Travel: The Well-Known Secret

Adventure Sport Day - Zambia When people think of adventure sports they usually think of a few major regions in the world: New Zealand, Slovenia, and Vic Falls, Zimbabwe. The latter is the location of my next adventure. Well, actually just next door in Zambia. Our campsite helped to arrange the Half Day Adventure or for the really crazy among us, the Full Day Adventure. This package included unlimited abseiling, rap jumping, the Flying Fox, and the grand finale: the Gorge Swing. It all sounded scary and like things I would have to force myself to do, but that is what you are supposed to do on a trip around the world, isn’t it? Did I ever! First of all you have to know a little about my personality to understand the significance of this day. I have never been a girly-girl, usually finding myself gravitating to the male company over a group of “cackling” girls. But, with hanging around boys comes the need to “keep up!” So, I signed up for the full day adventure mostly just to “hang with the boys!” Little did I know I would literally be “hanging” from many different apparatuses all day. We started with the activities most easily recognized: Rap jumping and abseiling, rappelling backwards and forwards, using a rope-pulley system. Doesn’t sound scary, but when you are out there it is harder to hold on to the ropes than you think. I ended the session with rope burns on both hands even with the protection of gloves. The mid-day activity was the Flying Fox, not a term that we are very familiar with in the United States, but in my many travels with Australians, I came to know what it meant. This Flying Fox was a zip line extended out across the gorge and you would run and jump off the cliff. You could fly like Superman; that is if you could bring yourself to let go of the chest supports. In all of my three tries, I could not! We finished the day with the much-anticipated Gorge Swing. This is like a bungee jump but you can step forward or backward off the edge of the gorge rather than going head first. The fall is into a 91 meter (300 feet) gorge. I thought this might help me overcome my extreme fear of heights. Not so much. There are always a few guys in the bunch that do not have the “Fear Factor” and are the first to harness up and jump. Our group had five or six of those guys. I know myself and I know I am afraid of heights, so I tell my guide that no matter what I say, I want to do this, “even if you have to push me!” It took me a few tries to get myself to the ledge. After a few short hyperventilating moments, I slowly backed to the edge. I weighed the options of forward vs. backward jumps. Forward looked just terrifying. Backward you don’t have to look out over what you have to jump into, but you have to watch the cliff face inches from your face flash before your eyes as you plummet to the bottom. I was pretty sure my eyes would be closed so I decided backward had to be better. I was even more sure this was not going to be something I could do alone. The last thing I remember as I held my breath and fell back was the happy look in the guide’s eyes as he pushed me over! After you have stepped off the cliff, you drop rapidly straight down until the second rope catches your slack and you swing out over the gorge. Once you stop swinging wildly, you can soar over the canyon and enjoy the views. They have a second guy at the bottom of the gorge to catch you and guide you to the landing strip. Then, as with all the other activities that day, you have to make the 20 minute uphill hike out of the canyon. This gave me lots of time to contemplate jumping again. When I first landed, the adrenaline was running crazy and I got the feeling I could get hooked up again and sail out over the gorge right away. After the strenuous hike out, my mood changed a bit. All I cared about now was a big drink of water! The crazy boys jumped many times. They started doing flips and twists and Ian even jumped with a beer and drank it on the swinging part! I was satisfied with the one jump. So I thought! When I made my way out of the gorge and returned to the “launch pad” I found out that I was signed up to jump tandem with Tom. “Yeah, it will be wicked; we will drop twice as fast and swing twice as far!” Oh, why, oh, why, must I pretend to be one of the guys?!? I must say it wasn’t so bad jumping while in the arms of a hot-buff British guy. One more time? It’s Not Murphy’s Law, it’s Mindi’s Law! “Why me?” I have had so many strange things happen to me during my travels that I have stopped asking myself that question and now just laugh and say, “Of Course!” Murphy’s Law states: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." I guess this could be said for all areas of travel, but for me, it is a daily occurrence. I no longer get upset when these things happen, because I almost expect them to. The cure for this affliction is laughter. Not only do I believe that Murphy’s Law, which you have already heard me referring to as Mindi’s Law, is a real phenomenon, but I am also superstitious. I get very uncomfortable when people say things like, “I have never broken a bone before,” or, “I always find a place to stay.” I feel like they are just testing the Travel Gods to drop a surprise on them. I try my best not to speak in absolutes, especially when discussing travel. I have so many examples of missing trains, taking the wrong bus or standing in the slow line, changing lines only to have my new line move slower than the first one. Mindi’s Law is a combination of Murphy’s Law of mishaps and my own version of unexplainable crazy events that I feel could only happen to me. I think I attract these situations because of my crazy aura. I find myself saying, after a strange incident, “Only me!” or, “what are the chances?” Read on and you will see what I am talking about! Random Pharmaceuticals One positive thing about first aid abroad is that it is much less expensive than in the United States, and you don’t need a doctor to prescribe medicine. Anyone can just walk up to the many little pharmacy stands along the road and ask for what they need. If you do need to go to a clinic, the nice thing is it is a doctor visit and pharmacy in one location. There is no need to run across town to turn in a prescription and wait: instant medicine! Well, you have to be willing to play International Charades to get them, but that beats $100 doctor visits for simple antibiotics. I was traveling through a city called Pakse, in the south of Laos and realized that I had a urinary tract infection (UTI). Oh yeah, “hurts when I pee” is a great charade to try to pull off in an Asian country. Luckily, some of the bigger pharmacies have a list of “symptoms” posted in English with the local language translation next to it and you just point to what is wrong with you, and they find the medicine that will hopefully heal you! Of course, there is a risk that they misunderstand my charade and give me the wrong medicine. Well, for a whopping $2 for meds, I decide to risk it and start the course of pills the smiling lady gives to me. I took the pills for three days and my problem cleared up. Whew! I lucked out on that one. I had returned home after about five months on the road and was cleaning out my toiletry bag. I found a few of the pills left from this pharmacy visit. I wasn’t exactly sure what they were for, so I Googled the pill shape, color, and coding on the internet and found that these pills were in fact for a urinary tract infection…but for BOVINE. Yes, these pills were actually for veterinarians to give to their cow patients if they had a UTI. WOW! Makes me wonder what udder pills I have taken in third world countries. So far, no side effects that I know of - MOOO!