26 May
Sunday morning we drove to the Eastern Cape to an area
called Tsitsikamma where we went zip-lining in the rain-forest over some lovely
waterfalls. It was really high in some places, reaching 50m above ground, and
some of the lines were really long, reaching up to 200m. Zip-lining is fun and
exciting. This one seemed a tiny bit dangerous, just enough to give a tiny bit
of an adrenaline rush, but not much. I’ve zip lined twice before, both times in
Nicaragua, so it was nice to see how it’s done in a different facility in a
different country, but I also made me a tiny bit nostalgic for Nicaragua.
There
was a general tension in the group about bungee jumping, which was to occur
later that day. Everyone was nervous. People were joking about what they wanted
to be done with their bodies and possessions after they died. There was lots of
nervous excited chatter. Lots of trying to convince less enthusiastic
classmates that it would be the best decision of their lives if they decided to
join us. I was pretty dead set on going. I’d told myself back in the fall that
I would do this when I came to South Africa. The initial date was May 25
(although we changed it to May 26), but I had been telling myself for months
that on May 25th I would bungee jump the world’s tallest bungee. So
I couldn’t back out now. Not after I made it through that adventure caving
experience. There of course was always the “this is crazy and what if I am the
lucky person whose cord snaps and I fall and die” thought at the back of my
mind. But I kept on convincing myself that that would NOT happen. If it was a
serious risk, the company wouldn’t exist and people wouldn’t do it regularly.
After
zip lining, our tour guides/drivers took us to a gas station/rest area that was
right next to a giant bridge stretching out over a gorge. I walked out into the
middle and told myself to look down and think – could I jump off this bridge if
I had a bungee attached to me. I really couldn’t decide.
 |
| My foot dangling over the edge of the bridge |
We
then drove to Bloukrans bridge, site of the world’s tallest bungee jump! I paid
and told myself I can’t back out now. I went and got my upper body harness on
(it’s really only the secondary or safety harness that would be used in case
the bungee cord snapped). Then it was only a little after noon. And our bungee
jump time wasn’t scheduled until one so we had to wait…and watch the groups
ahead of us jump and scream and chicken out and the minutes dragged by.
 |
| Professional aerial view of the bridge |
 |
| The bridge on a sunny day |
 |
| Indian Ocean from the Bridge |
 |
| Catwalk to the bungee jump site |
Finally,
someone came to collect our group and we all huddled together and then started
our trek out to the middle of the bridge – along a catwalk on the bridge’s
underbelly because the bungee company operates on the underside of the bridge
because the top side of the bridge is all car lanes. I started singing the
Northwestern fight song to be silly and distract my nerves and everyone (the
Wildcats among us) started singing too. It was really fun. At this point
obviously I still had some nerves, but was about 5% nerves 95% excitement. One
of the people who stayed behind to watch in my group told me that on the video
screen I looked the most excited and least nervous! Whoooo!!! (It’s because the
caves were scarier for me.)
They
drew our assigned numbers randomly. I was J50 and was called third in line!!!!
The underside of that bridge was basically a giant dance party. 15 people in my
group went and we all stood around dancing and singing and cheering for each
person as they went. I didn’t really have much time to watch the first two
people, because I was getting suited up. They tie the bungee cord to your
ankles, which is kinda scary if you think about it. The guy said barefoot is
the freest feeling and jacket-less is also the freest feeling, so I opted for both
of those. It was drizzling a little bit. I had my ankles wrapped in the cuffs
and then a string tied around them and then the bungee was attached to that,
they asked me if I was ready and I said I was SO ready.
 |
| Me getting ready to jump... |
 |
| Me excited and happy |
 |
| Ready to go! |
 |
| Just before the jump |
I was carried (you
can’t walk because your feet are tied together) towards the edge. They asked me
what I was waiting for. I said I just had to be carried a tiny bit further, so
they did their final security check, carried me to the edge, and then I waved
goodbye to my friends, looked straight forward (they advise not looking down)
and they counted "5,4,3,2,1 bungy!" really fast and I just let myself fall.
