Did I mention I went bungee jumping?

Made it to Cape Town, folks! I’m all settled in Hout Bay, a suburb of Cape Town that is only a very scenic 20-minute drive from the City Bowl, and have survived my first week of volunteering at a preschool in the nearby township of Imizamo Yethu! But I’ll get into all of that in my next post. First of all, I’ll catch you all up on my last week of travelling along the South African coast!

Port Elizabeth was basically a bed to sleep in for the night. We arrived around 10pm and left around 7am the next morning. This unfortunately also meant that I couldn’t see my friends who live there, since we had no time. However, Port Elizabeth was the first time I spoke to my family on the phone since my first day in South Africa a week beforehand, and my first time to talk to Skylar on the phone since my layover in London THREE weeks beforehand! It felt SO great to hear his voice and, to top it all off, he got his NREMT results while we were on the phone and, of course, he PASSED! I’m so proud of him. And it felt really good to be with him in any way when he got the news.

The next morning was spent on the Baz Bus again. About 4 hours with the single most talkative bus driver I have ever seen in my life and, no, not in a good way (particularly for that early in the morning). But, we were thankfully rid of him once we arrived in Tsitsikamma, our next destination.

Once we got settled in our new backpackers lodge, we decided to go ahead and do our included canopy tour that day. We left around noon, and spent the early afternoon zip-lining between the canopies of different forest trees. It was lovely up there and some of the slides were pretty long and pretty fast. We had a great time and even the girls who were nervous at first were really mastering it by the end! But, just as it was in Swaziland, it was fun, but certainly not as thrilling as you might think.

However, after our included lunch, I and the other girls piled into the shuttle to visit a place with plenty of thrills and, admittedly, a place I was all but certain I’d never see: Bloukrans Bungy, the highest commercial bungee bridge in the world . . . Ok ok ok, I have spent much of my life slowly whittling away at my fear of heights, working up to skydiving, but the ONE and ONLY thing I knew that I would NEVER do was a bungee jump . . . But here’s where things went terribly and wonderfully wrong and something changed. I don’t know exactly what changed or how it changed, but change it did. All I had heard about for the past two days was this damn bungee jump, over and over again, and for one reason or another, I started to think, “Well, maybe I could do that . . .” But first, as always, I had to talk to people, ask lots of questions, and, if possible, see it for myself first. I messaged my friends Tracy and Megan and learned that the snap at the end wasn’t that bad and that Tracy was glad she did it, but would never to it again. I learned that most people’s scariest moment, other than the initial jump, is the first rebound when you are briefly back in a freefall. I learned that you’re not left hanging upside down for a really long time after your jump. I also had seen a promotional video on the Baz Bus that morning that showed a little more of how it actually looked and that it could even be fun! All of this information made it feel more real and more possible.

Joanne was also interested, which was another boost of confidence. I mean, I wouldn’t necessarily be alone out there . . . Kene, the only guy with us on the trip, had been excited about it the whole trip, but a day or two before we got to Tsitsikamma he decided that “it didn’t interest him” and if he spent the money, he’d rather spend it on skydiving . . . suuuuuuure. We’ll see about that here in Cape Town. He maintains that he didn’t chicken out, but I think that’s exactly what happened. Regardless, Joanne and I were ready to check this nonsense out and see if we had a shot in hell at actually going through with it.

We arrived at the site and made a beeline for the viewing platforms to get our first real look at this beast. I have to my honest, upon first sight my thought was something like, “Hooooolyyyyyyyy SHIT.” The bridge spanned a massive and deep ravine and from where we were standing, the ropes and platform were miniscule in comparison. My stomach was instantly full of butterflies. But then, something unexpected happened. The more Joanne and I looked at it, the more confident we started to feel! It was like my brain just said, “Aw, fuck it. You’re already here. Why not?!” Joanne and I looked at one another and decided: GAME ON.

After a quick bathroom break to avoid any embarrassing incidents, we were suddenly at the registration desk getting weighed and signing our lives away and handing over money. We were in it to win it, now! We had to rush a little bit because there was a group leaving in five minutes. Perfect: less time to think or chicken out. Once we were fitted with our harnesses, we met our fellow jumpers: Jack, a teenager from Britain whose parents brought him, and billy, an older man from the States, ex-Air Force, along with his wife who had done the jump 7 years earlier and was no present to offer moral support. With barely a pause, we were off down the path to the bridge! Our main guide for the next half hour or so, another Joanne, told us that our jump could reach speeds of 90mph, our rope would stretch out to about 180m (or about 590ft) of the 216m (or about 710ft) from the bridge to the ground below, and that we were going to have a great time . . . oh my GOD, we were really doing it! Joanne and I joked that he shouldn’t have told us all that until after our jumps, but honestly, I didn’t really know exactly how high it was until I did the conversion from meters to feet later that evening! I mean, shit! I’m glad I was blissfully ignorant at the time! But, man did I feel good! I was ready and I was excited.

