hola amigos!

today we went paragliding just outside of cusco. it was absolutely unbelievable! in order to get up into the air, you have to run as fast and hard as you can toward the edge of a cliff so that the parachute catches and lifts you up. to my horror, the guides decided to use me and my roommate monica as the guinea pigs on the first flights of the day. needless to say, she and I were both terrified because we hadn't seen anyone take off before and were going into it blind. so, being the brave souls that we are, we ran as fast as we could toward the edge of the cliff and prayed that the chute would catch the wind. luckily it did and we were soon soaring hundreds of feet above the mountain tops! the view was incredible! I wasn't scared during the flight but if I had been flying solo (not attached to a guide) I would most definitely have been freaking out. We glided close to the edges of the mountains and then caught some wind to get higher and higher until we were even with the snowy peaks. I even got dizzy because we were so high! I took some videos on my camera during the flight but for some reason they didn't load into my computer (don't worry I will figure it out and post them on here later). the flight was amazing, but the landing was the part I wasn't so sure about. we flew over the mountains until we reached all the farming land and circled slowly until we were directly over a dirt field. following my guide Jose's instructions, I lifted my feet as high into the air as I could and prepared my backside for the not so soft landing that was coming. Our landing was a little rough and my backside hit the dirt pretty hard. But all is well because I didn't crash and die!!!! After my flight, I had to wait all day until the rest of the people in my group went. I've been very sick and I was praying that I wouldn't feel ill today and thankfully I didn't until midway through the day. After sunset, we all loaded back into our small bus and headed back to Cusco for some much needed food and showers. Today was wonderful and I'm so glad I had the chance to go! Tomorrow we are hitting some famous pre-Incan and Incan ruin sites so get ready for some more great pictures :)

Love to all!!!