I have a thing for flying. I've always wanted to be a pilot and a professional skydiver. Just the thought of any form of flight experience is exhilirating. So when I had a few days to ween away in Cusco, Peru, I decided to book myself for a tandom paragliding session.
Cusco is an amazing city. Anyone who treks the Inca Trail will first arrive in the mountain city of Cusco in the Andes of Peru. The locals rely on touristic trade, and during the time I was there, the city had not yet been invaded by the Western commercial world. In 1996, there were no signs of the familiar yellow 'M' - no fast food chains.
Prior to this trip, I'd already been on my first tandem skydive a few years before and figured paragliding would be just as awesome. So on the morning of the experience, I get picked up by my instructor and his assistant and get driven out to the mountains.
Cusco is an amazing city. Anyone who treks the Inca Trail will first arrive in the mountain city of Cusco in the Andes of Peru. The locals rely on touristic trade, and during the time I was there, the city had not yet been invaded by the Western commercial world. In 1996, there were no signs of the familiar yellow 'M' - no fast food chains.
Prior to this trip, I'd already been on my first tandem skydive a few years before and figured paragliding would be just as awesome. So on the morning of the experience, I get picked up by my instructor and his assistant and get driven out to the mountains.
Once we reach the cliff where we take off, we spend a long time waiting for the right wind conditions. It took ages! While we waited for the right time to take off, my instructor starts setting up his parachute. I was surprised to find that the parachute isn't round, but rectangular (10 x 2 metres). I obviously did my research...not. The parachute is laid out and the chords are checked to make sure they aren't twisted together. I snap photos of the process and of the scenery. I'm standing on a cliff in the Andes. The view is breathtaking. I zone out into my little world. 'Ronda! Come here, I will show you where we take off.' My instructor brings me back to reality.
I walk to where he is setting up. There's about 15 metres from where we are standing to where the cliff drops off. My instructor points towards the drop off and advises, 'We run off there.'
The thought sinks in. Holy shit! I'm running off a cliff! Is this a wise idea? It's worse than just jumping out of a plane, that requires 1 single act. This requires a whole bunch of conscious steps to purposely RUN OFF THE CLIFF. This is NUTS!
As I mentally hyperventilate, I outwardly pretend like it's all wavy gravy. Or so I think.
My instructor starts testing the wind direction and the parachute. He needs the right thermals (hot winds, not warm under garments) to be in action before we can go for a successful flight.
'Have you got anything warmer to wear?' he asks me. I was in trackies and a light jumper, which he tells me won't keep me warm enough once we're in the air. Maybe I should of worn thermals (the warm under garments, not hot wind). So he offers me his jumper, which is so big is goes down to my knees. Totally stylin', especially with my helmet and harness.
Soon we're strapped onto the parachute and ready to take off.
'Now, listen very carefully to my instructions,' my instructor tells me. 'Whatever I tell you to do, do it immediately - no questions asked. I have to read the wind as we run off so that we can catch it.'
'OK,' I respond not totally understanding what he meant. Just do as he says.
'OK. Ready? Run to the left!' So I start running to the left.
'To the right! To the right!' Running to the right.
'Left again!' I run to the left and soon my feet had lifted off the ground and we're in full flight.
Wow, it wasn't so bad. I'd always thought you'd just run straight down and off the cliff. We were still a good 10 metres from the edge when we lifted into the air.
It was amazing! There's this great feeling of freedom as I floated in the air high above the Andes. I'm paragliding in the Andes! It was so awesome. How many people will ever get to do this in their lifetime.
It wasn't long before my camera came out and I started snapping away at the bird's eye views I was getting of the valleys below. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Photos of anything and everything.
My instructor was right, it was cold! Being so high in altitude, the temperature dropped, so thank goodness for the fleece jumper he lent me.
'Would you like me to take a photo of you?' My instructor asks me from behind.
'Sure.' I hand him my camera and enjoy the views below and around us.
I was so excited to be in the moment at that moment. Only yesterday I was horseriding through the valleys, and now I'm paragliding over them. It was a surreal feeling and I was taking in every moment and loving it.
That was until I started to feel nauseus. When you're paragliding, you're constantly catching different winds and thermals to remain in flight. If you don't you start to descend. That day was quite windy, so at these high altitudes, the flight was quite jerky. We were going from one direction to the next depending on the wind we caught. Due to the high altitude and the cold, my fingers started to get really cold and numb. The constant swinging in all directions gave me motion sickness. By then, I'd put my camera away as my stomach was starting to churn and I had to concentrate on not vomiting.
'Do you need to puke?' my instructor calls out. I must've looked green.
'Yes!' I called back. He sticks his hand into his pocket and pulls out a plastic bag.
'Here! Puke into this!' This must not be the first time his customers have gotten sick in the air.
I take the bag from him as I mentally tell myself, 'Don't puke on yourself. Don't puke on yourself.' My hands are so numb now that I have difficulty moving them, let alone pulling open a bag and holding it over my mouth. Eventually I do and I let myself go. I vomit into the bag until I'm able to stop retching. Once I was done, I tied the bag up securely and put it into my pocket. I checked myself and found that I successfully got everything into the bag and nothing onto myself. My stomach still felt horrible and I started to feel dizzy. I just wanted it to be over now.
