Friday (3/6/15) - I'll admit I was a little nervous, but far more excited. Romi kept making fun of me because I was nervous for skydiving. She said I weighed too much to be scared. Thanks Romi.
I was supposed to be picked up at the hostel at 1pm, so I got there at around 12:50 made sure everything was squared away with the receptionist. Then at 1:02 the receptionist got a call and I was to meet the driver on the street. I really had no idea what to expect so I left everything locked up at the hostel, only brought my travel cell phone and the money (which meant no pictures of my own, sadly).
The minivan pulled up, and I hopped in trusting it was the correct driver. It was, his name was Gabi and he owns/runs the skydiving place. Very nice guy. We swung by and picked up a native Argentinian and then headed out to the venue.
On the way we drove through McDonalds. They didn't ask, they notified me. I thought it was funny. And that confirmed how laid back the process was going to be.
The place was probably 10 minutes south of the city. In an open grassy area there were some humongous open garages obviously meant for planes and/or massive objects. "Rosario Paracaidismo" was the name of the place and they had it all set up for skydiving. When I got there, they were having an asado and probably 15 guys were partaking, all of them seemed like they were regular skydivers and employees of the place. There was one girl and she was on crutches, which kind of worried me, but the incredible pictures of skydivers in action all over the walls helped me be more excited than worried.
I sat around for probably an hour and a half as I relaxed, enjoyed the day, and watch a round of expert skydivers do their thing. I watched an intro video that was extremely simple and basically non-educative, and then we all watched the go pro videos from the helmets of the 3 guys who had just landed from their jumps. Their day jobs are just unreal.
I finally met Bocha, my tandem skydiving pro, and we started the process. He spoke great English, which was comforting. It was a very laid back process (I never signed a waiver) as he reminded me of the 3 simple things I had to know/do, and I got all strapped up. We did a mini interview on the GoPro before entering the plane with a capacity of 5 people. Not kidding, it was absolutely tiny. As we ascended, the view was incredible. It was a fun time taking pics/vids with the GoPro and laughing about previous experiences. One guy with a special parachute jumped early (if you can call it that, we were still very high) at about half of the target altitude. Then it was almost time for us to jump along with the other jumper, who was solo. Bocha got us all connected and I put my goggles on, but then we had to call an audible because a commercial plane was flying beneath us. So we did another 5 minute lap and didn't get any more comfortable in doing so. We finally opened the door and it became very loud. At this point my nerves spiked. I could not believe we were going to exit this plane at this height. The first guy jumped and I was instructed to put both of my legs outside the plane. Once I did that, everything became real. I had to actively breath heavily just to control myself. I just hung there (pun intended) for about 5-7 seconds, until we departed from the security of the plane. I forcefully braced for the first 4-6 seconds when my stomach dropped harder than ever, and then we were just falling and it was incredible. But in no way was it peaceful. We were going so fast and there was so much adrenaline that I couldn't really process what was going on. I goggles rode up on my face so I couldn't really get a good view either. All I could do was continue to brace, scream like Texas had just won the national championship on a hail mary, and enjoy the experience.
After what he said was about 35 seconds (seemed much shorter), Bocha released the parachute and we were jerked back into a floating pattern. It took me a few seconds to exit full-blown adrenaline mode, and then I realized how much the harness was hurting my upper legs. I guess Romi was right, I was pretty heavy. But then, we were just drifting through the air and it was everything it sounds like. The view was amazing and the feeling was tremendous. I couldn't comprehend that I was just floating in the middle of the air that high above the ground. Bocha let me use the handles to guide the parachute for a minute or two, but he said no backflips. I tried anyway but it didn't work.
The beautiful hang out in the middle of the atmosphere ended too quickly as we landed by sliding feet first safely into the imaginary third base. Then Bocha captured my final thoughts on the GoPro, which he had been holding in his hand and filming me the whole time, and we disassembled. I was so thirsty that I b-lined for 2 large glasses of water and so worn out that I had to sit and breath and enjoy the perfect weather for about 45 minutes while they prepared the video for me to take home. The dive took all my energy from me in like 5 minutes. ALL of it. I had never experienced anything like that.
After 5+ hours at the place, we went back home, didn't stop at McDonalds, and Gabi dropped me off at the hostel. Needless to say I had the time of my life and can't wait to do it again.
I was supposed to be picked up at the hostel at 1pm, so I got there at around 12:50 made sure everything was squared away with the receptionist. Then at 1:02 the receptionist got a call and I was to meet the driver on the street. I really had no idea what to expect so I left everything locked up at the hostel, only brought my travel cell phone and the money (which meant no pictures of my own, sadly).
The minivan pulled up, and I hopped in trusting it was the correct driver. It was, his name was Gabi and he owns/runs the skydiving place. Very nice guy. We swung by and picked up a native Argentinian and then headed out to the venue.
On the way we drove through McDonalds. They didn't ask, they notified me. I thought it was funny. And that confirmed how laid back the process was going to be.
The place was probably 10 minutes south of the city. In an open grassy area there were some humongous open garages obviously meant for planes and/or massive objects. "Rosario Paracaidismo" was the name of the place and they had it all set up for skydiving. When I got there, they were having an asado and probably 15 guys were partaking, all of them seemed like they were regular skydivers and employees of the place. There was one girl and she was on crutches, which kind of worried me, but the incredible pictures of skydivers in action all over the walls helped me be more excited than worried.
I sat around for probably an hour and a half as I relaxed, enjoyed the day, and watch a round of expert skydivers do their thing. I watched an intro video that was extremely simple and basically non-educative, and then we all watched the go pro videos from the helmets of the 3 guys who had just landed from their jumps. Their day jobs are just unreal.
