Italy is known for its beaches, and I wanted to find a place where I could cool off in the Mediterranean and bask in the sun. But it was the weekend and it was July. I spent several hours in an Internet cafe searching almost 20 beach towns looking for a hostel to stay in, but all of them were full. But thankfully, I got a terrific suggestion from DeafNation reader Brooke, who left the following comment on my blog.

1.    heyyy! yeahhh i strongly suggest you to go to Interlaken, Switzerland and camp outside at Balmer’s- surrounded by ‘em beautiful mountains. rent a scooter and ride through the town to explore and ofc the mountains, too! you’d see the waterfalls.. and u would be able to drink any spring water you see. the best water i ever tasted to fulfill your “Switzerland” experience- you must taste their Swiss cheese & chocolate! Interlaken is the mecca for extreme sports- you can go hang gliding there if you wish.. or other extreme activities. it’s a little bit pricey there, but hey- worth the fun!
2.    you better touch prague, czech if you have the time. one of the most breath-taking places I ever seen.
3.    have fun traveling!

After doing some research, not only is Switzerland much cooler than Italy up in the mountains, but I found this great Hostel called Funny Farm that had a swimming pool! Looking into it further, Brooke was exactly right when she says I could rent a scooter and do extreme sports. So Switzerland I went to! I took a night train, to get my first “sleeper car” experience. I slept in a compartment that held six beds with a family of five from Brazil. The family was extremely friendly, and we spent about an hour chatting and learning about each other before we fell asleep. I had the top bunk, and the car was extremely hot because there were six of us in such a tight space. It was very difficult to get any sleep. The train left Rome at 10:30 pm and arrived in Interlaken, Switzerland at 5:40am after a change in nearby Spiez at 5:15am. The only thing on my mind when I arrived was to check in the hostel and go straight to sleep. Unfortunately my hopes were dashed when I was told that I would be unable to check in until 4pm. I even offered to pay for another day if I could check in early, but the hostel was completely full. Exhausted from the difficult sleep on the train ride, I decided to go to a nearby park where I took a nap on a bench. I woke up at 8am when things started to open and explored town.

Interlaken is extremely beautiful and it has an interesting and in my opinion, inconsistent economy. The Swiss do not use the Euro as well, and instead they use the Swiss Franc (CHF). The CHF is nearly identical in value to the US dollar, with $100 getting you 95 CHF. Hotel rooms were priced as they would be in America, and my hostel bed at the Funny Farm was just 35 CHF. Souvenirs and gas were cheaper than usual, and a Scooter rental was one of the cheapest I’ve ever had, with just 10 CHF per hour! But where the Swiss are really going to get you is with food! The most basic meal of a cheeseburger and fries will cost you 15 CHF, and drinks cost 4 to 5 CHF. If you want a sampler of the delicious Swiss cheese fondue, it will set you back nearly 50 CHF. But let me tell you, the food was worth it!

Killing time until 4 pm, I rented a scooter and scooted my way nearly to the top of the glacier, visiting Grindelwald, a beautiful town nestled in the mountains. It certainly was a peaceful and enjoyable ride, and I stopped off on the way back to drink some water from a small river, fresh, pure, and ice cold from the melting glaciers. When I got back, I made appointments for the following day for two of the most extreme activities you can find; Hang Gliding and Canyon Jumping! When 4pm finally rolled around, I finally checked in, and I got the bottom bunk in a very neat room of 8 beds. From my bed I had a fantastic view of the mountains and I loved every bit of it. The Funny Farm has many activities, with a swimming pool, several bars and consistent happy hours, It also has restaurants, a night club, a nightly bonfire, and operates an extreme sports center right out of the front lobby, Alpin Raft. I put my stuff away and jumped right in the pool, which was as cold and refreshing as I needed it to be.

The next morning, I got up bright and early to go hang gliding with Hang Gliding Interlaken. They picked me up at the front lobby of my hostel and we drove to a nearby field where we would be landing the hang glider. There I met Didu Baertschi, who with 25 years of experience and over 10,000 flights, would be my tandem pilot for the day. Hang gliding is an extremely specialized sport, and it is very difficult to serve the demand. Paragliding is extremely popular in Interlaken, and it is a peaceful parachute ride with over 70 certified tandem pilots in Interlaken. Hang gliding however is a more thrilling experience with less than 10 qualified pilots in Interlaken. I was fortunate to be with one of the best, and talking with Didu, I made sure that he would give me as thrilling ride as possible as a tandem, I wanted him to pull all the stops. Loops, stalls, and dives, you name it! His response was that I could call him Evel Knievel, and he had the starry helmet to back it up!