It felt like forever before we started to descend, but it was probably only another 10 minutes. We eventually landed in a field on a farm somewhere in the mountains. There were farmers around us working - harvesting the crops we landed amongst. My instructor greeted them and had a chat. He had a 2 way radio which he used to communicate with his assistant and had already told him where to pick us up from. As he spoke with the farmers, I laid in the field, not moving, waiting for the motion sickness to subside. I remembered the bag of vomit in my pocket, took it out and left it in the field. I didn't want to forget and accidentally burst it whilst is was in the pocket.
I remained horizontal for the 30 minutes it took for our ride to arrive. I just felt so sick! I had a tour of the local museums that afternoon and was determined to feel well enough by then to go. I'm going to need Coca tea when I get back to treat the motion and altitude sickness, I tell myself.
When the driver finally arrived, I climbed into the backseat, laid down and tried to sleep it off as we head back to my hotel.
*Coca tea is made from Coca leaves which come from the same plant as cocaine. It's used as an energy boost as well as treating symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and nausea.
I walk to where he is setting up. There's about 15 metres from where we are standing to where the cliff drops off. My instructor points towards the drop off and advises, 'We run off there.'
The thought sinks in. Holy shit! I'm running off a cliff! Is this a wise idea? It's worse than just jumping out of a plane, that requires 1 single act. This requires a whole bunch of conscious steps to purposely RUN OFF THE CLIFF. This is NUTS!
As I mentally hyperventilate, I outwardly pretend like it's all wavy gravy. Or so I think.
My instructor starts testing the wind direction and the parachute. He needs the right thermals (hot winds, not warm under garments) to be in action before we can go for a successful flight.
Soon we're strapped onto the parachute and ready to take off.
'Now, listen very carefully to my instructions,' my instructor tells me. 'Whatever I tell you to do, do it immediately - no questions asked. I have to read the wind as we run off so that we can catch it.'
'OK,' I respond not totally understanding what he meant. Just do as he says.
'OK. Ready? Run to the left!' So I start running to the left.
'To the right! To the right!' Running to the right.
'Left again!' I run to the left and soon my feet had lifted off the ground and we're in full flight.
Wow, it wasn't so bad. I'd always thought you'd just run straight down and off the cliff. We were still a good 10 metres from the edge when we lifted into the air.
It was amazing! There's this great feeling of freedom as I floated in the air high above the Andes. I'm paragliding in the Andes! It was so awesome. How many people will ever get to do this in their lifetime.
It wasn't long before my camera came out and I started snapping away at the bird's eye views I was getting of the valleys below. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Photos of anything and everything.
My instructor was right, it was cold! Being so high in altitude, the temperature dropped, so thank goodness for the fleece jumper he lent me.
'Would you like me to take a photo of you?' My instructor asks me from behind.
'Sure.' I hand him my camera and enjoy the views below and around us.
I was so excited to be in the moment at that moment. Only yesterday I was horseriding through the valleys, and now I'm paragliding over them. It was a surreal feeling and I was taking in every moment and loving it.
That was until I started to feel nauseus. When you're paragliding, you're constantly catching different winds and thermals to remain in flight. If you don't you start to descend. That day was quite windy, so at these high altitudes, the flight was quite jerky. We were going from one direction to the next depending on the wind we caught. Due to the high altitude and the cold, my fingers started to get really cold and numb. The constant swinging in all directions gave me motion sickness. By then, I'd put my camera away as my stomach was starting to churn and I had to concentrate on not vomiting.
'Do you need to puke?' my instructor calls out. I must've looked green.
'Yes!' I called back. He sticks his hand into his pocket and pulls out a plastic bag.
'Here! Puke into this!' This must not be the first time his customers have gotten sick in the air.
I take the bag from him as I mentally tell myself, 'Don't puke on yourself. Don't puke on yourself.' My hands are so numb now that I have difficulty moving them, let alone pulling open a bag and holding it over my mouth. Eventually I do and I let myself go. I vomit into the bag until I'm able to stop retching. Once I was done, I tied the bag up securely and put it into my pocket. I checked myself and found that I successfully got everything into the bag and nothing onto myself. My stomach still felt horrible and I started to feel dizzy. I just wanted it to be over now.
It felt like forever before we started to descend, but it was probably only another 10 minutes. We eventually landed in a field on a farm somewhere in the mountains. There were farmers around us working - harvesting the crops we landed amongst. My instructor greeted them and had a chat. He had a 2 way radio which he used to communicate with his assistant and had already told him where to pick us up from. As he spoke with the farmers, I laid in the field, not moving, waiting for the motion sickness to subside. I remembered the bag of vomit in my pocket, took it out and left it in the field. I didn't want to forget and accidentally burst it whilst is was in the pocket.
I remained horizontal for the 30 minutes it took for our ride to arrive. I just felt so sick! I had a tour of the local museums that afternoon and was determined to feel well enough by then to go. I'm going to need Coca tea when I get back to treat the motion and altitude sickness, I tell myself.
When the driver finally arrived, I climbed into the backseat, laid down and tried to sleep it off as we head back to my hotel.
*Coca tea is made from Coca leaves which come from the same plant as cocaine. It's used as an energy boost as well as treating symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and nausea.
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