I've got a major hitch in my giddyup today. I got an SOS call from my dad this morning, so I answered that and then ended up moving stuff out of the old house. I left it for the last time this afternoon.
Weird, that.
So, back to Rio. We were all set to go hang gliding - I remember the Australians being jealous of us - they were doing a city tour that day, Jesus, Sugarloaf, Tijuca (which I never saw, come to think of it). I was weirded out the whole morning. I was looking forward to it but remembering my luck with flying adventures - I was the one that crashed in the ocean when parasailing in 2005.
This was jumping off a damn cliff. Anyway. Our driver came right to the hostel to pick us up in an open top jeep. It was a fair drive out to the flight centre and I used this time to wonder what exactly I was doing. During our conversation with the hostel guy the night before he'd shown us the gopro video he'd shot of himself doing the hang gliding thing. It was awesome - and something he said stuck with me. He'd gone first and had to spend a long time on the beach waiting for his friend to make it down - the way it works is you go up with one guy and if there are two of you, one goes first and the other waits up top. He'd spent a lot of time on the beach watching people land and he said all the girls fell when they were landing. He'd spent a lot of time laughing at the girls falling.
I was determined that I would not fall. How I would manage that I wasn't sure. This is what was on my mind as we drove to the flight centre.
I think Airell asked me more than once if I was sure I wanted to do this. He had reason to ask, I really wasn't feeling well and I'd struggled at the cave diving place. Here I was just going to be a passenger though. How bad could it be?
So once you arrive at the flight centre you have to sign a waiver and fill out some information - all on a computer. It was pretty standard, name, address, passport number, maybe next of kin and oddest of all - your blood type.
That threw me for a loop. Airell wasn't too sure either, but we laughed it off and headed off with Edson, our flight specialist dude after we received our official flight id cards. I still have mine - I found it in a backpack a few months ago. Edson had a helper with him, whose job it was to set up the glider up on the gliding mountain (we got into the equivalent of an old toyota camry that had the glider strapped to the top) and make sure we took off ok.
We had to get out of the car just before we got to the final parking area - that old car couldn't quite make the last bit of the incline. By this point I was thinking, wtf am I doing? There were gliders lined up in a row:
As your turn got closer, the gliders got moved to the edge of the cliff.
They've built a wooden platform from which gliders launch themselves and there are numbers on it marking where you stop and wait for your turn.
Airell had announced that he wanted to go first, but Edson insisted that I go first, since I'm a girl and all. Exactly as the guy from the hostel had predicted, in fact. Ha!
Edson made me put on a yellow shirt - still not sure why this was necessary, but I did it. You follow the rules of the guy that's taking your life in his hands. Even if they do seem stupid. So then we had to practice running together - we had to be in perfect sync when we ran off the cliff.
I am pleased to report that this is when I fell down. Three steps and I was done. Now - I was all rigged up in the harness stuff that attaches to the glider, so.... yeah. I'm still a klutz. Airell killed himself laughing. AS I WOULD HAVE DONE TO HIM.
We tried again, a couple times more, and I could run without falling! Whee!!
Lovely spot, no?
As we waited our turn - time did that speeding up thing. I was ready to do this, I wanted to do this, but damn, it's kinda intimidating to run off the side of a cliff, no matter how many other idiots are doing it.
But once you do, you're flying. And that is so awesome you kinda want to go back and do it again.
I paid extra to get the video and stills from the 2 go-pros mounted on the glider. When I remember running of the cliff I remember yelling obscenities as we ran. I watched the video a few weeks ago, and I am pleased to report that I only yelled them inside my head.
I had a hard time watching the video - I know it ends well since I'm sitting here watching it. It still sets my nerves on edge. However, at the end of the day?
Awesomeness. How could you resist that view? Of all the crazy stuff I've done - this may just win.
I had a fairly long wait for Airell to come floating down. I got myself a coconut water, settled into a spot on the beach to watch people land and negotiated for the videos/pictures and ran into the Australians - they'd just done the hang gliding, ditching their tour group for a bit. Ha! They were cool. Wish I remembered their names or had facebook friended them.
I got some cool video of Airell landing - I thought I was practicing for when he actually was going to land but turns out I was actually rather clever.
Imagine that. Now I can't find the damn video, so perhaps I'm not so clever after all.
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