Saturday, August 23, 2008

Jump School

In an attempt to punish me my friends Fabiola, Angela, and Mayra took me on what I thought was going to be bungee jumping in a touristy area. This was not the case. By small bus and car we made are way around Lima before finally arriving at a military academy. Guards with guns circa 1940s stood at countless gates and I felt fantastically american sitting in the front seat of the car with my Boston Red Sox cap on.

It turns out that I was going to be attending Jump School for soldiers in the Peruvian army. The gear was a little old but sturdy and I got the pleasure of staring at 6 stories of drop directly over a concrete slab. Needless to say I loved the idea. The only thing was the harness was unforgiving and having not worn jeans was quite painful.


This was the scene of the crime


Fabiola


Angela


The initial drop was about 15 feet of freefall before the rope started to pull you back up. It was a little rough, but they insisted that I do my jump superman style. To do so they ran the cables into the side of my harness as a makeshift support and encouraged me to run and jump. The first approach was intimidating but I quickly captured some of my American idiocy in a bottle and jump.


Fabi in the air. It was a great time and I thank the girls for every second of it (except for the second that nearly castrated me)