It is easy to spend money here in Mérida and it is easy to find people who wants your money. If you are after adventure and adrenaline, Mérida can deliver most activities. From rafting to climbing, from canyoning to paragliding. During the past couple of days, my experience in high altitudes have gotten bigger. Flying high over one of the best paragliding sites in the world was an amazing experience. Beeing pulled up the side of the mountain by a big cable to reach the final altitude of 4765 meters above sealevel made me realise, that Edmund Hillarys effort in 1953 was a truely heroic achievement.

The thermic winds in the Sierra Nevada valley, makes the area around Mérida perfectly suited for paragliding. Building strength in the lower areas of the valley and gushing up the mountainsides, the wind is just asking for mad people to play with it. The paragliding community here is very professional and you will find some of the best pilots in the world here. Having both setting and experience as key factors before take off, you can’t do anything else than to enjoy the adrenalinerush it will give you.

I didn’t even plan on going, but Chuck (an American "dude") loured me to join him. Not even knowing really what I agreed to do, we signed up for a the evening trip that would start around 15:00. The nervousness didn’t set in, before we arrived to a place, where we needed to wait for the wind to settle. The wind was too strong and it made gliding impossible. I’ve read about a paraglider, who got trapped by the strong wind last year, and she was pulled 10.000 meters up in the air. Suffering from the cold and very thin air, she amazingly survived - her paragliding buddy did not. Having this in mind, I thought waiting for less strong wind was the only option, but I still wanted enough wind to stay in the air for a long time. Feeling a bit undefined, I didn’t know if I was nervous, hungry, ill or anxious, I just wanted to get it overwith. After signing a contract, where I had to agree to have understood the "physical risks" (a.k.a. falling down) of paragliding, I didn’t want to wait too long to start my ride. When we finally sat back into the car, I knew we now were on our way to the scary sensation of freedom.

The narrow winding roads up the side of a huge Andes hill, led us up to the plateau where we should jump from. Situated on a ridge on the mountainside with wind literally crawling up the mountainside, I had no problem to understand both the physical risks of paragliding and why this is a good place for gliding. At the one side of the plateau, the drop where we should throw ourselves into thin air made us realize that we really had to trust the equipment and the pilot. I know for sure, that if the paraglider somehow collapsed above our heads, we would have no chance of survive the fall with less than fatal wounds. At several small trees and bushes around the plateau, there was small strips of plastic, used as wind indicators. It is the first time in my life, that I have seen wind indicators pointing upwards and I immediately assumed that the updraft in this area was pretty strong. Most people wore a hat to prevent the wind from ruining their hairdo, but the ones not having a hat or cap, really felt the wind messing with their hair. Strapping up, putting on the gear, adding an extra layer of warm clothes to keep the chilled mountain air out and sticking my head into an all too small helmet, I was just waiting for the pilot to shout the order to go. Minutes past by and nothing happened. More minutes past by, and I thought that the suspense was getting more and more unpleasant. Suddenly another pilot came running through the crowd shouting "go, go, go!!". The pilots seemed to have some sort of personal relationship with the updraft and knew exactly the right time to run of the cliff. In just a few seconds, they were in the air, and my pilot started to rush me over to the edge of the cliff. Performing his last second preparation and making sure that I was actually properly strapped to him, we prepared for take-off. Instructing me how to behave and how to make sure that we got in the air, he suddenly shouted "run, run, now, now!!". Before I got a chance to think, we were running towards the steep drop in front of us - hoping that the paraglider would fold out and that I actually was running together with him (I didn’t actually feel him behind me). For a split second I thought that I had to run pretty far and I started to get a bit worried that I actually was running alone, but a sudden jolt in my shoulders made me realize that I was pulled up into the air by the strong wind. Getting the normal merry-go-round kind of tickling sensation in my stomach and feeling a bit weary when entering the first spirals, I thought that if the ride would continue this way, I probably would have a hard time keeping my lunch in my body. Adjusting to the motions of freeflying, enjoying the constant strike of wind in my face, relaxing in the abnormal seating position and looking at all the details of the harness and glider, I felt more safe and I was ready to enjoy the small dosage of adrenaline and the visuals of it all. Feeling like a leaf caught in powerful updraft, floating in the wind as a piece of wood at sea with no chance of interfering with the situation I was in, I had lots of time to admire the sensation and feel the release of freedom that it uncovered. Ascending, descending, turning and swirling around the plateau where we took off, seeing more and more gliders enter the air, I actually felt a bit bored after a while. We were doing the same routines over and over again, and what was amazing the first time, became less and less amazing the fourth and fifth time. Changing the course of flying a bit, we flew further into the valley, to get an amazing view of the whole valley in both directions, spotting the place were we would land, getting higher into the air and seeing the birds below us gave the edge back to the flight. Feeling the power of the wind and having no sensation of speed or altitude, I could only trust the built-in mechanism in my body to determine direction and/or speed. The strangest thing in this situation, is that your body knows what is happening, but your eyes cannot see it. Unlike driving fast in a car on a straight road, the body cannot feel the speed, but the eyes can see the speed. Speeding though a number of corkscrews to make a fast descent before landing, we would still be relatively high up in the air and to high to have an overview of the altitude. I know, when we made the sudden drop, that we were falling, and we were falling fast, but I had no chance to actually see how fast or how much we dropped, and this sensation is probably one of the strangest sensations I have ever had. Performing a number of twist and turns before preparing for a smooth landing, the adrenaline level increased in the same speed as getting sad about ending the trip. At this point, I was very comfortable and wanted a more wild ride. I wanted more and the ground kept on coming closer. The landing was smooth, a slight feeling of disappointment arose and everything I had left were tons of pictures and vague memories of it all. It happened so fast, and the one hour we spent in the air did not feel like that. Completely out of energy, gulping down the mandatory "I survived" beer, we were heading for home - to my bed and to the certain knowledge that the air is not a natural place for human beings. We can enjoy it a lot, but we will never rule it.

