Farewell to Toronto & Hang Gliding Rio

The Saturday before I left Canada, my friends back in Toronto threw me a surprise farewell party.

I was surprised.

Just how surprised was I? The following shows what happens when you have twenty people jumping out of the dark at me. I nearly jumped out of the picture.

They Almost Killed Me Via Heart Attack On the Eve of My Travels. Assholes.
(Kudos to Sola for the capture.)

It was incredibly impressive: all the friends and family involved managed to weave such an airtight web of lies and misdirection that I had no prior clue that they'd planned this. They're pretty awesome that way.

In addition to the party, everybody chipped in and bought me a hang-gliding session, scheduled for my second weekend here in Rio de Janeiro. It was a great gift, especially since I'm not sure I would have shelled out for the flight myself even though Rio is regarded as one of the top five places in the world to hang-glide (I'm saving up my dollars and my crazy to sky-dive in New Zealand!).

It was slightly hazy two Saturdays ago, but the visibility and wind conditions were suitable enough for me to run off the side of a 520m peak, with only a wire frame and a thin plastic wing keeping me aloft.

The flight was incredible: ten minutes of circling above the Tijuca forests along the slopes of Pedra Gavea and Pedra Bonita, and the ocean, before landing on the beach at São Conrado.

Since everybody in Toronto was kind enough to pay for my hang-gliding experience, the least I could do was shell out R$100 for photos and video of the flight (The video will have to wait since my laptop really doesn't like mini-DVDs).

Mid-Flight With My Instructor Klaus

When Rob suggested the gift, I think he had secret hopes that there would be pictures and video of me screaming like a baby during the flight. I have to disappoint him. There is no footage; I didn't scream.

But I can throw him a bone: I botched the landing. Instead of hitting the beach running, my legs crumpled under me and I somehow ended up flat on my back -- sand in almost every orifice, with Klaus on top of me.

I do have a picture of that.

"Klaus, I Really Don't Know You Well Enough To Be Doing This."