wait what?

when: last week
where: near cusco peru
who: me, erin, erins roommate monica, jose luis and nacho
what: para gliding

i am surprised at how in the last couple years, i have become more gusty. i still will never go bungy jumping or sky diving, but when erin told me that she knew a guy who could take us para gliding, i was 80% excited 20% nervous (it would usually be the opposite). maybe its because i feel a bit invincible when im in a foreign country.
so on saturday at 9am we met jose luis and his sidekick nacho (really that was his name) for a day of para gliding. jose luis knew some english, but i felt like the language barrier was a good excuse for me not to ask the important questions. is their a spare parachute? how do you land? how experienced is jose? and most important how many people have died doing this? i thought it was better to just not ask. until i was voted to "fly" first.
wait what?

we set up "camp" on the edge of a mountain/cliff. nacho (who speaks no english) started tying me up to the parachute. clips and fasteners and buckles. putting on my helmet (which had less cushion then a bike helmet...but honestly its not gonna to do much good if we fall from 3,000 feet). one huge backpack (which i was hoping held the emergency parachute). and as all this was happening i thought of my questions (my percentage quickly changed to 20/80). really the only question that seemed pertinent was..."so wait, what are we doing exactly?" jose luis says to me "we are waiting for the wind, and when the wind is perfect im going to count to three. when i say three, you run. dont sit. dont jump. when we are in the air i will tell you when to sit." he was talking to me as if i was a first grader. i mean those are not hard directions to fallow, but they would not sink into my head.
wait what?
"at the count of three your going to run off the cliff."
right. of course. thats what i thought you said. oh god.
i repeated the simple directions in my head. 'dont sit, dont jump. just run.' got it.

one.

two.

three.

run! im running. i mean im trying. im just not really moving. im hooked on to a person and a parachute and a backpack. but im really trying. thank goodness for nacho who pulled me. and my legs began to move. off the cliff. except there was no falling - just flying. it was the most exhilarating experience. a rush of adrenalin. a fear overcome. oh and also a shoe lost (somehow on takeoff).

i recommend para gliding in peru to all my friends.