High altitudes have never revealed its real strength to me earlier, and the closest I have been to a high mountain, is through the Discovery Channel. In the comfort of my own home, I have been on the top of Mount Everest, K2 and I have been crashing into a snowcovered Andes, barely dressed to survive a cool night in the lowlands of South America - knowing that the freezing temperatures of the Andes probably would kill me within a few hours. I never understood what the thin air really did with the body and mind and I had only heard of, how fast the weather changed higher up. El Teleferico in Mérida is the highest and longest cable car in the world and it would be very stupid to have spent so much time here, and not see the end of the cable. The trip up the mountainside, is split into 4 legs. The first leg will bring you up to approximately 2500 meters of altitude. I was not nervous for falling down or that the view from the top would be ruined by clouds - my worst fear, was that I would get sick from the altitude. Constantly trying to recognize how the body reacted, I was searching for the symptoms of altitude sickness. The first leg passed by without problems and we entered our first stop, and first break, after only 12 minutes. To let people adjust to the hight, they let us wait for about 10 minutes, before we take on the next leg. I met 2 American guys and a Venezuelan the night before, at the hostel, and we decided to take the trip together. We were all exited and none of us felt anything during the first 25 minutes. The second leg would bring us up to approximately 3600 meters of altitude. Ascending at this tempo, many people would have a reaction to the altitude. One of the guys we went up with, started to feel a bit strange. Not knowing if it was the effects of too many drinks the day before or if it was the power of the thin air that made an impact on his sturdy body, he decided to step off the cable car - a decision that he later regretted, but it was already too late to continue to the top. The last trip down from the mountain, is at 13:00 and he wouldn’t be able to get that ride down, if he continued to the top. Feeling kind of strong still, the three of us continued the trip to the top and after another 11 minutes, we arrived at 3600 meters for the next 10 minutes break. Now we all felt a bit lightheaded, I found myself stumbling over some words, but my mind and body worked kind of as they should. Drinking a lot of water, as I had been advised, we continued to the next station, some 4500 meters up the side of the mountain. The weather suddenly changed and we would enter the clouds halfway up the 3rd leg. Feeling the chillness of the clouds and surrounded by white, the visibility was only 4-5 meters in front of us. The only view we had, was of the cables vanishing into the white, cottony clouds in front of the car and it all were a bit strange. Not knowing where we were going and not knowing how high up in the air we were, it was almost like entering a really bad Hollywood horror movie. People would scream when the car passed the pillars that hold the cable, falling a few meters and taking on the next long stretch of cablecrawling. The next station would suddenly appear out of the fog and we all felt strong enough to take on the last leg - up to the final destination of 4765 meters above sea level. When walking about in this altitude, everything seems strange and unfamiliar. Feeling somewhat intoxicated, the steps are not as stable as normal and the lungs are a bit more useless than normal. Just walking up the stairs to the café at the upper floor of the station building was an effort and walking about outside on the mountaintop was even more difficult. Short of breath, slightly dizzy, kind of drunken steps and most things were a bit more funny than they actually were, the sensation of the altitude was there, but not being able to see anything apart from the clouds, made the experience a bit amputated. The great visibility, that would have been there on a clear day, was not there and looking at the sign stating "danger - you can really hurt yourself if you fall down here", didn’t really make an impact on me, as I didn’t even see where I actually would land (and get seriously hurt). Staying 30 minutes in "funny land" and drinking an excellent cup of hot chocolate, the descent presented us with some of the effects of the altitude. Getting seriously tired on the way down was the only thing I needed to take a nap between 2nd and 3rd station - a re-energizing nap with strange dreams. I was on my way down from the highest altitude I have been - the crane survived and it probably set a world record of being the "first crane statue in the world at 4765 meters of altitude". Maybe I should apply for a place in the Guinness book of Records, as I have been unable to find a record that would beat it.

