We arrived late in the evening and headed to our hosts' log cabin. Americ
an skydiving instructors and rehabilitated rednecks Rob and Laura were a great couple to stay with and it didn't take more than a couple glasses of cheap Ch
ilean Merlot to convince me to jump the next day.
Setting off to the airfield on a beautifully clear day, I hopped into the plane with Rob and a motion-sick Jim who had come along for the ride. It was a stunning journey up made even more thrilling by the empty and noisy space where a door should normally have been. As we climbed to over 9,500 ft it was time to wriggle around and hang my feet over the edge. Feeling your legs flail about is bad enough but the hardest part is resisting the urge to hold onto something or stay in the plane - fighting against your natural instincts to survive.
It was just one little push though and we were away, freefalling at around 120mph. Pretty exhilerating stuff.
After about a minute Rob pulled the parachute and everything slowed down. Like the moment when you stop shivering, everything was calm. It really feels like you are not moving when you are
under the parachute and the world comes into view again. I started to notice mountains, lakes, trees, people's swimming pools and disorderly gardens.
Seven minutes descending to earth was not long enough. I would happily do it all over again.
an skydiving instructors and rehabilitated rednecks Rob and Laura were a great couple to stay with and it didn't take more than a couple glasses of cheap Ch
ilean Merlot to convince me to jump the next day.Setting off to the airfield on a beautifully clear day, I hopped into the plane with Rob and a motion-sick Jim who had come along for the ride. It was a stunning journey up made even more thrilling by the empty and noisy space where a door should normally have been. As we climbed to over 9,500 ft it was time to wriggle around and hang my feet over the edge. Feeling your legs flail about is bad enough but the hardest part is resisting the urge to hold onto something or stay in the plane - fighting against your natural instincts to survive.
It was just one little push though and we were away, freefalling at around 120mph. Pretty exhilerating stuff.
After about a minute Rob pulled the parachute and everything slowed down. Like the moment when you stop shivering, everything was calm. It really feels like you are not moving when you are
under the parachute and the world comes into view again. I started to notice mountains, lakes, trees, people's swimming pools and disorderly gardens.Seven minutes descending to earth was not long enough. I would happily do it all over again.
Watch my video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwhQa26wSY4
We went white-water rafting, jumping off of large rocks into freezing rapids and drunk cool beer in steaming 40 degree volcanic thermal pools but nothing really beating jumping out of a plane.
Despite my adreneline hangover, we had a fantastic time in Pucon - a gorgeous place with far too many fun things to do.
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