Advertisement
Published: February 6th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Traveling around the world for the past year I´ve kind of gotten numb to many experiences; things that used to wow me no longer do only because I´ve been incredibly lucky to see so many magnificent sights. That is what happened in Rosario, a city with nice beaches, nice colonial buildings, nice night life, but nothing exceptional. However, at 10,000 feet, at the end of the most uncomfortable plane ride of my life, my heart was pounding. Finally the sky dive instructor latched on to Burton´s back said it was time to go. He popped open the cockpit door and it sounded as though a bomb exploded in the cabin. Suddenly the wind was rushing around and you couldn´t hear anyone speak. A few seconds later, Burton and his instructor burst forth from the plane like pus from a popped zit (pretty analogy, huh?). Leonardo, the instructor stuck to my back, wiggled us forward a little bit, and suddenly my feet were dangling 10,000 feet above the ground as we were about to jump from the single engine Cesna. My heart was pounding, I could hardly breath; this experience was not like anything I had seen before. Suddenly, with a "vamos"
we were off into the void. A couple of flips and twists and I finally got our bearings; I could finally breath again and comprehend what was going on. This is when I realized I could scream and shout, letting out the over abundance of life that was boiling over in me. I checked out the cumulous clouds in front of me, the mountains in the distance, the city of Cordoba below, and immediately in front of me the fastly approaching whisp of clouds. After bursting through them, Leonardo let the parachute out and we slowed down into a magnificent glide back to Earth, with numerous twists that caused a wicked stomach check from the centrifugal force. Upon landing I was shouting, Burton was shouting, everyone was high fiving, I tackled Burton in celebration, Eric and Drew were cheering on us first timers (they had both gone previously) and in general we enjoyed the intense body buzz of going through the most extreme adrenaline rush of our lives. Shortly there after Eric and Drew were up and minutes later they were back down with the same rush we had. Oddly enough, all of this inspired just two nights before by
the movie "Yes Man" and a conversation with an Israeli.
(Eric´s edit: The experience of skydiving is pretty difficult to convey through words. No matter how hard you try to explain, it can only be understood by experiencing first hand, just like so many other experiences in life. Well this was my third time jumping in the past 5 years, and though it was hardly as picturesque as the jump sites in New Zealand and Kauai, where I´d previously taken my leaps of faith, this was my best skydive experience of the three. Perhaps I feel this way because this skydive just happened and its the most ¨in my head¨ of the three jumps right now, but something about this jump felt different for me. Though my heart was racing with anxiety during the 25 minute plane ride to reach 3,000m, the moment we left the plane, the most peaceful sensation filled my heart, my body, my soul. You can´t feel more in the moment than you do when you are floating through the sky... LITERALLY, falling through the clouds. For me, I think the roughly six and a half minutes it took me to drop 10,000 feet through
the sky to a grassy pasture outside of Cordoba were the most peaceful moments in my life. I could go on and on here, but what I´m trying to get at is that skydiving is truly an incredible experience and I so sincerely encourage anybody reading this to put any fears aside and make it happen, and I´m certain you will be grateful you do so afterwards.)
As I mentioned, we ran through Rosario rather quickly. It is a nice enough city, but nothing too exceptional other than the heat. In order to escape this heat we have taken to watching movies in the afternoon. Somehow one afternoon we ended up watching Saw 4, a horror movie about a serial killer, and later that evening Changeling, a suspenseful drama about a serial killer of children, and a true story. It wasn´t what you would call an uplifting day. When we were in Cordoba we went to Si Señor, or Yes Man, a Jim Carrey comedy, to escape the scorching heat. It is one of the most uplifting comedies I´ve seen; I don´t know if it is only because I got sooo sick of his humor and had been avoiding
Block of Enlightenment
This is the church at the "Block of Enlightenment," the block of old Universities Cordoba is known for. his movies, or if this was just that good, but I (we) thought it was hilarious. Later that evening, after a few bottles of wine and a game of cards, an Israeli we befriended at the hostel mentioned that Cordoba is the cheapest place in Argentina to go sky diving. Burton and I had always wanted to do it, Argentina is a cheap place to go while still being safe for an activity like this, and given that we just watched a movie challenging you to say "yes" to any opportunity that comes your way, we couldn´t pass it up.
Besides being able to jump out of perfectly good planes at low prices, Cordoba is a great city. There is a lot of history here and a corresponding number of colonial buildings and large cathedrals. Surrounding this old city are tons of nice pedestrian streets full of shops, cafes and ice cream stands. It is also known for the large number of universities and with these schools comes a huge number of younger students giving the city a vibrant feel. Most of these individuals live in the newer, hipper Nueva Cordoba area. It is packed with nice restaurants, clubs,
bars, shopping plazas, etc. A bit further south there is an enormous park with a zoo, a carnival, and plenty of open space we used to throw a Frisbee one afternoon. There are also many neighborhoods in the sprawling metropolis surrounding the center with chique bars and clubs and vibes of their own. Our friend Vini, a Brazilian we had met in Punta del Este, came up to join us for the weekend and we soaked in the sights together with an ever changing mix of other backpackers. We even managed to celebrate Australia Day, kind of like the Fourth of July, with a few Aussies we met by doing up a wonderful asado on the rooftop of our hostel. (I am sincerely going to miss wood fired grills when I get home!) I really enjoyed my time here, and would have to consider it one of my favorite cities in South America and the world.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.184s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 15; qc: 70; dbt: 0.1121s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.2mb
anonymous
non-member comment
So you want to get away from the heat? Come back to Wisconsin or Minneapolis!!!! :) Duh! Congrats on your first sky diving experience, Burton. Kyle and Eric's descriptions of skydiving were superb (I think Kyle has a book in the making!), but I'll pass on sky diving. For now... keep having fun! Burton's Aunt ANN