Pura Vida III- Kat on a Wire

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**Two relevant facts that you should know before reading this story:

1. I'm afraid of heights.



2. This is a fact that Steve, to the surprise of many, did not know before booking our next adventure....The one that would have me alone... strapped by a glorified belt and buckle...to, what I still say was a SMALL wire...

But wait...everyone always interrupts this part to ask, "How did he NOT know you were afraid of heights, you've been together 10 years, married almost 5??"

Okay, the shortest answer I can give is that I'm afraid of heights when it's extreme. Where one one slip, one mistake can have you plunging to your death...like standing too close to the edge at the Grand Canyon, (the part where there is no saftey barrier). But for the most part, I don't let it stop me. Besides...I mean really, in our everyday lives, it just doesn't come up that much.

So many of you have already figured out I am descriping a zipline adventure, but not just any zipline...Oh no.

Steve wanted his money's worth...and not knowing I was so afraid of heights...he picked the highest one...

656 feet up.

Wait, did you catch that?

SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY SIX FEET above the earth...

Look at the yellow box-Notice the lake..now notice how high above ground level the zipline actually is...how high up the mountain you are.


Okay, now that you know all this, I can start you off as my adventure did that day. Here we are after the fitting for our - oh so flattering helmets and harnesses, happily taking pictures and chatting with other people in the group...because at this point, I don't really know what I'm about to face...I'm thinking a lovely little zipline, through the trees...not so bad. I have a picture in my mind of ones I've seen, 20-40 feet off the ground, through beautiful forest...la-la-la...

We get into a tram that slowly takes you up the mountain...and we climb higher...and higher....


and higher...oh...
and wait........yes.....

Higher!

Notice me hanging on...gripping the cage?!





Notice how the beautiful lake is getting farther and farther from view...yea, I noticed it too.

By the way, that isn't fog...those are clouds, because we are high enough up now to be in the 'cloud forest'.


Well, we get to the top and I see for the first time what we will actually be doing. As the last member of the group before us is clipped onto the wire and is pushed (literally) off the platform by the 'helpful' guide...I hear screaming, then just this loud whizzing...like the sound your jacket made when, as a kid, you would play with your zipper, pulling it up and down really fast over and over...only this was deeper and more metallic.


My gaze followed that person out over the horizon and someone in our group says, wow that is really, really far to the next platform. (Yea, thanks for sharing). Then they just had to ask, "how long is it". . Then the ever so inquistive person also asks, "so how fast do we go?" Really? You really need to know this? Our guide kindly answers, "1,550 feet long and you'll go 45- 50 mph!"


WHAT? Oh come on now...really?


So, it should be of no surprise that I declare, nope, not gonna do it. No way- no how- not going to do it. Several people in our group agree. Well, while they are still deciding, they form a pow-wow circle to talk it over and the 'pc' version is, should we trust our lives to this little harness and wire?

Steve of course is supportive. The guides, sensing a coup, say we can do two test lines to see what its like. The test lines are five feet off the ground and are only 15 feet long. Then, if we decide not to go, we can take what they call, the "cobarde trail" (chicken trail to us gringos) and walk the walk of shame - off the platform (sounds like walking the plank, doesn't it?) - back up to the trams and take one down. BUT, (you just knew there was one right?!) if we decide to go for it, once you take the first non-test zipline, the only way down the mountain from there is to take ALL SEVEN...no turning back.


Okay the circle agrees, we'll all try the test run and THEN decide.

...So the test line wasn't so bad. Feelin' good, feelin' strong...I can do this I think as I turn around, and for the first time come face to face with the actual wire and the crazy height of the platform... off a clif. GULP. Uhhhh...hmmmm....well.....

Maybe not. My fear is palpatable. I can taste it, probably because I've stopped breathing. I think about where I am, the trip, my birthday, (okay, full disclosure...I think about the money I'd be wasting if I don't go), I try to convince myself of all the reasons why I should just go for it.

But, I'm frozen...mired in the most physical expression of personal fear I have ever felt.

And then, a thought pops into my mind...I can hear my good friend Noelle reading what she wrote in last weeks writing group...I hear her say that on her 40th birthday she made the decision not to let fear stop her from experiencing great moments in her life.


Fear - Death.

vs. Life, Joy, and Adventure...



I turn, walk right up and step up on the platform. The pow-wow group is still in their circle deciding. I look at Steve and say, "I've got to go now or I won't." He smiles, I can't. I take several deep breaths as the guide hooks me in. "Ready?" All I can do is nod. He pushes me and I go whizzing down the wire. I clear the trees...I am flying through the air, squeezing the handle...I start praying...please let me make it...please hurry...I am looking straight ahead... its just me, the wire, the harness and air. Halfway across the wire, you are so high up that the treeline of the old forest, (with 200 foot tall trees), is 450 feet BELOW you. There is nothing around you, no saftey net...I peek to the left for a brief second, the lake is beautiful but I can't look anymore...I still am griped by the fear. I may be flying in the face of it, but it has its claws around my heart, and I am trying to make it to the other side.

And I do. I make it.

And while I can't say that I loved it as much as I wanted to, as much as I imagined I would, by the end I did begin to enjoy it, (notice the differnce between the two smiles...the one above, is more like a grimace, clenching my teeth, and this one was taken at the bottom, much closer to the trees and the ground...so a much happier smile!!).

As so often happens in life, I wished I could go back up again and start over. But I am grateful for the opportunity to prove to myself that I can do anything that I set my mind to -
even in the face of fear.

After all, the only regrets we have in life are the risks we did not take.

Sounds like I'm brave, like I've conqured fear and won't let it stand in my way, like I get it- right?

Yes, for one shining moment (captured here, at the very bottom, the victory picture...the- yes- we're still alive- picture... I enjoyed sweet victory over fear...


Until the next day...


Steve Strikes again. (Did I mention he wanted me to have an adventourous trip?).