notes from the road

oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

That’s pretty much all I could say before I dove 134 meters from the 3rd highest bungee jump in the entire world. The jump is from a metal shack suspended by cables between 2 mountains and you have to take a gondola to get to it.
I almost didn’t do it. I wouldn’t let go of the instructor (who was freaking hot by the way.)
With my ankles bound, I wobbled out to the edge of the platform. Oh my gosh. And then they dropped the bungee cord down and I felt it tug at my ankles. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Looking out at this huge valley from such a great height, it hits you that you actually are jumping and falling. Falling a lot. And it’s not a ride where you just get strapped in and then you have no control. You actually jump. You physically throw yourself from solid ground into a free fall dooooooooooown into the depths of a valley. (Which I suppose is the definition of a bungee jump – jumping and falling – so this should not have come as surprise to me.) After 4 minutes of oh my goshing, with my stomach already in my throat, my heart beating a zillion times per second, and my whole body shaking, the hot instructor guy pried my hands from his wrist (he was standing behind me and I had both hands behind my back holding onto him) and spread my arms out as if they were wings – they weren’t. I was definitely going to be falling, not flying.
Hot Instructor Guy: are you OK?
Me: oh my gosh
Hot Instructor Guy: you need to find a focal point to look at straight ahead.
Me: oh my gosh
Hot Instructor Guy: just keep your eyes on your focal point.
Me: oh my gosh, oh my gosh
Hot Instructor Guy: I dare you to say oh my gosh again.
Me: …….
Hot Instructor Guy: alright, take a few deep breaths.
And I did.
And it was at that point that I knew I could do it. The key was just to not think about the fact that you were going to be jumping, ahem, plummeting at a speed of 80 miles per hour with an 8 second free fall from what felt like the top of the world toward the jagged rocks below.
He counted down. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.
And I jumped.
(Oh my gosh.)
And I screamed.
And oddly enough, at one point I instinctively plugged my nose because any time I have ever jumped from anything remotely high, it has been into water. : )

This was undoubtedly the scariest thing I have ever done in my life. Ever.

Just wait till I get home and can show you the dvd.