My time in Switzerland was a true roller coaster ride, quite literally, as well as figuratively. Riding on the train there, I was glued to the Guide Book reading about all of the extreme sports that were available to do in Interlaken [which is 2nd in the world, only to New Zealand]. Rock climbing, ice climbing, skiing, snowboarding, bungee jumping, sky diving, hang gliding...the list goes on and on. I had it set in my mind that this place was my Mecca and I would never want to leave. The train slowly rolled through the Interlaken West station as we stayed aboard, waiting to reach Interlaken Ost, which is just on the other side of the town. The railway crept along the shoreline, weaving in and out of trees and tunnels, coasting up and down the mountain sides. It was absolutely stunning. The clouds were set low, creating a dim lit ambience over the panoramic of the vivacious aqua-blue water, which sat in front of the monumental backdrop of the Alpine mountains [that I had seen every day for the past 4 days, yet still seemed to be caught on my heels in awe over the sight]. It was a day or two prior to New Years Eve and Berta and I had decided upon the Balmer's Hostel, not only because she had already stayed there before, but because the price was unbeatable, the staff was incredibly generous, the location was prime, and the fact that it had an underground night club just below the Rooms had absolutely nothing to do with the decision....We separated from the train onto the platform, and immediately I began to grab every single brochure I saw that had some sort of action sport on the cover [which wound up being about 10 pamphlets in approximately 6.43 seconds]. We trekked to what would be our new home for the next few days, and the start of my extraneous emotional roller coaster ride, during which my heart [as well as my hopes and dreams] would be shattered into pieces one moment, and then mended and thrown 280ft the next.
For years I have wanted to Bungee jump, which always contrasted with everyone else's kitsch desire to skydive. Countless times I have bickered back and forth with friends over wanting to bungee jump more so than skydive for several reasons: First and foremost, everyone knows someone, or even 5 to 10 someones, that have skydived before [including my father when he was in the jubilant, young age-range of the mid 40's....no offense Dad!]. Second, I always thought bungee jumping to be far scarier than skydiving, mostly due to the surrealism of standing on the ledge, witnessing the earth below you, and having to immediately face your fear of plummeting to your death. And thirdly, skydiving locales are a dime a dozen, especially in the U.S., whereas bungee jumping is far more complicated to find [trust me, I've tried countless times]. It was for these reasons that I had the highest hopes for Interlaken, and I could not wait to finally fulfill my adrenaline-junkie desire to bungee jump. As soon as we got checked in I asked the man at the hostel for some details on when, where, and how much. My hopes were crushed, right off the bat, when he said that it was too cold to bungee jump [mind you, the name on the brochure was "Glacial Bungee Jumping]. I had traveled all this way, heard so many positive things about Interlaken, only to be disappointed right as we were handed our room keys. After pleading with the man, and him seeing how bummed I was, he chimed in by saying that there was still an option of the 'Canyon Jump/Swing.' I was immediately turned off, though, because I thought it sounded like far less of a rush and not on the same level as bungee jumping; however, as he spoke more about it and I asked a few other workers I came to the conclusion that the Canyon Jump was actually more frightening and more entertaining than the Bungee! So we signed up to meet the next day at 1pm. Yet there was one stipulation. In order for us to go there had to be a group of at least five people going, and after the 2 of us they only had 3 total; but we didn't think much of it because it was close to New Years and they assured us that plenty of people were arriving. From there we continued up to our rooms to unpack, my hopes back to being high as a kite.
We were sharing a room with 2 other travelers, Australian girls around the same age who were trekking around for a 2 month vacation that they had so diligently saved up for. We chatted for a while, mainly because I loved to listen to their outlandish accent, but also to share stories of where we had been, and where we were planning to go. Afterwards Berta and I decided to explore the town's nightlife for some food for a little while, before heading back to chill by the fireplace, enjoy the free WIFI to catch up with friends back home, and meet some more of the hostel's residents.
The next morning I awoke feeling like a child on Christmas morning, overwhelmed with joy from knowing what activity was going to ensue in only a few hours. I ate the free toast offered for breakfast, showered, and tidy-ed up a few things that I had lying around in the room before they came to clean and replace the linens [no I didn't wet the bed, they changed everyone's linens daily]. Since the company wasn't scheduled to pick us up until 1pm, we figured we would, again, keep warm by the fire and relax for a little while. It was as I felt the heat from the fire brush across my face, that I saw the Hostel clerk round the corner and his face turn from a smile to an awkward, half-hearted face as soon as he met my eyes. I knew right then, before he spoke any words, that they did not recruit 2 more people to fulfill the 5 person requirement for us jumping. He apologized over and over agin before departing back to his safe haven, probably because he couldn't help but to see the anger and disappointment in my eyes. I ranted and raved to Berta and the other girl who was scheduled with us, again like a child on Christmas morning, but rather after receiving an ugly sweater from Grandma instead of an X-Box. We discussed our options of what else we could do here in Interlaken, but nothing else pleased me and my stubborn ears. If it wasn't jumping off a platform into a ravine, I wanted nothing to do with it.