Our first challenge was to make it to the jumping platform by way of a footbridge underneath the road with a floor made of a slightly heavier chainlink design, making it see-through to the ravine below. It also gave a little bit with every step. Thankfully, I was so pumped up for the jump that I made it across easily. I kept my eyes forward (except for one look out at the ocean and one glance straight down), walked quickly, and kept one hand on the railing. Once we were on the platform, I started to get even more excited. There were guys running around everywhere: taking pictures, setting gear, pulling ropes, and God only knows what else. But at the same time, they were all smiling, chatty, and striving to help us all relax and enjoy the experience. It was very comforting without bringing the energy down.

The order was decided (we think by weight) and it was to be Billy, Jack, ME, and finally Joanne. I tell you what, these guys were NOT messing around once it was time to jump. The jumper was sat down, strapped in, told one or two things about how safe it was, and they were off . . . off a bridge . . . In a flash, Billy and Jack had jumped and it was my turn. I at least got to see Billy come back up, so I knew that at least he had survived!

They sat me down on a block next to the platform and got to work. Securing padding on my ankles, tying a strap around the padding around my ankles (using a knot that he assured me would get stronger and tighter the more weight was on it) that could support a weight of more than three tons, and comforting me by saying that this was “100% safe.”

Suddenly, I was up, bunny hopping to the safety rail (since my ankles were secured together), they hooked and unhooked a bunch of stuff, they put their arms under mine, carried me to the edge with my toes hanging over, I lifted my head up, held my arms out, heard them shout “12345BUNGEE!!!” and I jumped.

I felt and thought so many different things over the next 30 seconds, but in the moment, my mind was completely blank. The first thing to set in was absolute TERROR. I wish my DVD had sound, because I hit an octive and decibel I thought impossible. I was in freefall more than 700ft from the rocky stream at the bottom of the ravine . . . What in the FUCK am I doing?!?!?!? And then, even before all the slack in the rope was gone, the beauty of what I was looking at and how I was looking at it struck me like a bolt of lightening. Billy’s wife, before our jump, had said that you feel like an angel in flight, seeing the world the way God sees it from heaven. And as stupid as I thought that sounded when she said it, that was exactly it. My screaming stopped. All I could hear was the wind rushing in my ears. And I gasped. Not from fear, but from wonder . . . Now, that is a feeling I will never forget, and although it felt like it happened in slow motion at the time, it probably lasted less than a second.

Then came the next bit of terror: the first rebound. Just like everyone had said, I bounced back up, my body rotated back to horizontal, and I was back in freefall. I think it’s only as scary as it is because you’ve already felt the relief of the rope catching you, so when that’s suddenly gone again, you do not like it.

After that, I just bounced up and down several more times, all the while feeling the rope tight around my ankles. At one point, I finally relaxed. You can see it in my video: my hands and arms have been out the whole time, but they suddenly just drop and hang over my head. It was then that I started to feel an intense self-pride. I was all alone, on the other side of the world, hanging from a rope, dangling upside down from a bridge. WOW. And all this from the girl who, less than a month ago, had said “NEVER” to the bungee.

I pulled my hands up to my head and face out of disbelief (and possibly thanking God for my survival). I could feel the blood rushing to my head and unable to escape my feet. Then, my savior arrived, introducing himself as Spider Man, turned me upright, and we were pulled back up to the platform. I was grinning like a damn fool when I was finally gently placed back on the platform. I did it. I made it. And it felt incredible.

The remaining two days of the bus trip paled in comparison to the bungee experience. I felt like I’d been admitted into a secret society. Now, when everyone asked if I did the bungee . . . I could say yes! But, our next stop was Cape Town, which would mark the beginning of the next chapter of my trip. We celebrated our last night together at the famous Mama Africa restaurant on Long Street. Everyone ordered something different so we could all try everything: I had the crocodile kebabs (sort of like a chewier, seafood version of chicken), but I also got to try a traditional beef dish, warthog, and ostrich!

The next morning I was picked up by my new volunteer coordinator, Shelby, and was whisked off to my new home away from home in Hout Bay, Cape Town, South Africa. It’s been a week and a half now, and I’ve seen and learned SO much already.

. . . But that’ll have to wait until my next blog post. Look out for it this weekend!