Bungeeeeeeeee!

That's right! I went bungee jumping! It started Monday night, when one of the other girls at my homestay told me she was going bungee jumping the next day and, of course, I wanted to go too. So when we got to Maximo the next day, I signed up. It was $65 for transportation from Maximo, the jump, a t-shirt, and a video. So at 1:00, the guy came and picked us up. Mercedes and I to jump, and Marisol and Crystal to watch. It was about a 45 minute ride out to the place, which was absolutely beautiful by the way. The the two of us had to basically sign our lives away. I thought it was curious that there was only one sheet of paper for bungee jumping when there were like 5 for skydiving. Anyways, I made sure to go to the bathroom before we went out on the bridge. There was another group that was going to do it, so we watched a couple of them do it first. This made me a little more confident, since none of them died. Then it was my turn. Mercedes and I had flipped a coin so that I had to go first. I got all strapped in and worked my way to the edge of the platform, and chickened out. They kept telling me not to look down, but I had to get my toes right on the edge, so I kept looking at my feet to make sure I wasn't stepping over the edge, and that meant that I looked down, so I ended up chickening out and making Mercedes go first.

Then finally, I had to do it. I honestly considered just not doing it, but I would have still had to pay half of the money, so I figured I might as well just get it over with. I looked up not down as I inched my way to the edge and held onto the guy and told him to tell me when to stop. Then everyone counted down from 5, and I jumped. It was seriously the scariest thing I have ever done in my entire life; even scarier than skydiving. I think the difference is that when you skydive, you're strapped to another guy who knows what he's doing, and he controls when you go. All you have to do is sit there and let it happen, whereas with bungee jumping, you have to be the one to jump. I don't even remember the initial fall. I felt it in my back a little bit with the bungee first caught me, and that got me worried. My biggest fear going in wasn't really the height so much as getting whiplash or something else that was a lasting hurt. After that first tug though, my back felt fine. So then I swung back and forth a couple times. When I finally slowed down and was waiting for them to lower the rope to haul me back up, all I could do was hang there and stare at the ground. I almost felt like I was going to be sick, and when I tried looking up for the rope, I got really dizzy. So I just concentrated hard on the ground and not throwing up. Eventually, the rope reached me and I had to do like a mini sit-up in midair to attach the hook to my harness. When they flipped me back upright, I was so relieved because I finally didn't feel like I was going to be sick anymore. It took the entire drive back to the city for my heart to calm down and for me to stop shaking. Then this morning my abs are really sore from curling up in midair.

Last night, the girls wanted me to come out with them, but I didn't really feel like going out with all the loud music and dancing, so I made Marisol and the guys walk down to the market with me to get some milk and snacks. The guys ended up catching a bus from there to go see a movie, and Marisol and I took a taxi back to the house. We felt kind of silly taking a taxi for that short of a distance, and the meter didn't even go up from the initial charge. But my way of thinking is I would rather spend the dollar for the taxi ride back than risk getting robbed on the walk back in the dark. So when I got back, I warmed up a cup of milk, opened my bag of fake cheetos (they don't have real ones here) and read my book while watching the girls get ready. Once they left around 9:15, I laid down and read my book until I fell asleep.

I don't know if I just didn't sleep well or what, but when I woke up this morning, I felt like crap. My theory is that I was just suffering from a lack of sleep and dehydration, so I went down to breakfast, but then called Maximo to let them know that I wouldn't be going into work today. Then back upstairs and sleep for me. When I woke up again it was 10:45, so I got up, took a shower and rode the bus down to Maximo. Now I'm here waiting for the girls to show up so we can go get lunch at the sushi restaurant up the street, then mani/pedis. Today is Marisol's 20th birthday, so tonight we're all going out to this club called Nova to celebrate. It should be a good time, and a lot of people are going. I even heard a couple of people from Maximo who don't know Marisol saying that everyone is going out to Nova tonight to celebrate someone's birthday.