Flying

It has always been a dream of mine to fly.  I tried bungee jumping once, but immediately realized that bungee jumping was actually falling and had nothing to do with flying.  I knew there was a bettter way, but I had yet to try it. Sometime during the summer as Elijah and Achilles played in the water I lay on the beach and looking into the sky saw someone paragliding.  Wow!  They were sooooooooo high.  It was so awesome with the mountains of Pucon in the background, the lake below.  I just had to do it. 

A few days later I found a flyer for the crew that offered parapenting on Lake Villarica.  It wasn't paragliding only, it was actually parapenting.  You start on the beach, hooked into your parachute (with a guide behind you) and a rope in front of you which is hooked to a motor boat.  You begin to run, the boat takes off from the shore and propels you up into the air.  Once you reach a certain height, the boat releases you from the line and away you go. 

I evetually got around to calling and fortunately just in time as that exact next day was their last day of the season.  If the weather holds, he told me, we will fly.  When I told Achilles and Elijah about it they wanted to go too.  I got to go first, since it was my dream, Elijah went second and Achilles followed.  It is the best thing I have ever done.  I LOVED IT!  I felt so free, so light, so happy.  It wasn't falling at all, it was really flying.  And it was wonderful!  The view was spectacular.  We went up 500 meters (more than 1500 feet) and stayed up somewhere around 10 minutes. The lake below was deep green.  As soon as I came down I wanted to go again.  Once I was up it wasn't at all scary, but I still can't believe that Elijah did it too.  He amazed me.  And not surprisingly my hawk boy loved it as well.  He told his grandma that for their special 10 trip together he wants to do it with her.  (Ready Grandma?) 

I can close my eyes right now and still feel the ecstasy of it. It is something I will never forget. We all agreed it was a good thing it was the last day of the season because I would have gone back time and time again and spent all our money on parapenting! 





Geting ready to fly















That's my boy up there! Can you believe how high he is?