TIA 9

3/24/13

It has been quite the weekend. OMG.OMG. you know what I did on Friday!!!! I went bungie jumping off a bridge!! SO AMAZING!! I can’t even describe the feeling to you. I was actually quite nervous  right up until the trapped me up and I was standing on the edge of the bridge looking at an amazing valley breathing in the fresh air! 5….4….3….2…..BUNGIE!!! And I was off…free falling into gravities’ pull. So proud of myself for keeping my eyes open the entire time! Bu when I was looking upon this huge valley of mountains to the north I felt frozen in time, I can’t quite explain it. I found myself singing Pocahontas’ “Colors of the wind” when I was “flying. “Then….BOOM. The bungie reached it’ max (216meters….which I converted to ~ 710 feet on my African phone) and rebounded in the air. Now this was crazy, I had to remind myself that I was fine…..just hanging upside down above trees and rocks hovered by death. I looked up once at the bridge and that was so awkward….to my body….particularly my gut. Then I jerked my attention to the opposite valley the presented the ocean to me, calming all nerves. It was unreal. Took me a good 4-5 hours to get rid of that adrenaline high. Hayley ended up not going so she got some awesome videos of us doing it!!! Now when I watch movies of some kind of height depth or when a camera shoots from a mountain to another I get that feeling right in the pit of my stomach…and smile.

Woke up the next day to hit the dusty trail to Hogsback! A 3 hour road trip!!! Jammed the whole way!  The vibes were so majestic once we arrived…after battling some tricky gravel/rocky roads. But our hostel was unbelievable! It was ecofriendly, meaning no connection with the outside world. Our bungalow was crazy cool…about 10 of us slept in there….showers were outside…toilet was an outhouse….and food was alllll natural!! We went to the Madonna and Child Falls fist which were really cool, nothing huge though. Then we went to one of the main trails to see the “Big Tree,” which was an 800 yr. old yellowwood and a HUGE waterfall where some of our friends were waiting! This trail was actually a hike too! Unfortunately we were on a time frame by now to make it to our hostel before nightfall, so we could only enjoy it for so long…then we took a ‘short cut’ which was all rocks that we had to book and it wore me out. We rose up to a road and realized we had no idea where we were. We had to walk about 3 miles until we found our car, but it’s okay because we got to see a live & wild chameleon! And wild monkeys!!! Dinner was everything hoped it to be. Special African pasta/spaghetti with beef, bread, beet & cabbage salad, and a refreshing garden salad! All homemade or home grown!!! So good! We spent the rest of the night chatting, drinking wine and gazing up at the stars.

Early in the morning we woke with the sun, had a filing apple and oatmeal breakfast. Then off to concur a mountain! Let me tell you, the red rocks in Sedona had nothing on this daddy mountain! At first it was just an extremely thick and slippery jungle, and I mean jungle…then it turned into a mile climb up rocks. I was lunging the entire way up…but it was so beautiful, you couldn’t hate on it. I see how the author of the Lord of the Rings books was inspired to mastermind an entire series! After the blissful torture was over we got some pizza!!! Mine was solo good & different! “Happy Hippie” it was called, flat crusted homemade pizza with baked beans, butternut squash, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms!!! DELICIOUS! I was dead the entire way back home!

 

Hope everyone is doing well, thinking of each and every single one of you all the time! Miss your lovely voices and hugs!

Until next time,

Em