Now we'll get to the flying....

We arrived at Puerto Montt, Chile, a tourist village in the Lake District and finally got off our boat. Nice to hit solid land, however, I'm a little apprehensive as I won't be on solid ground for long, I'll be zip lining, but hey?? How bad can it be??? I've always wanted to do it and it's sort of been on my own personal 'bucket list'. Our little group numbers 14 brave souls and we're all in this together. Everyone is rather quiet on the 2 hour drive to the 'Adventure Canopy Lodge'. The coach ride winds around lakes rimmed by black volcanic sand and we stop at an alpaca farm and feed fuzzy baby alpacas who look like they just had too much collagen. They are very peaceful and friendly little guys who come right up to your face and seem to look at you quizzically. "How the hell did I get here?? Hmmm, and who are you?? What happened to my lips?" 

Several active volcanoes loom in the background quietly if ominously dominating the landscape and this is where we are headed. The zip line is on the base of the snow capped Osorno volcano and as it nears there is a palpable tension. Everyone's wondering if they signed up for the wrong tour. We keep looking to each other for support and understanding as we arrive at the lodge and get geared up in professional climbing gear and helmets by the smiling staff of non english speaking chileans. After a brief lesson, up the volcano we go past sheep, cows and horses, up, up, up in a bouncing open air farm vehicle. No one is talking and nervous laughter is the only sound as we pull up to the small wooden suspension bridge that takes us to the first platform. At the first platform, one by one, we're hooked on to the cable and told to "GO!" which basically involves holding on for dear life and keeping your legs crossed. The standing on the platform thing is not for the faint of heart and the waiting until it's your turn is just next to unbearable. We are in a leafy canyon standing on a 5 ft. square rickety wooden platform 100 ft up. Suddenly it's my turn and I'm clipped on and it's go time. AYE YI YI!!! FatCat is not looking so FatCatish any longer as he is behind me, but I jump off and there's no turning back and I fly. REALLY FAST!!! It's really fun!!! Right through the trees. Then you have to 'brake' as if that was even possible under the circumstances of terror/mach 5 body speed. The next platform appears in front of you and a guide helps you on and straps you to a tree so you don't stumble on your shaky legs and kill yourself. Soon you're buckled on to the next line and ZOOM, off again into the green tangle of trees. Wowzer!! Gets the heart pumping like nothing else. So now we all think we have this down and we're old pros as we happily zig zag down the face of the mountain laughing at what a lark it is. Until we arrive at the Big Daddy. The Grandpappy of zip lines. Our whole group stands there shocked and stoic and I seriously think, no fuckin' way man. Get me outta here. It's close to 1000 feet drop across one side of a huge open canyon to another. Did I forget to mention the unbelievable scenery around us at that point??? Probably!!! I was almost wetting my pants with terror and I may as well have been surrounded by graffiti strewn ghetto walls. Who cares about a bunch of plants and lakes when faced with imminent death? 

Anyhow, drama aside, my time came and there was no going back. I climbed up on the platform like a man on death row, got clipped on, got religious and went. Mainly because other people were watching. And you know what? 

It was totally breathtaking great and flying through that canyon was just beautiful and one of the coolest things I've ever done. 

And guess what I got handed at the bottom??

A Pisco Sour.  And this time I earned it!!