Surrounded by too many nice people, they somehow have tricked me into staying in Mérida, Venezuela, much longer than I wanted and had planned. My conscience has blackened because I have broken my own promise to myself, but everyone tells me, that South America is full of places without any atmosphere and when finding a place with atmosphere, I should enjoy it for the time it lasts. Everyone here at the hostel I am in, have been here for longer time than they planned and that is kind of comforting. We have good conversations, the crowd is very diverse as we are represented by England, USA, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland and France. My reasoning for staying was something like this:

I really need some food. Pizza would be a good thing, as I don’t risk getting sick from to many bacterias in poorly washed salad. What time is it? 1,5 hour before I need to leave this place. "Hey Will - how long did you have to wait for the pizza?". "20 minutes". That’s not bad - I could leave, get the pizza, get back, eat it and still have plenty of time before I need to leave. My bag is almost packed, I have checked out of my room, so I just need to feed myself. Spending way too much time on getting the pizza, 20 minutes was a some kind of a joke and I spent more like 45 minutes before I got my pizza. Eating it, looking at the time, I only had 15 minutes before I needed to leave. My bag is not properly packed. Shit - I am not going to make it. Venezuela is playing their Copa America game in this town tonight, people want me to stay, everyone want to party. Should I stay? Time passes by and maybe the time will make the decision for me? "Hey Stefan - do you have a spare room I can stay in for the night?". "No". Shit - I do not have a place to stay for tonight, and I know that all cheap rooms in the town are occupied because of Copa America. I need to decide quickly. Do I have the energy? I ate my first proper meal today and I really don’t know how my stomach will react to the amount of solid food I had today. I ate some solid food at a time I shouldn’t have some days ago, and I woke up with cramps. Do I want to have cramps on the bus? No. It is in the beginning of my trip and I have stayed here way to long for my taste, and I should really be going. I want to go with someone though. Will is leaving for Colombia in 2 days - I could just go with him. Nicole has her 30 years birthday in 5 days, Imil is leaving in 13 days. No way I am going to stay that long, but Nicole’s birthday would be a shame to miss. That means that I have to leave on Sunday. One week later than planned. Do I want that? "Hey Imil - what time is it?". "15 minutes to late for your departure". "Nicole, give me some rum and coke!".

Will haven’t left yet - we should have gone 2 days ago. We made a promise to go on Sunday. We will go, Will, won’t we? We wouldn’t want to spent our last days here, would we? We will not write our wills here, Will? I will not accept that. We will go on Sunday - Will and I.