So finally today the rain stopped and the sun came out what a relief it has rained non stop for days so being cooped up in the hostel it was time to get out and do some sightseeing.

I headed to reception to book us on the favela tour which is meant to be great, just as I was about to pay I asked about the paragliding and she said the guy had just called the hostel to say today was perfect conditions for anyone interested .....it was expensive but I really wanted to do it.

I ran back upstairs and after a 5 min debate with Marc we had signed up eeeeeeeeeeeek I had seen this on some travel programme before and it looked brilliant.
 
 
Lets go fly
So there are 2 options on is hang gliding and the other is para sailing, both are pretty similar basically you walk/run off the end of a platform 370m high in the mountains and fly !! I opted for the hang gliding for fear of the parachute not working and Marc did the para sailing, he loves the idea of base jumping but this is as close to it as he is ever gonna get.

We get to the top of the mountain and get geared up with our harnesses - then it was time, ..





 


 
 
My Jump - see video below
I went first and my task was to literally run as fast as possible off the end of this wooden ramp to take off - I was utterly bricking myself at this point but if I didnt run fast enough or stopped to hesitate on take off it could have went horrible wrong . The whole take off was a blur to me now all i kept thinking was run run next min I was in the air floating like a bird it was amazing - the views were amazing along the beach and we finally got to see Christ Redeemer out of the clouds. The flight lasted about12 mins and I had to land on the beach - we pulled in really really fast and I remember him saying but your feet down but in my head i though "are you kidding me have you seen how fast we are coming in" so needless to say I was a bit late on putting my feet down which resulted in a bit of a crash landing - dont think the guy was too amused but maybe if he had explained that we would stop suddenly I might have dropped my feet but nevermind I sustained a skint knee injury instead hehe


 
Marc's Jump - see video below, first half is missing as it didnt work :-( 
Marc took off after me at a platform just underneath mine so he saw me go, then it was his turn - the had to literally jog off the edge and wait for the parachute to open - not my idea of fun as it all happens in slow motion, to walk or jump of the end of any mountain is just mental haha . The jump off and the parachute opens and off he went. The para gliders have a bit longer flight time and then land on the grass - Marcs landing was a lot smoother than mine thankfully.


The Pictures.....or not
As always with these type of things you get to pay a silly amount of money for the DVD or pics - turns out my guys camera was not working to take pics so I get a discount DVD which he assures me is of high quality so I can capture pics from it. Due to this we get a discount and Marc gets his DVD movie and the pics and I get my DVD for total price of £35 instead of £70 - great only when we got home we discover that my DVD is of the worst quality every and the first half of Marc's take off video doesn't work but at least his pics are of good quality. Totally gutted though and we complain to reception and they try to recover Marc's take off video but it doesn't work and seeing as I didnt get to preview my DVD like everyone else we basically got all of our money back - which is great but still a bit annoying that I dont have any good quality pics . You can see my dvd and the 2nd half of Marcs below.


The end of a great day....with football !!
We got dropped off at an Irish bar in Ipenema and lucky for Marc they were playing the Man City game against Liverpool, so several beers later and a win for city we staggered home, great way to end the day. 


Costs
Cost of the paragliding - £100 each
Entry to the national park - £5.27 each
Cost of our DVD & Marcs pics - £35 (should have been £70 if I had pics too) - all this was refunded in the end though :-))
Cost of a pint in the pub - £3.50 each (happy hour was for an hour 2 for 1)