 |
| Time to fly |
You
aren’t supposed to go feet first, so you have to kind of just gracefully dive
forward, chest and head out, arms spread out, and then pretty soon, you’re
flying head first towards the ground, 216 meters away at 9.8 meters per second
squared. I had a whole new concept of gravity. I started screaming as I fell
off the bridge and my brain’s natural instincts kicked in and told me I was
falling too far and too fast and was going to die, then I remembered I had a
bungee and that the next fifteen seconds would be the best of my life so to
enjoy them! I couldn’t make any noise for the rest of the first fall. I don’t
know if I was going too fast or if my lungs were not working or what was wrong,
but my mouth couldn’t make any noise. There was no whiplash at the bottom of
the bungee, I flew back up soaring in the air. Trees and mountains and ocean
and floor whizzing by. I screamed a giant WAHOO! And an I did it! And a This is
beautiful! It truly was beautiful and impressive. I was so excited. And of
course the adrenalin kicked in and it was amazing. I oscillated up and
downa
few more times and then
finally came to a stop and was just hanging in the air staring at the ground
below me and I peeked up at the bridge above me, waiting for the Spiderman guy
to come rescue me.
 |
| Hanging |
 |
| Me getting reeled back up |
 |
| Go 'Cats! |
 |
| I DID IT!!!! |
The
spiderman dude was lowered down from the bridge and strapped a cord on me that
the guys on top of the bridge reeled up. He asked me how it was and I said it
was the best thing ever and that it was freaking incredible. He told me his
name was Ryan and reached out his hand to meet me. Haha! That is definitely a
new way for me to meet a guy. Haha! We had a conversation in which he asked me what
the tallest bungee I’d jumped before was and I told him it was my first. But
then he didn’t believe me. I was like why start small? If I’m going bungee
jumping, I might as well do the world’s biggest. I was reeled in upside down
and then got to the top of the bridge and was released from the cord and the
ankle bracelets and ran to meet my friends who were screaming and happy. It was
so amazing. The adrenaline kept me dancing and enthusiastic and pumped for
everyone else’s jumps. It was so fun!
After
we all jumped and walked back up to the stable ground and reunited with our
group, we ate lunch and got back on the road. It was remarkable how the
adrenaline crash hit us all…and everyone fell asleep.
We arrived at Tsitsikamma National
Park and hiked along some sea cliffs and suspension bridges taking in the
gorgeous scenery. I was exhausted, but it was beautiful!
 |
| Photobombing |
 |
| Suspension Bridge!! |
 |
| Hope and I started posing for this pic and almost fell off the bridge when the pic was taken; hence our facial expressions. |
 |
| Neharieariah explore sea cliffs |
 |
| What a cool day for this |
We drove straight to dinner at a
South African chain restaurant called Spur. Spur’s mascot is a Native American
Indian with the logo more culturally insensitive (offensive) than the
Washington Redskins. It is a Native American guy with a face painted bright
bright red and a massive feather headdress. It was mortifying. It is supposed
to be “American food” and just serves burgers and wraps and fries and shakes
and things like that. The inside was painted with teepees and our placemats had
weird fake Native American tales on them written in very odd language. We were
all cringing and commenting how such a place would in no way be allowed to exist
in America. People wouldn’t put up with it. I’m not saying there aren’t
cultural insensitivities in America, but sheesh, in post 1994 South Africa, I would expect the racism and cultural
stupidity to be restricted to informal ways like socioeconomic disempowerment
and violence and structural disadvantages, not popular restaurants with
grotesque cultural stereotypes that look like they’re straight out of a 1930s
western that talks about the red skinned Apaches running around screaming and
tapping their hands on their mouths as they scalp white men. (Grab head and
breathe deeply in frustration here.) Oh well? Needless to say it sparked a lot
of discussion and conversation around our dinner tables about the cultural
insensitivity and racism and oddity of having a Native American restaurant in
South Africa and what it represented and how people must perceive America and
do they associate Americans with Spur and lots of similar questions.
Nerdwestern for ya.
No comments:
Post a Comment