The Unplanned 2 - Feel The Wind...

After my small but memorable adventure (you can read about it here) that led me to admiring the sunset in Constantine, Algeria, the place I always thought, and will always think is an amazing, magical place, it was time to move on.

A taxi, a micro bus, a phone call to my hosts in Bejaia asking for more guidance to reach the meeting point and struggling to memorize the steps and the names, two more bus rides, and finally I was in the hotel where I was expected. Only two other members of my climbing club made it there in time and it would have been embarrassing if I didn't join them. There was so much to do and apparently so few people to do it.

We had another, more pressing issue:

In order to install the climbing tracks, we needed some specific materials. We agreed with the Algerians that we will only bring the things that they don't have themselves, and count on them to provide the rest. It turned out they didn't bring everything. So we had to wait another day for it to come before we start doing our "job". In the meantime we can join the other workshops and have fun until we can start our own.

The only ready workshop that day was... Para-gliders!

The guys who were supposed to teach us were very good at it. They took us somewhere near the sea, where there's a wide, clear area and a cliff. Then, they started explaining how it works:

You wear the harness and the seat. You feel the wind, give your back to it and spread the para-glider in front of you, but keep holding some specific ropes in your hands. You feel the wind, and chose the perfect timing to pull those ropes so that the para-glider rises in the air. You feel the wind and try to keep the para-glider in front of you. You feel the wind and maneuver the ropes to keep the para-glider balanced in the air. You feel the wind and run backwards when it starts fading. You feel the wind... feel the wind... the wind... yeah... you keep feeling it!

So far, there is no mention of flying...

They told us people normally need hundreds of hours of ... you guessed right...feeling the wind, to actually have a chance of flying safely. Also, they told us the wind in that area wasn't enough for a flight unless we jump off the cliff, which is very dangerous for beginners.

Then the practice started.

Of course, I didn't want to try first. I didn't even pay for the workshop! I let them all go before me.

One at a time, they tried following the steps and, every time one of them made a mistake, it took all the rest of us to help him take the para-glider back to the center of the clear area and spread it for him to start all over again.

In the meantime, between peoples mistakes, others complaints about having to help them, the teachers' remarks, the sound of birds and that of the waves combined, the heat of the sun and the cold of wind combined, the smell of wild trees and that of salty water combined, the absence of any awareness of time or location, I forgot I was in Algeria. There was me, the guys around me, the para-glider, and Nature.

Every time someone's turn ends they ask me if I want to go for it, and I decline. Until I was the only one left.

I screwed up a little at the beginning, confusing the ropes, but one thing I could learn by just being there, watching, for what felt like an eternity... it was how to feel the wind.

Beginners luck was also there for me!

There was more wind during my turn then there was ever before. By the end of my... battle against the para-glider, I could keep it up, in balance for what felt long enough for me, too long for the other learners, and irritably long for the teachers. They kept yelling at me to run for it. I was confused. I didn't even know what they meant. I was already running backwards to kind of create some more wind to keep the para-glider up. What else should I do? I could only call it a success!

But they made me feel like I wasted a great chance at actually flying and being the only one who does it that day. I could only regret my lack of ambition that led me to take off the harness, with a deep sigh, and giving back all the material.

It was during the lunch pause that I got why they were so mad. The ONLY thing I needed to do was turn around and switch the ropes to keep the para-glider behind me and RUN!

With my weight and my speed, I should have been able, maybe not to fly, but to make a very high, very long, jump!

I love this selfie, cause every time I look at it, I can remember exactly how I felt in that moment :D

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CROSSPOSTED