Weekend trip to Villa Tunari: Day Two

On our second day we made our way to La Jungla which is a rope swing park in a jungle setting. As Stephanie pointed out it was not unlike the world created in Hook. The only difference being that those Hollywood sets would have had building standards to adhere to. But this is Bolivia after all. There were nails jutting out of boards, ladders on awkward (read: dangerous) angles, platforms three levels up in the trees with questionable integrity and railings that seemed to be there for aesthetic purpose rather than function. The whole time I couldn’t help think of the Cave Creek Disaster.

I probably would not use this facility again but while I was there was no way I could chicken-out. We went around the sky walks, observed all the chicks with their mothers scratching around in the dirt, tried a small swing and a flying-fox that splattered Stephanie with dirty grease then made our way over to their biggest adventure-swing that is about eighteen metres high.

Sarah had no qualms about doing this meaning that my masculinity would be on the line if I did not go myself. After watching half a dozen Bolivians successfully go Sarah and I got our turn. Four stories up on the worst possible platform construction we stoically threw ourselves off the side and had a great time. But there is no way that this thing will not be responsible for a fatality one day. The harness looks about thirty years old and is perishing in places, the carabiner screw-lock was missing, the wire was tied to a branch that could only be about a foot and a half wide and the ties on the wire appeared fastened in an ad-hoc manner rather than with industrial clamping and auxiliary attachments.

The best part for me was the “loading dock” which required you to have the swing lifted over your body. This process turned you, essentially, into a human slingshot. The only thing stopping you from going over the side while the guide fastened you in was a piece of wood that your thighs pressed against. Getting the swing over my head was especially awkward as they are not used to having people of my height on this ride. The design was so poor I almost wished the platform was twenty-eight metres high so that when I went tumbling to my death the fall would be fatal instead of merely crippling.

All in all a fun day. But with an unnecessary air of danger that I do not care to repeat. You can watch me screaming like a little girl below.