Brian's up but I go higher

It looks like we are nearly ready to continue on our adventure and start to head south. Brian's back is much better now and yesterday he managed to stay out of bed from 1pm until 8pm. This was helped by the fact that I left him at the surf shak drinking beer with Mark and, I found out later, Tony. Whilst he did this I was off with Becky doing a bit of tandem paragliding. Now I know that anyone who knows me well will be aware that I don't like heights, and the girls that came on my hen party were witness to me almost being reduced to tears and shaking like a leaf when I had to cross a rope bridge just 10 feet off the ground. The very idea of me strapping myself to a guy and jumping off a cliff will be difficult to believe but there is photographic and video evidence of this. Let me tell you how it happened.

In the morning I decided to go for a walk down the other end of the beach

to take a look at what was there. It was a beautiful, sunny day and to be honest I was starting to get cabin fever. Brian has done incredibly well to remain on the bed, despite being very, very bored. He has managed to keep himself occupied with the computer and the cell phone and has now got about 350 applications downloaded to the phone to help him with this. However, having spent 3 days virtually bed ridden, he was feeling much better so when I got back we went down to the surf shack for lunch. Becky joined us and as we were sat chatting Pete came out to tell us that the two guys booked for paragliding and cancelled and asked if Becky and I would like to do it in their place. Becky immediately said no but I asked if she would do it with me. Surprisingly she agreed. We then had to wait almost an hour during which time our enthusiasm started to wane and we were both becoming fairly quiet. This was not helped by Brian making up statistics of injuries and accidents from paragliding, informing us that some people are lost for days etc and reminding me that our insurance doesn't cover us for this type of thing. Eventually the landi came for us and we very sheepishly climbed aboard.

Again we were both very quiet travelling up the cliff, but remained determined to see it through. I was the first to get strapped into the harness and to listen Mike as he patiently explained what to expect and what I should do. The guy I was attached to was called Tulio, an Ecuadorian with incredible patience and understanding. This was it then. It had all become very serious and even though I knew I was in safe hands (or should I say -limbs -arms and legs) I suddenly felt very, very nervous.

The first attempt at lifting off wasn't good. The wind lifted the wing and pulled us back with such speed that it took me off my feet. Something that I shouldn't have done but couldn't prevent. After a little bit of manoeuvring we then had a perfect lift off. It was amazing. The views were spectacular, the silence was striking and the grace with which we changed height and direction was spell binding. At one point Tulio encouraged me to control the wing, getting me to turn us round and rise higher in the air. Very brave of him I thought but a fantastico experience and not one I had expected to do at 52 years of age. Another box ticked I think. From the air I could see the houses I had photographed earlier in the day. A birds eye view. We had a perfect landing

and then it was back up the cliff for Becky to do her thing. It was quite something actually watching another person doing it and I became even more aware of what I had just done and how tiny I must have looked from the ground.

Both of us were absolutely elated at our achievement and were grinning from ear to ear. In fact, the journey back to Canoa was probably more of a safety risk than the paragliding when the rope that was securing the bonnet gave way and the bonnet flipped into the air making it impossible to see the road ahead. From the reaction or lack of reaction from Mike and Tulio, this must be fairly common place.

So, here we are then. I've had a fantastic time in Canoa and would like to think that we will be back. At one point I thought we may not even leave, but we have to finish this journey and we have so much left to see and do. There is another lovely roast dinner to look forward to tomorrow night and then off we go on Wednesday morning back on the road south.