Holy Shit Balls!

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  San Gil, Colombia, Colombia
Wednesday, October 10, 2007

This place is AMAZING!!!  They call it the adventure capitol of Colombia and it is now obvious why.  There is everything from rafting to paragliding to hiking to caving to hydrospeeding...etc.  Not to mention the town is set on a huge hill next to a rushing river and has some of the best scenery I´ve seen in a long time.  Lush green trees of all kinds, rolling hill, mountains, canyons, streams, rivers, and on and on and on.  I´m blown away! 

But to the point, Holy Shit Balls.  Rory and I decided to go rappelling down a 180 meter waterfall yesterday.  I´m thinking, rappel, I´ve done that.  It´s like coming down after rock climbing a wall, no problem.  Wrong...way wrong. 

So, we drove about 20 minutes outside of the city.  The waterfall looked absolutely amazing from the road when we got there.  Ridiculously tall with tons of water gushing over the top.  We meet up with these two Colombian dudes who look 18, maybe 19, and speak no English.  Super.  We follow them up this small, very muddy trail, next to a little creek.  Along the way, this little creek keeps getting bigger and bigger.  Next thing I know, we´re practically climbing the mountain in sandals and we right next to the waterfall.  There´s ropes and large tree branches along the way to grab on to, but it was pretty treacherous terrain.  At one point the boys tell us to head down a trail and they didn´t follow.  I´m thinking, sweet, we get a break.   I was totally out of breath and sweating like a pig.  At the end of this little trail was something I can´t even explain.  I´ll have to send pictures, but in a few words, it was the bottom of the top section of the waterfall, maybe 100 meters high and a few little pools to go swimming and walking through.  Amazing! 

After 5 minutes of wandering around the pools, we see the dudes come down the trail with ropes, harnesses and helmets.  They tell us to wait a bit while they set up.  As I watch them climb down to the outlet of the second large part of this waterfall, I realize exactly what is going to happen to me.  I immediately find a quite spot to relieve myself for fear of pissing my pants in front of everyone.  Little did I know, it wouldn´t matter as I would be completely soaking wet. 

A few more minutes and we´re beckoned to approach the edge for a lesson on rappelling completely in Spanish.  Lovely.  Basically, don´t bend your knees, keep your body and legs in an L-shape, pull the rope up with your right hand and hang on for your dear life with your left!!  Again, Holy Shit BALLS!!!  He motions to me first.  Great.  Harness is fitted, helmet in place, gloves are on.  I get into position and inch towards the edge.  What in gods name am I doing on the edge of a 60 meter waterfall, looking over the edge, held on by only a rope with rushing water flowing all around my feet and ankles?????  No, seriously, somebody tell me because I have no fucking clue!  Without my knowledge, my head starts shaking and I´m repeatedly saying, "No way, no fucking way.  I´m not doing this.  No fucking way!  You´re crazy man.  You´re crazy!!!!"  The Colombian boy just looks at me and laughs.  Takes a photo and sets Rory up with gear.  Great...an extra 2 minutes to completely freak out! 

So there we are, looking 60 meters straight down a rigid rocky wall full of gushing water with no sign of relief or any feelings of tranquility.  Getting ready to shit my pants, the Colombian takes my leg and puts it over the bar at the top which is apparently there to keep me from falling at the top.  Wha-What!?!?  Then he says, "No es dificil, si."  Right dude, sure, not difficult, super easy.  I´ll just rappel down this fucking mountain with the most slippery rocks ever.  Yeah, sure, great fun!  So there I was, over the edge, no turning back now.  Rory´s over the edge and we´re on our way down.  The next 5 minutes were the longest five minutes of my life.  Crazy scary, crazy fun and just plain crazy.  The water was pelting out helmets from the top and pushing hard on our feet as we slowly slipped them down the rocks.  Look up...hey there´s Colombian boy laughing and taking photos.  Bastard.  ha ha. 

Once at the bottom, I finally sense relief and realize my hands are so tightly gripped to the rope that I can´t open them.  Damn did that hurt but hell, the adrenalin is running and I´m on cloud 9!  Rory and I gave each other a super lame high five and spent the rest of the day with ridiculously huge smiles on our faces.  What an adventure!  Holy Shit Balls. 

After that, I feel less inclined to bother you with stories of paragliding today...but in the spirit of keeping you all informed, paragliding today was amazing as well. 

Love and Miss you!!!!!!!

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