View from the top of Indian Nose as I ran off the cliff

Woke up early this morning thanks to more roosters, a cat fight, and a squealing pig. Next thing you knew I was in the shower, along with a friendly spider, in order to get ready for my paragliding extravaganza. I was up, ready, packed by 8:10 and was early to my meet up point with Gui. I was able to sit and contemplate life while he chatted with a french guest and her toddler son. It was quite interesting hearing them go from English to French to Spanish and back again. But I did enjoy this little boy singing and playing around.

Finally we were ready to go, Gui and I each had a bag and we were off to catch a tuk tuk to San Pablo a nearby village. From there we took a collective pick-up, perhaps my second favourite part of the day. In part because I saw a woman who I swear, looked exactly like Grand Mother Willow from Pochahantus, and also in part to the six year old boy who stared at me the majority of the way up to the kick off point. I really did love the collective taxi ride up the switchback roads and admiring the incredible views of the lake below and the green mountains beside me. I also enjoyed watching the massive black birds fly up above.

When we finally made it up the mountain, Gui whistled for the collective pick-up to stop. We got off and started walking on foot to the run off point. The views of the lake were amazing and I was definitely impressed. The sun finally came out and the wind starting picking up, all of which made Gui very happy. After about 20 minutes, Gui had unpacked the gear and the winds had reached an almost favourable level. The man who lets Gui operate off his property came by to help send us off.

My only instruction was to get ready to run, run until we made it off the rocks. Our first attempt we had to stop because apparently I stopped running. I don’t recall this, but we stopped in time and re-set up. The second time was the charm and we were off and up. It was absolutely incredible. We flew within five feet of a hawk and flew with the birds the entire time. I cannot describe to you the sensation of being up there. All I can say is that it was truly an amazing experience and it felt incredible to be flying up above the hills watching the birds swell around with you.

After too little time, Gui was making our way back down toward the landing strip. This also meant that we had to go over part of the Lake, which actually was part of my favourite moments. Seeing the blue water below my feet was wonderful! The part that was perhaps the greatest was realizing that we were landing in a cow pasture. With cows. Gui told me to stand up and get ready to run upon landing. Little did I know the wind kicked out and I managed two steps before sliding to a stop. Luckily I missed the manure. But there was a moment when I seriously thought we would hit a cow, and that mental image made me laugh rather hard. Both Gui and I survived the landing and had a quick celebratory hug. I took some photos while Gui packed up  his equipment for our ride back into town.

Landing strip...

Once back in San Marcos I made sure to wash myself off and then headed to the restaurant which is part of my hotel for a late breakfast. I had another veggie burrito with rice and beans while I studied past tense conjugations in Spanish. Then it was time for me to head to wait for the shuttle.

My ticket informed me to show up early, which really is quite a joke here as all of the buses and transportation is late. So I waited for 35 minutes for my bus to show up, but luckily I was able to talk to Brenda again and practice Spanish again. When the bus finally did arrive, my luggage was thrown up top and I found myself sitting next to the Guatemalteca with her one year old girl. She was from Jojotenango, a village really close to Antigua. I spent the first 45 minutes talking to her in Spanish learning about why she went to the Lake, what she does, about her other children, etc.

For me however, the absolute best part was when her daughter Sara woke up. That kid was absolutely freaking adorable with the chubbiest cheeks I have ever seen. So for the three hour bus ride I found myself staring into the big, beautiful brown eyes of this little baby laughing at her four tooth grin. Everyone on the bus was fairly enchanted with her and we all took turns (other than the couple in the frount row) trying to entertain her. Those three hours passed incredibly fast.

Also her mother, Blanca, tried to teach me some new words in Spanish. Hubo for fog and I have no idea how to spell it but I learned the Spanish word for waterbottle as well. When she got off she wished me well on my trip and I wished her well with her life. Definitely glad I ended up sitting next to her on the bus.

When I finally made it back to Antigua, I headed for Hostel Antigua in search of lodgings. After finally finding it, I made my way back to the Student Guesthouse I stayed at before to catch up with some friends of mine there. I ended up staying for dinner, meeting the new additions, playing Shithead, and finally heading out to Monoloco. The most memorable part, of an already memorable day is that I was able to see a friend of mine start an alcohol fire after a flaming sambuca shot on the floor of the bar. As scary as it could have seemed, it was definitely mostly funny.

I was back at my hostel around midnight and headed straight to bed. Unfortunately one of my fellow dorm room occupants had a wicked snoring problem and made getting to sleep difficult. Oh well, who needs to sleep anyway.