We proceeded to relax and debate a few things as the precious time of the day drifted passed. Because we had previously decided to re-sign up for tomorrow at 1pm to jump, Berta and I opted to take a hike up into the mountains to view some of the amazing waterfalls that we had caught wind of from some of our neighbors at the hostel. We waited patiently as the train crept up the hill to the little town of Lauterbrunnen, where we would stop into the Tourist office for a map and begin our hike of the Waterfalls. "Hi, we were wanting to hike around to see the waterfalls that we have been hearing about, do you have a map?" A simple enough question we figured. "Oh I'm sorry," the clerk responded with puzzled eyes, "The trails that lead up to the waterfalls are closed during the winter."............[insert several four letter words here]...........
It was only the afternoon and already my emotions had been twisted and mangled numerous times. We asked her what other options we had and she guided us around the map, taking us on a path that went around the town, by the river that ran through it, and next to some of the waterfalls [and by next to I mean not nearly as close as either of us would prefer to be]. However we handled the map, thanked the lady and made the best of the hike, snapping dozens of pictures every ten minutes because even when we were a little disgruntled the views always seemed to cheer us up.
That night it was New Years Eve, the night where 150 new wild travelers checked into our apparently clown-car-like hostel. Ever since we had arrived we had heard that the New Years party at the club was the only place to be, and would be an absolute blast. We paid our cover in advance, received our 'complimentary' little champagne bottles and then headed out into the beer garden to meet some new faces and start off the new year right. The night went by as expected, and as the clock struck midnight I couldn't help but to think of family and friends back home. The party continued into the wee hours of the night, but I somehow managed to get a few hours of sleep before waking in the morning for the complimentary breakfast yet again; as well as prepare myself for 1:00, AKA the Canyon Jump. Almost as if by habit, we tidy-ed up our room and headed to the fireplace where we would wait in suspense until hearing from the hostel workers. It was about 2 hrs before we were scheduled to leave and as if I was having deja vu, I saw the worker round the corner, although this time he was almost as bummed as I was when delivering the bad news. Despite all efforts, we were still shy of the requirement. I pretty much just skipped the four letter words here and went straight to tears [on the inside of course, I'm still a man with dignity...]. Berta was really the only one who could fully grasp how disappointed I was, for she was the sole person who had been around me constantly for the past week or so, listening to me rant and rave about finally being able to bungee jump. I went from pacing back and forth to sitting, arms crossed, on the couch [or as some say, 'pouting']. I had to have been emitting ire; steaming from the ears like a Looney Tunes cartoon. I was fed up with Switzerland's roller coaster ride and wanted to just flee the country to move on to a new locale with new experiences, preferably ones that followed through. But of course, since Switzerland was apparently cursed, even THAT was a process! Just to get out of the country to the places we had chosen to visit was going to cost us 150 euros! So it was back to the fireplace....time to dream up an evil master plan to get around the Swiss's ridiculous inflation. Noon hits, the pouting continues on my behalf, and the guidebook pages continue to flutter at the speed of sound as Berta tries to get me out of the hostel, as well as the country, before I commit an assorted amount of hate crimes. The hostel clerk rounds the corner yet again. "Meet your new best friends," he says with a confident smirk on his face, as 4 newly arriving Americans [3 girls accompanied with 1 guy] round the corner behind him. It was a miracle! With only an hour to spare, they had managed to finallyyy recruit enough people for the jump to partake! Joy shot through every ounce of my body as I was overwhelmed with emotion. Switzerland was my new favorite country...
I was freezing. Most likely due to my minimal wearing of a long sleeve t-shirt while scaling the ice-cold mountain side to the jump site. I was as giddy as a little school girl once we were atop the canyon crevice, standing on the see-through metal grate. I had never been so excited in my life. I wasn't nervous at all, until I stepped out on the platform to jump, yet even then the thrill of the jump far exceeded and suppressed all other emotions. But enough talking.....just see for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmehOf3Neko
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