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Published: September 19th 2008
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So after paragliding the day before and partying with my new paragliding friends all night the night before, I dragged my butt out of bed at 10 am on Friday, barely awake and with a huge "guayaba", andI jumped into a taxi with 2 of my friends from the night before and off we went to a waterfall 26 km away to go rapelling! I had never been...and of course neither had they!
We arrived to a farm with a restaurant on the side of the road, got out of the car, looked up, and there was the mountainside with a very good sized waterfall in clear view! It was very beautiful. Our rapelling guides were there waiting for us. After putting on our harnesses and helmets we started the steep and hot climb...first through the farm animals´area (very disgusting cow pies were everywhere!!!), along the smooth river and forest, and then up, up, up, the slippery and steep incline toward the top of the falls. We arrived hot, sweaty, dizzy, thirsty, and exhausted...perfect conditions for attempting a 90m waterfall rappel for the first time with spanish speaking instructors! My mind was tired from not getting enough sleep, and my body
was tired from the same...now plus that climb up. I was seriously reconsidering doing this...but of course just pushed through it anyway!
We got a brief...7 minute...lesson in how to hold the ropes, where to put our feet, where to look as we were descending, how to adjust the rope so that we are moving down the face of the falls and not just hanging there in it, etc, etc... I guess I looked the most lost and anxious during this brief talk in fast spanish (even though I was actually tired and still out of it from the night before), because the instructor chose me to be the one to go first and therefore be accompanied by the other professional rapeller all the way down next to me on his own rope.
So I was up first! Great! The trickiest part of the whole experience was standing backwards at the edge of the waterfall, attached to the rope, and then simultaneously squatting and taking a step backwards over the edge and down the face of the 90m waterfalls...which is NOT that short...quite HIGH UP there actually! VERY SCARY FOR ME! I am the type of person who gets nervous
when trying to climb down a ladder and here I was stepping off a cliff/waterfall backwards! Yes, I was attached to the rope, but couldn´t really hold onto to it. If while rappelling you are holding onto the rope, you don´t go anywhere...so in order to move your way down the falls, you have to let go of the rope and use your right hand at your righ hip to pull the rope out of the link and allow it to slide...therefore moving you a few feet down. At the same time you need to hold the other side of the rope above you with your left hand and move your feet down the slippery surface of the wet rocks that form a 90 degree wall in front of you. Your feet must be wide apart and your knees are to be straight...making you as far from the rock wall as possible...trusting the rope to hold you as you adjust it, a few inches at a time...moving you down a few feet at a time...all the while the waterfall is throwing itself down on you...drenching you completely in cool, refreshing water! It was so much fun, but exhausting physically and
mentally. Unlike the paragliding from the day before, I actually had to do something and do it right! With paragliding, you just sit there and let the instructor do it all! Not with rapelling...its all you! One of the guides came with me and he kept helping me by telling me where to put my feet, but he almost made me more nervous because I couldn´t just concentrate on what I was doing...he was constantly right there and in my face. I would like to do it again...I think the second time would be even better fun because by that time you have the technique down easier and don´t have to concentrate so much on what you are doing...you just get to enjoy it! After about 15 minutes of making my way down while hanging on the rope and bouncing off the rock, I arrived on solid ground completely exhausted (especially that left hand that was needlessly gripping the rope from above), drenched, and full of adrenaline...not asleep anymore! That is one way to wake yourself up after a rough night of partying! Good times as always!
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hernan
non-member comment
nice!
looks so fun!! we all miss u here! but stay in s.a. for now though... :)