Braving the Leap

Here I am, strapped in a harness standing on the edge of a 50m high bridge. I’m looking down at the impetuous river surging beneath me wondering what on earth I’ve gotten myself into. How did our day of leisurely bicycle riding take such a turn as to now find myself in this precarious position?

The day had barely begun when we turned a corner and pulled up to two parallel running bridges just outside of Banos, Ecuador. The bridge closest to us had a great congregation of people looking and cheering out at the other. We dismounted our bicycles and joined the crowd to see what all the fuss was about. On the farther bridge we noticed that a few locals had set up a ‘bridge jump’. No papers to sign and only $15 for your daily dose of adrenaline. We watched someone jump and considered doing it ourselves. It was a no-brainer, we couldn’t possibly get back on our bikes and ride past this as if we never saw it.

The locals eagerly pushed me along. Hastily, they strapped me into the harness and attached me to the rope. Overcome with trepidation I said nothing and asked no questions. All I managed to understand from their spanish was that they were telling me to jump head first, “like Superman”. My nerves overcame me and I began to shake. Goose bumps covered my entire body and the only thing I was aware of was my thousand-mile-a-minute heart beating inside my chest. I stepped up onto the ledge and looked down. This odd sensation of complete fear, yet unequivocal determination swept through me.

“ONE, TWO, THREE!”

I try to assume Superman position, wanting to jump with grace and pride, but I falter immediately. I hold my hands close to my chest as if I were a baby in my own arms and I simply take a step and fall. My death grip never ceases from the rope and my eyes are shut so tight that all I see is black. My entire stomach and chest seize and I cannot breathe until I finally feel the rope hit its end. A strong jerk of the rope sends me flying underneath the bridge and I finally open my eyes.

A large smile takes shape on my face and I instantly burst into a fit of laughter. I am now calmly swinging back and forth like a pendulum and it seems strange that after such an abrupt fall the moment can suddenly become so peaceful. Now that the ‘jump’ is over I actually feel quite content in this harness that not only a minute ago I dreaded.

I get pulled to solid ground underneath the bridge and queasily make my way back up to the road. With shaky hands I hand the man fifteen dollars. “Gracias,” I say. He laughs, stuffs the banknotes in his pocket and pats me on the back. I rejoin my friend who is surrounded by a cheering crowd of onlookers.