The Answer Is 4...And An American

Wow, one of the scariest moments of my life happened last week. I wasn't even prepared, because Filipino people don't like to make plans. Things just happen, kind of spur of the moment. So, Khen called us to see if we were free, and 2 hours later we were headed up the mountain to the...

The zipline is at the top of the mountain, the same mountain that La Tegola is on. This time we got to look over the entire island in the daylight. The drive was beyond words. How can you describe the beauty of looking at miles upon miles of jungle clouded in mist? There are so many trees! I kept imagining gorillas and chimps swinging around in the canopy...Even though we don't have them here, because as I was informed, Filipinos shoot anything that moves.

When we parked a little boy, I refer to him as "the scary boy", informed us where we were allowed to drive, and directed us to a parking spot. He couldn't have been older than 7 and was in charge of his little brother, around the age of 2, while his family were busy at work running the zipline. We walked up a hill and I saw the cable that was meant to carry us over the jungle. It was about this point that I realized I'm afraid of death. And, even though I am most afraid of drowning, falling to my death from high above the jungle didn't sound like a real fun way to go.

Now, most of you should know that I'm not skinny. We'll go with full figured, it boosts my self-esteem far more than "fat" does. And, those cables may be able to hold up to 900 lbs, but that doesn't make you feel safe when you're probably the biggest chick they've strapped into a harness. Once we're all done getting our safety equipment on we climbed and climbed and climed up some rickety bamboo stairs. I made Todd promise that he'd go first, because I was ready to back out at that point. But when we were paird off, he and I went at the same time. The poor guy had to push me off the platform. My heart was pounding so loud I would've been able to hear it, had it not been for my screams. At one point I turned backwards, and I swore. when I finally looked down I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life!

We did this...

Over this...

We landed on the far platform and the first thing the man said to me was..."Wow, you very big, yes?" Well if that doesn't make you feel good, nothing will! I just laughed. We were then loaded into a kidnapper van and transported back to the beginning. There was a shorter zipline, and since the 2 combined cost us about $5 total, we went for it.

I don't know if they just used a different harness or what, but when I was trying to remove the harness, it was far more challenging. The men just laughed and watched my guy try to remove my harness. After several attempts they decided to help. 4 men later and my brother had to come help too. After one last tug and a several inch lowering in my pants I was out. So, one of the worlds questions has been answered. Equally as mind boggling as the tootsie pop question.

How many Filipino men does it take to get one full-figured American chick out of a harness? The anser is 4, and 1 American.