping and jumping off, over, across, up to and down to anything and
everything no matter where we were and onto hard concrete and rocks.
These guys see the natural and urban world through some of the most
creative goggles I have ever witnessed and they do it without any
sports equipment except their shoes. They would be a shoe sponsor's wet
dream. Definitely worth checking out their sport if you ever get the
chance.
Production also also took us to the pyramids at Teotihuacan Archaeological Park. What an incredible place! This place has the 3rd largest pyramid in the world, The Pyramid of the Sun. It is believed that the inhabitants of this large city built it around the first or second century BC and it was as large or larger than Rome was at the same time, the largest city in the Americas. Around 600 AD the inhabitants seemed to have vanished with out a trace. No one really knows why or to where. It was really a great experience getting to see this important piece of history. From there production took us to one of the state's nicer spas because we had it so rough over the last few days. I mean, all this grueling parachuting and the all expenses paid sight seeing and exploring was really wearing us out! So we got to make fun of Jon while he got a facial and then the rest of us got massages. No, we didn't get happy endings.
On the last night the producers polished off a great week by staging a
Mexican party for us. They put us in ponchos and sombreros and
mustaches and then proceeded to let us pour large quantities of tequila
down our throats while getting us to eat yummy Mexican delicacies like
problamo (sp???) and habanero peppers. My mouth has never been in so
much pain. It was worth it though just to get to watch Miles try and
pretend he was fine while eating a habanero. We failed miserably to
beat up a pinata and let extremely large green bugs crawl all over us.
I think they got the shots they needed! This was one of the best jobs
I've ever had. We basically got paid to play for a week. Cheers to all
involved, can't thank you enough and I hope the TV show is a success
and portrays how much fun there is to be had in the state of Mexico in
the country of Mexico near the city of Mexico City!
Since it was a show to promote tourism for the state they found it
necessary to film us going to many of the stunning attractions they
have in the area. We didn't complain! So we spent all our spare time
going to see things like the place where all the Monarch butterflies
migrate to. This was absolutely mind blowing. There were millions of
the things completely enveloping the trees in the forest. They were
crawling all over us. We went to the Estrella Cave. This was a very
stunning cave system with passage ways all over the place. We went to
the best water park I have ever seen. Water parks are for kids right?
Not this one! It was full on. We went to the university to watch the
break dancers and the free runners. After seeing that I can no longer
feel comfortable calling myself an athlete. These were the best break
dancers in Mexico and, of course, the best I have ever seen but Miles D
served them up and then it was on! That boy's got some surprising
skills on the cardboard but I'm gonna have to give it to the pros, by a
hair! The pros were shocked to see him throw down some pretty tight
moves though! The free runners have skills and strength that was mind
blowing. Think Jackie Chan times 10. These dudes Chase and Cole were
flipping and jumping off, over, across, up to and down to anything and
everything no matter where we were and onto hard concrete and rocks.
These guys see the natural and urban world through some of the most
creative goggles I have ever witnessed and they do it without any
sports equipment except their shoes. They would be a shoe sponsor's wet
dream. Definitely worth checking out their sport if you ever get the
chance.Production also also took us to the pyramids at Teotihuacan Archaeological Park. What an incredible place! This place has the 3rd largest pyramid in the world, The Pyramid of the Sun. It is believed that the inhabitants of this large city built it around the first or second century BC and it was as large or larger than Rome was at the same time, the largest city in the Americas. Around 600 AD the inhabitants seemed to have vanished with out a trace. No one really knows why or to where. It was really a great experience getting to see this important piece of history. From there production took us to one of the state's nicer spas because we had it so rough over the last few days. I mean, all this grueling parachuting and the all expenses paid sight seeing and exploring was really wearing us out! So we got to make fun of Jon while he got a facial and then the rest of us got massages. No, we didn't get happy endings.
On the last night the producers polished off a great week by staging a
Mexican party for us. They put us in ponchos and sombreros and
mustaches and then proceeded to let us pour large quantities of tequila
down our throats while getting us to eat yummy Mexican delicacies like
problamo (sp???) and habanero peppers. My mouth has never been in so
much pain. It was worth it though just to get to watch Miles try and
pretend he was fine while eating a habanero. We failed miserably to
beat up a pinata and let extremely large green bugs crawl all over us.
I think they got the shots they needed! This was one of the best jobs
I've ever had. We basically got paid to play for a week. Cheers to all
involved, can't thank you enough and I hope the TV show is a success
and portrays how much fun there is to be had in the state of Mexico in
the country of Mexico near the city of Mexico City!
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