I finally met Bocha, my tandem skydiving pro, and we started the process. He spoke great English, which was comforting. It was a very laid back process (I never signed a waiver) as he reminded me of the 3 simple things I had to know/do, and I got all strapped up. We did a mini interview on the GoPro before entering the plane with a capacity of 5 people. Not kidding, it was absolutely tiny. As we ascended, the view was incredible. It was a fun time taking pics/vids with the GoPro and laughing about previous experiences. One guy with a special parachute jumped early (if you can call it that, we were still very high) at about half of the target altitude. Then it was almost time for us to jump along with the other jumper, who was solo. Bocha got us all connected and I put my goggles on, but then we had to call an audible because a commercial plane was flying beneath us. So we did another 5 minute lap and didn't get any more comfortable in doing so. We finally opened the door and it became very loud. At this point my nerves spiked. I could not believe we were going to exit this plane at this height. The first guy jumped and I was instructed to put both of my legs outside the plane. Once I did that, everything became real. I had to actively breath heavily just to control myself. I just hung there (pun intended) for about 5-7 seconds, until we departed from the security of the plane. I forcefully braced for the first 4-6 seconds when my stomach dropped harder than ever, and then we were just falling and it was incredible. But in no way was it peaceful. We were going so fast and there was so much adrenaline that I couldn't really process what was going on. I goggles rode up on my face so I couldn't really get a good view either. All I could do was continue to brace, scream like Texas had just won the national championship on a hail mary, and enjoy the experience.
After what he said was about 35 seconds (seemed much shorter), Bocha released the parachute and we were jerked back into a floating pattern. It took me a few seconds to exit full-blown adrenaline mode, and then I realized how much the harness was hurting my upper legs. I guess Romi was right, I was pretty heavy. But then, we were just drifting through the air and it was everything it sounds like. The view was amazing and the feeling was tremendous. I couldn't comprehend that I was just floating in the middle of the air that high above the ground. Bocha let me use the handles to guide the parachute for a minute or two, but he said no backflips. I tried anyway but it didn't work.
The beautiful hang out in the middle of the atmosphere ended too quickly as we landed by sliding feet first safely into the imaginary third base. Then Bocha captured my final thoughts on the GoPro, which he had been holding in his hand and filming me the whole time, and we disassembled. I was so thirsty that I b-lined for 2 large glasses of water and so worn out that I had to sit and breath and enjoy the perfect weather for about 45 minutes while they prepared the video for me to take home. The dive took all my energy from me in like 5 minutes. ALL of it. I had never experienced anything like that.
After 5+ hours at the place, we went back home, didn't stop at McDonalds, and Gabi dropped me off at the hostel. Needless to say I had the time of my life and can't wait to do it again.
Saturday 3/7 - The worst part about this entry is that I already wrote about it and probably won’t be able to reproduce the same magic, but I can try.
Saturday I woke up and hopped in a car with Brendan, his girlfriend Flavia (native Rosarian), and Karen (recently packed up and moved to Rosario from New York state headed to the barrio Fisherton. Our new friends Camila and Cristian were hosting an asado at Camila’s family’s house specifically for us, it was bound to be a fantastic time. And it didn’t disappoint. The family was extremely hospitable as we hung out for an hour or two before food was served with some snacking items and beer/wine/water. Basically the entire conversation was in Spanish as I was by far the worst Spanish speaker there, but this was helpful as I was able to practice and grow. An asado is more of a term for an outing (from what I have gathered) and this outing was very special. It was only us four, all of Camila’s family (mom, dad, 2 brothers, and 1 gf), and Cristian (who was doing the actual cooking of the meat). We really felt included in the culture as the dad kept giving Cristian a hard time for how he was preparing the asado (even though it was tremendous), the banter at the table seemed like a normal Saturday afternoon, and everyone shared smiles. Cristian brought 5 rounds of painfully tasty meat to the table. Meat of different varieties including different parts of cow and pig, and it was all great. I was happily “SaltLick” full afterwards.
After eating, the parents and siblings left so it was just the six of us left to hang out around the pool, exchange stories and languages, and then watching the Rosario Central soccer game. It really was a day of “Buenas ondas” or good vibes as everyone simply enjoyed each other’s company.
After I got home and took a quick nap, I headed to Gabi’s hostel for a few beers before meeting up with Camila and her friends at an Irish bar down the street. It was fun to meet them and have an all Spanish adventure on my last Saturday night in Rosario. They apologized for taking me home early at 3:30am. The promised a better night next time. I wasn’t complaining.
Sunday 3/8 - I got in touch with a native friend Nati who was also interested in heading to the beach on that beautiful day, so we did. We met up, but unfortunately the buses weren’t running that day so we snagged a rather expensive cab up to the beach area. We simply hung out, exchanged languages, and eventually her sister and sister’s boyfriend joined. It is a very normal thing to go somewhere pretty and just hang out, Rosarians make time for these things. I specifically requested for the sister to bring some Terere because I think it is just perfectly appealing to the taste buds on a hot day.
I had to depart a tad early and head to Stephanie and Claudio’s house because we were going to watch Remember the Titans. I required the Claudio watch with me because I think it is such a fantastic movie with a great message, and Claudio had always been interested in learning about American Football. We watched on my laptop, and the whole family really loved it. It was in English without subtitles, so we had to pause every so often and catch Claudio up, but that only added to the experience.
I gave the family one last thank you and chau before I headed back home. They really are an awesome family and help a lot of people learn Spanish and English and have an amazing experience in Rosario, only because they love doing it, not because they want to.