One of my biggest fears was bungee jumping. Which to me, meant that if the opportunity arose – I had to do it. Thus, when we came to Nepal and stumbled upon a resort that happens to have the 2nd highest bungee in the world, and the highest canyon swing, I had to go!
The drive up was actually the scariest part of the day. We hopped on a bus at 7AM, and headed 3.5 hours into the mountains. The road out of the city was like any other Kathmandu city… which mimics that of an alley and I will forever question how they get buses around the corners. When we started climbing the mountain the road switched dirt, and the scenery became greenery, and there became more bumps in the road than the suspension system of the bus could handle. I was unable to read, not because it made me sick, but because I couldn’t hold the book still! There were points that I would look out of the front of the window and wonder where the road went, and the bus would plow through what seamed like a dirt field. Other moments that we had to stop, and back up on the side of a mountain because the turn was too small for multiple vehicles and we had to let another bus pass the other direction. There were even times I would look out the front of the bus and thought would I take this road on a four wheeler? Probably only if my Dad went first!
However, when our guide (the pastor we had met the day before) exclaimed “we’re here!” All the nerves rose to my throat. We got out of the bus, used the squatty potty, and then headed over to a cable suspension bridge that doubled as a pathway for locals to cross the canyon, and a platform for tourists to leap from with the hopes that a rope would safely catch them. As we walked across the bridge some people couldn’t look down, while some people could keep their eyes off the canyon, I stopped multiple times for photographs. I’m not afraid of heights, so the swaying bridge in it of itself was fun, but the thought that I am soon leaping head first toward the river below was unnerving.
We went to an orientation where the “bungee master” leaped off of a chair, and I walk away not quite sure how to safely jump off a bridge – but they said “we’ll go over it again on the bridge, lets go!”. So we shuffled back to the swaying cable bridge. On the bridge they put us in jumping order, and I was 2nd to last out of 7. So I watched 5 people either confidently, or not so confidently go against all human instinct and jump. It wasn’t until they put my harness on that I got really nervous. This is happening I thought to myself. Why did I sign up for this I thought, and often spoke out. We went over how to safely jump off a bridge again and I found that had retained more information from the orientation that I thought, so that was comforting.
“Are you ready?” The guide enquired as he stretched his hand out to me. I smiled and grabbed his hand to help me stand up since my feet were now tied together at the ankles and my balance was a little off. I had to duck under the hand rail leading to the platform, wait for them to secure all the cables and strings, and then penguin shuffle to the edge until my feet were half off. From there I just had to lift my hands up to an outstretched sort of Jesus take me now position, bend my knees, and jump – head first – to the river 500 feet below.
“3! 2! 1!” The guide yelled from behind me as I did all the steps and took all the breaths.
“JUMP!”
Then I was free falling, staring down at the river with a greenish hue, polka doted with grey rocks, surrounded by greenery.
I don’t remember if I screamed, although I probably did. I wasn’t scared during the free fall, I was able to keep my eyes open and watch as my body rapidly descended toward the earth, and then there was a crescendo of tension on my body as the shoulder straps, hip wrap, thigh harness, and ankle ties, began to pull against all my momentum and then draw me up, away from the earth. At that point I could take a breath in, and really take in the beauty of the canyon, and relax from the adrenaline that had carried me off the bridge. As I began my second free fall that wasn’t nearly as fast or as far I rested in the fact that I was hanging upside-down from a bridge. I bounced around a bit and laughed at the fact that bungee jumping scared me, and took a breath of relief thinking about how I had just faced one of my biggest fears. I had always been afraid of the whip at the bottom, but it wasn’t a forceful whip as much as a slow cradle and lift back upwards.
I thought about how my mom always tells me to face my fears, and how she told me not to bungee jump in a foreign country – so I guess I made my mom face her fears too! But it’s a good lesson to instill in your children, and I am thankful that when I am afraid of something I hear my mom saying “get back on that horse, don’t let fear cause you to not do something.”
