Paragliding

It was our friends birthday, and he wanted to go paragliding. It was definitely something both Mark and I have wanted to try in the past, but hadn’t found an opportunity. Thankfully for all of us, we happened to be in a perfect spot to give it a go. Medellin is relatively cheap compared to other places so we decided to book it and go for it. We woke up early in the morning, and ate a light breakfast - as directed by the adventure company - and patiently waited for confirmation. Jumping from a cliff attached to a fabric sail obviously has some rather strict guidelines when it comes to weather conditions.

Confirmation was received and our driver arrived shortly after. We soon began the drive up the long, twisted mountain road. After about half an hour of winding up and out of Medellin, we filled out the necessary paperwork and hiked the remaining bit to the top of the mountain. There were plenty of people floating above us in the sky, it looked pretty simple and we were excited to join them.

We didn’t get too many pictures, most of what was taken was video. We each had a go pro and were set to fly. Mark was quite nervous, he doesn’t love heights too much, but I was excited to jump off the cliff!

It was a smooth take-off for both of us and within a few seconds we were flying thousands of feet above the city below. Unlike skydiving or hang-gliding, the ‘pilot’ controls the altitude by catching rising pockets of heat from the earth which are used to brings us higher and higher. After a very intense 15 minutes, we circled back to the take-off spot and all made a graceful landing.

Check out the video here ! (Copy and paste into your browser) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KLdc21mUsA&t=57s

Overall Mark had such an amazing time, he loved it so much more than he expected. I had a bit of a rough time, due to the fact I get motion sickness. Since the glide takes off and lands at the same location they need to get high up in the air, which requires going around in circles to gain elevation. This didn’t sit well with me and I had to tell my pilot that I might get sick. Thankfully I didn’t and it was overall an amazing experience. Words cannot explain the views and the exhilarating experience of the entire thing. Overall it was amazing and I would do it again… After chewing on some ginger.