Downhill for 45 Minutes

I’ve made the trip to the airport three time in the last three days, and it looks like this one will do the trick. I will finally get out! I woke to rain and mist so thick you couldn’t see to the end of the street. The weather network said rain all day, cloudy Friday, and sunny Saturday. I fly home Monday, so not getting to Hyderabad until Saturday night would mean not getting out to Narsapur to see the Good Shepherd project--the whole reason for the second half of this trip. By noon the clouds were breaking and my spirits rising . I left for the airport an hour earlier than planned as if my presence there could somehow influence the pilot to land.

I was a bit chattier with the driver than on the previous trips. He seemed very positive and stated before we even left the city that it was looking good at the airport. I asked him if he had phoned out to the airport to check. He looked at me funny and said, “No, I just looked." I was sure there was something lost in translation. The airport is an hour away; how could he look? I guess he saw the puzzled look on my face so he pointed. He pointed to some white buildings in the valley maybe 10 or 12 km away and explained that the buildings were at the airport.

The road to the airport goes downhill for 45 minutes to the river, then up the other side for another 15 minutes. I had noticed that the road does not go up and down; it goes down for 45 minutes, then up. I have never made this trip in sunshine--it has always been cloudy--but this time the trip down was so uplifting! I was going to get out!


I started to put other trains on the track: I thought about what an amazing skateboard run this road would make. I pictured a 45-minute run without ever having to push. Of course, if you overshot a corner, you would need a parachute. No--BETTER--a parasail! There is one amazing corner about 2/3 of the way down with a sheer cliff and a waterfall in a horseshoe canyon. Skateboard down to the cliff, jump the guard rail at 50 km/h, and pop your parasail; ride the updrafts in the canyon back up to the top of the run, land, pack your chute, and do it again. What a trip that would be! The second time down you could run the canyon the other way and land at the airport for your flight. I wonder if you can take a parasail as carry-on?

Ok, I have had too much time on my hands. I did ask the driver about his car. It looked pretty good considering how he was driving it. It turns out the little Suzuki was 2 years old with about 210,000 km on it. Not bad for a taxi. I suspected that brakes were an issue on these roads. He says that he is on his fifth set of brakes and, with all the squealing of tires in the corners, I bet just as many sets of rubber as well. He hit 45 km/h at one point, and it felt like 140km/h! He got me here in one piece, and...Hey, they just called my flight, so I am on my way! Nothing like a great trip down to lift my spirits.