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Slate is doing a series of travel posts with our friends Joshua Foer and Dylan Thuras at Atlas Obscura. Part one of the hidden wonders of South America is about The World's Most Beautiful River. This video is from part two, A Death-Defying Commute. A 60-year-old cable spans a 1,200-foot-deep ravine between two mountains near the village of Guayabetal, Colombia. Dylan took a chance on riding the zipline.
"Your rope appears to be a little frayed," I pointed out, warily. But Mario, who has been going back and forth on the cable since he was 8 years old, said that he was so confident in his harness, he would happily take one of us across with him. I laughed at the idea. Dylan, in a momentary lapse of judgment, forgot that his fiancee and mother might someday read this and eagerly volunteered.
The couple of dozen cables used for traveling in the area were considered dangerous, but since the gorge is the border between two states, jurisdiction over the ziplines is complicated. Most of them were removed and only four cables remain. Read more about them at Slate. Link