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Happy 4th of July everyone!!!
Today was CRAZY-INSANE!!!! It was a beautiful day, which meant it was time for us to go to the extreme. We woke up around 8:30 and ate breakfast got dressed and eagerly awaited the day´s activities. At 9:30 we were picked up and brought to the paragliding headquarters...which was just a few blocks from the train station (here they gave us hiking boots, and where we met our pilots). We took a nice 10-15 minute ride up the mountain to about 800 meters (2400ish feet). We met a really nice guy from FSU named Tom and chatted with him for a bit before we took off. On the ride up to the take-off point we were instructed what to do....`when the pilot says run, run!! and that was it! Once we reached the topped we were on a steep hill...literally with about 20 feet of running room before a drop off. Lucky Danny got paired up with the pilot who takes off first! (They were supposed to be the example of the group) Leigh says that when they took off, all the other pilots were like...whoa! they almost clipped the trees!!! Good thing Danny found out after the fact. Leigh had to wait 20 minutes or so for the winds to pick back up again so she could fly. The rides were amazing. We soared over the mountains, saw the two lakes and flew through clouds. It was a very smooth ride, but we could definitely feel when the winds would pick up and we would catch an updraft! After a nice ride towards the landing zone, our pilots...in order to land...had to take us into a cork screw...it was just like being on a roller coaster...except without tracks. We were practically parallel to the ground. It was awesome! Landing was relatively soft and easy...what an amazing ride!!!
After that adrenaline rush, we still had canyoning to do 3 hours later. We grabbed a bite to eat before we were picked up...the best kebabs ever according to Leigh, and pizza. Once we were picked up, we were taken over to the tent village (where we are staying tonight) and fitted in our canyoning gear (wet suit, booties, harnasses, life-jacket, and a helmet). Each helmet was labeled with a different name so that the instructors/guides could hollar at us easily if need be. Danny was Tarzan and Leigh was Schmoo! The trip started off with a short ride up the mountain...then an extremely steep and hot hike up to the starting point. Our first activity was to jump off a short ledge into a pool of water (this water was NOT warm...it was flowing down from the tops of the mountains, so it was ICE cold). The jump was nice, and it was a rude awakening to the temperature of the water. It would take a while to explain everything we did, but there was a photographer taking pictures along the way...which we purchased the pictures so when we can upload them we will. Quickly what we did, was jump off the first ledge, slide down a little river, rappel down a 30 foot wall, tarzan swing from one side of a wall to another (Danny went first here, and was deemed the helper after that) after the swing, we had to jump off a 30 foot ledge into about 5 feet of space (15 or so feet deep with rapid water). Again, Danny was first and had to catch everyone as they came up out of the water so they did not get swept with the current down another small slide with rocks underneath. Following the 20 minutes in neck deep ice cold water we had to superman dive into a small pool, with a big rock in the middle...we had to jump sideways closer to the side wall so we did not hit the rock. After that we slid down a few more slides, crawled under a waterfall, and climbed back up a steep incline back to the van. We were driven back to the tents where we were able to take hot showers and drink a nice cold beer.
After our beer, we came back to the main hostel to grab a bite to eat and gather our things to bring back to the tents. There are a bunch of festivals going on around town so we may stop by and check them out. Everyone have a safe and fun 4th of July. Our next blog will come from Brussels, Belgium. Love to all.
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