Now thats what im calling "Good Family Bonding"

We awoke early, well, not really. It was about 9 when we all finally managed to get out of the Hostel and to La Casa Hood for breakfast. Casa Hood is this chill little restaurant that has a very indie-hippie feel to it. Brightly colored with vibrant reds, and deep blues, sunshine yellows, and hand painted art on all the walls this place has a definite home like feeling too. Its cozy and friendly. Becky and I both ordered whole wheat pancakes, the size of our heads, that came with banana, grapes, yogurt, and your choice between maple and strawberry syrup. They were delicious!

We decided that we would go for a drive with José and look at all the waterfalls that are outside of Baños. We all hopped into the car and started driving through the mountains. Oh did I forget to mention that Baños literally on the base of an active volcano? We saw it erupting on the way in last night! The mountains here are so amazing. If you can imagine it, think about Jurassic Park, but better. The mountains rise out of now where and are massive green mounds of majestic beauty. They surely have been carved and decayed slowly over the centuries given the river that flows through them. I have thought so many times these past two days, and i am quite serious about this, but I'm sorry... you have not lived your life until you have visited the Andes here in Ecuador. They are truly inspiring and motivational.

Inspiring and motivational enough to JUMP OFF TWO BRIDGES!! And that is exactly what i did. Hehe. So we´re driving along and José says, "here is where they jump from bridges, lets go look." So we park up the road a little, across the street from a broken water pipe that was spilling water everywhere, and we walked down to the two bridges to watch the other people jump. We arrived amongst the crowd starring at this little Asian woman standing on top of the ledge of the higher bridge. She looked horrified. She finally had to climb onto the other side of the stone railing and jump backwards. The whole crowd gasps as she falls, flipping upside down and swinging underneath the bridge. A cheer breaks out and she becomes famous for the next 5 mins until everyone gets on the tour bus and leaves. I turned to Becky and said, "We have to do this!" José yelled for the guy whose in charge and two seconds later he pops up with a harness for me, and before i know it I'm strapped into those 5 words i said to Becky moments before.

The little bridge lay before me first. It looked a lot easier because off the bigger one you had to literally dive into the depths below. So i climb over, thinking that: "i have nothing to fear but fear itself. These people depend on this business, they cant let me die, besides, I've seen two other people jump before me, its safe... right? It has to be safe, I'm already over the railing and leaning over the edge, i cant turn back now. 1, here it goes. 2, don't touch the rope, you gotta do it Hawaiian style arms out! 3, JUMP!" I swear i was in the air it felt like for 2 seconds before i touched that rope and dropped below out of site of the crowd on the bridge behind me. The video shows different... It looks as though i immediately jump and then throw my arms out and grab the rope and then drop, but whatever, does it really matter? I jumped off a Fuçkºñ¿ bridge! Bungee jumped that is...

I swung back and forth over the river below, leaning back and taking in the victory of the fall and with my heart racing, i was ready for more, and it was coming. The bigger bridge was about 15-20 higher than the other and it was positioned about 20 feet from the lower bridge so there is a nice view of the faces of everyone that jumps off the big one!

I ran up the steps under the bridge and ran around to the bigger bridge, all the while panting, and when i was walking up to the position there was a group, or maybe a family, and was standing there cheering me on. "You can do it" said the Dad, "Good luck" his daughter said to me. "Is your heart racing after that other bridge?"

"Of course," i replied.

The guide showed me how to jump/dive off the higher bridge and then he lead me up the stone railing onto the ledge. "Ready my friend?" He yelled at me while i was focus on focusing on nothing. I replied yes unwillingly. "OK, ready..." "NO, Wait!" I jumped down from the ledge asking where do i put my hands, he never mentioned the hands! It apparently doesn't matter where the hands go.. Ok fine. So i get back up. "The further out the better," is what they told me, and i took that to heart. One, sh¡+. Two, you can do it i thought to myself. Three....... I leaped with all my force forward, bending at the knees and lunging off the ledge of the bridge. The other bridge dropped out of view as my body fell, head first, towards the river below. All i remember seeing is a swirl of green and tropical plants, a rough tug on the legs and shoulders and then the view of the rapids flowing below me upside down as i swung with the force of the fall out of sight behind the other side of the bridge.

What an amazing rush! It didn't hurt at all! Almost every single person who jumped before me looked as though they didn't do a complete flip so when the rope pulled tight it whipped them like a rag doll through the air, throwing them underneath the bridge and into the air on the other side. I made sure that wasn't going to happen and i launched like a said before. Swinging back and forth underneath the bridge i yelled out from below, "Otra Vez!" It would have been totally worth it! I have now officially bungee jumped and jumped off a bridge, wait, two bridges!

This experience is one of those that you can not think about, and you just have to do it. How often are you in South America, one? And two, how many times do you find such cheap bungee jumping!? It only cost 25$ for the two jumps! That's insane!

Becky was next... And she explains well, her thought process in her blog.. here is a link.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog&friendID=79476795

José´s jump is covered in Becky´s blog too.

A little later Becky, José, and I went and visited "El Pailon del Diablo." Its this massive waterfall, most massive i have ever seen in my life, and ill post later about it because i have to run now. I'm in an Internet cafe with Becky and I don't have money on me to pay for the bill so it´s her time I'm on. Ill post later!