Adventures Pt 1

...in le montagne di Trento
Disclaimer: I'm high on a lot of drugs right now...
Many of you reading this will already know that I had quite the weekend and subsequent hospital stay. This past Saturday and Sunday were the church retreat to Siena and Assissi, but I couldn't go because I couldn't find a dogsitter for overnight. So I signed up to go on a day-trip with Outdoor Recreation and my friend Sarah. We went canyoning, which is probably most easily explained through Google. It's basically travelling downstream through a glacier stream--wearing wetsuits and climbing harnesses and scrambling, wading, sliding, rapelling, and jumping across various obstacles. We were about 45 minutes into a 3 hour trip when I jumped a waterfall (exactly where they told me to, where one of the guides had just done it) only to land on a rock with one foot and the ground with the other foot. My right ankle basically got crushed by the impact (and was probably helped along by an old ultimate frisbee injury). After much (unnecessary?!!!) poking and prodding by our guide Francesco, he announced that it was 'roto' and that he'd give me a vicodin and I'd have to get airlifted out. Wait, just kidding, there was no first aid kit and no alternate way out. So we continued on our merry way--I realized I couldn't put any weight on it when it consistently popped when I did--with me on one foot and constant assistance. It was OK hopping through the stream and on the narrow path, and I could even handle sliding down a ladder using only my arms. But I have to say that when we came to a 30-foot waterfall that we were going to rappel down, I've never been more afraid in my life. I'm OK with pain--I can handle it pretty well when it's happening--but future pain absolutely terrifies me. Turns out that the fear was the worst part of that descent--Francesco and I did this double-rappelling thing with him basically carrying me and the other guide, Denis, guiding us, and then I waited at the bottom for the rest of the group to do it. I hear canyoning is fun, but my jury's still out on that one...after my accident I was terrified for everyone else as well, positive that someone was going to slip and crack their head or something as drastic. (Kind of like the ice dancing at the last winter Olympics--one couple fell, then the next couple was nervous and had a worse fall, etc etc) But after 2 more hours of painful scrambling, scary rappelling, and general crying/praying, we made it to the road, and from then on Francesco gave me a piggyback ride the half-mile or so to the car. Poor little man was probably 3 inches shorter than me (though well built and a good sport). And the good news is, everyone else seemed to have a fantastic time! And they were all very helpful to me. Maybe one day I'll try it again. But no waterfall-jumping.
As my father pointed out, I broke a cardinal rule of adventuring--never jump into a body of water that you haven't checked out first! Apparently this also applies to bodies of water that your guides assure you are safe.
After we drove to our starting point at Extreme Waves Adventure, the staff offered me a cappuccino with Baileys (the best treatment for injury that I can imagine!) and proceeded to talk in Italian about how my ankle couldn't be broken if I was drinking a cappuccino. I laughed and made it known that I could understand them, and at that point even I was beginning to wonder if it was just a twist. Eventually, with much assistance, we got my wetsuit off and got me onto the bus and began the 2.5-hour drive back out of the mountains to Vicenza. And yes, I was still crying on and off...it was probably the one time in my life I wasn't embarassed to cry all day!
To be continued...