We drove up to the top of a mountain, where we would need to make a running start downhill to create the upward draft for the wind to pick us up off the mountain. The running start is extremely important, because we need to generate enough speed to be lifted off the mountain or we could end up in a nasty, ugly tumble downhill as the mountain gets steeper. As we practiced a few steps and went through a few basic motions, we were ready to go on our way! We had a flawless launch and the sensation of the wind picking us up off the mountain was truly the most natural feeling of flight I have ever experienced. We started slowly, cruising around for some spectacular views of Interlaken and the lakes. After a while, we were ready for some tricks! Evel Kinevel put me through a thrilling ride, with several dives and loops, taking us over some treetops and a restaurant, where people dining outside were treated to an exciting sight as we dove over the rooftop. Hang gliding really is a smooth flying experience that anyone should attempt if they ever have the opportunity to. If something goes wrong, we have a parachute ready to deploy to take us gently to the ground (hang glider still attached!) But Didu confesses that after 25 years, he really doesn’t know how to use it, because he’s never needed to. But he assured me that if he had to, he would be able to! After landing, I hopped with joy thanking the people there for such a fantastic experience. I was filled with adrenaline, and ready to go to my next activity, which might be one of the craziest things I’ve ever done!

VIDEO: HANG GLIDING & CANYON JUMPING

I met in the back of the Funny Farm at the Alpin Raft facility, and went with a group of about 10 to the top of a mountain in Grindelwald where I had been yesterday with my scooter. What I had not seen or done yesterday was the deep canyon where I would be leaping off a platform hundreds of feet down into a gorge. Interlaken has bungee jumping, and even at the same location where I would canyon jump. But bungee jumping will take you only about 1/3 of the way down the canyon before the rope will begin to stretch out, and bounce you up and down. What I was about to do was leap off a platform and fall nearly all the way down to the rushing river below before a rope would pick up the slack and swing me through the narrow canyon walls over the river, swinging me like a pendulum. With many people preferring to bungee jump, I was one of the few who chose to canyon jump! I have serious ambitions to go BASE jumping, which is pretty much the same thing except using a parachute instead of a rope. I thought this would be a great first step towards BASE jumping, getting the experience of jumping off a cliff!

I was truly excited and confident as we prepared to make our jump. We were required to sign a funny contract that had several stipulations such as “pregnant women who want to jump must be pretty stupid but it will charge for two,” and “my mom does not know I’m here!” But the serious part of the contract said that anything that happened was my own responsibility, and Alpin Raft was not responsible for injury (yeah right) or death (definitely if the rope broke). But I knew that the Swiss would not want to kill a tourist and scare the others away, and I was confident that they had made the structure safe, otherwise they would not be bringing people up there to do it every single day. With a few simple instructions and a safety harness, when it came my turn I was as ready as ever. After a countdown from the guide, I leaped off the platform head first and spread my arms wide for a 200-foot breakneck drop straight down the canyon. It was nearly 3-5 seconds of free fall and absolute faith before the rope would pick up the slack, and true to my trust, the rope picked me up and sent me swinging over the rushing river for an exhilarating swing that I will never forget.

Why I do this kind of thing, I don’t know, but I do know that I never feel more human or challenged then when I put absolute faith in a person that I had met hours ago to harness me properly, look me in the eye, and give me a thumbs up. I should be insane, entrusting my life in these people, and a headline would simply read “Man Jumps to Death.” It’s kind of stupid, but that’s the fun of it, putting my trust in an almost-stranger, even if he looks at me funny. Would I recommend canyon jumping to anybody? Not as quickly as I would recommend hang gliding. But if you’ve got the extreme, thrill-seeking person inside of you, absolutely! There’s nothing like it.

The town of Interlaken is filled with extremely laid back and diverse people, and a very unique culture and way of life. Flowers adorn nearly every windowsill, and people value the cleanliness and appearance of everything about themselves and their homes. I continued to meet and enjoy talking with many different people, and even in a nearby internet cafe, the man operating the cafe also edits skydiving videos for people while working. He approached me and asked me what “Deaf Music” was, and I admit I was unsure what he meant by that. Then he explained that recently a deaf person went skydiving there, and he requested that “deaf music” be played on the soundtrack. I immediately figured out what he meant, and I said that he must have wanted something with a lot of bass and an excellent beat. He showed me a few samples, and I said those were absolutely the type of songs that deaf people would enjoy. Then he went even further to find and show me the video of the deaf person who went skydiving, and I was stunned that I knew him! A friend of mine from Gallaudet had gone to Interlaken just a month ago with his parents, and he jumped out a plane during his trip! What a small world it is indeed!

I have to absolutely thank Brooke for her suggestion to go to Interlaken, and it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable weekends I have ever had. The mountains provided an extremely stunning backdrop wherever I went, and Switzerland has turned out to be the most favorite country I have visited. I will miss Switzerland as I move on to my next destination!

Funny Farm
Mattenhof Resort AG
Hauptstrasse 36
CH-3800 Interlaken
Switzerland
www.funny-farm.ch
info@funny-farm.ch

Hang Gliding Interlaken
Brunngasse 30
3800 Interlaken
Switzerland
www.hangglidinginterlaken.com
info@hangglidinginterlaken.com

Alpin Raft GmbH

Hauptstrasse 7
3800 Interlaken
www.alpinraft.ch
info@alpinraft.com