After our fun filled day yesterday, we decided to go on another adrenaline pumping adventure - paragliding. We'd heard from other people at the hostel that it was a lot of fun and quite cheap, so we took the metro to the bus terminal and then a bus outside of Medellin. Unfortunately Bernie saw a misleading sign and we got off the bus too early on a steep mountain road so we had to wait around chatting with some locals for another bus. However, since I love Hooters chicken wings, but they don't love me, I was lucky there was a restaurant nearby with a toilet!
Not too long later, we hailed a bus and got to the point where the were 3 paragliding companies at the side of the road. It was a very quick process of filling up a chit of paper with our names and nationalities and we were off. We had to climb a steep mountain to get to the top of a grassy patch for take off and landing. We were then given what I would call giant backpacks which we were strapped on us and they actually had a seat. Then we were each strapped on to our respective pilots so we were in front of them and without much further ado, we were high up in the sky overlooking the city. The first few minutes were quite scary but soon it was just a feeling of weightlessness and gliding really. Then I suddenly watched as Bernie's pilot did some acrobatics swaying them from side to side and twirling and going really low, I was petrified and immediately told my pilot that I did not want to do any of that. He laughed and pretty much did the exact same acrobatics!
It was insanely cool how they have so much control over the parachute and can take you as close or far to anything - a waterfall, some horses on a mountain and even a house where we were so close to the roof and all the people were waving at us and I swear I could almost touch them! We were up there for 20 minutes and the landing was very smooth. I thought we'd have to run or something like the movies, but we were actually sitting on airbags so it was absolutely seamless and painless. As we walked back down to the road to catch the bus back to Medellin, I realised my legs were still shaking! It's definitely one of the cooler things I've done, but now that I've crossed it off the bucket list, I'm glad I won't be doing it again too soon.
Once back in town, we chilled out, ate an amazing burrito and now Bernie is out partying with some of the hostel peeps while I'm in the room because of my dodgy stomach. Either way, I'm glad for an early night in since tomorrow morning we fly to our last and final destination in South America - the Colombian capital city of Bogota!
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