Mecsextreme Park

On Sunday, as part of the visit by the Croatians to Pécs, I went to this adventure park on the outskirts of the city.  Mexsextreme Park is hard to describe because I’ve not seen an equivalent.  Set in a wooded area, it seemed anything but extreme.  In addition to typical playgrounds and a petting zoo, there was a horse riding area that was a small, dusty arena where the park staff escort children on horses around in a circle.  A small park map directs you to the rides –which, thankfully, had English translations.  But, within the park, there are minimal signs.  So it is not overdeveloped and glitzy - nothing like Disney World.  There seemed to be an extensive pathway through the woods that would make a nice hike.  My intial reaction was that it was nice place to take young kids.

Agnes was feeling ill this morning, so she did not go on the trip.  That left, as adults, the two Croatian teachers, myself, and Szilvia.  The four of us decided we would do the bobsled and the zip lines, so we set off to find the bobsled.  The Bobsled ride consists of small “cars” that travel through the woods on a metal track which basically runs on gravity.  Each car’s passenger, with the use of hand brakes, sets the speed.  I first went on the sled with Marina.  She let me be the brakeman.  I was pretty conservative, as Marina seemed a little scared. Then Szilvia and I deicded to go a second time, each in a separate car, so that we could go the course faster.  I took out my camera at the beginning of the course to get a shot before it got going faster.  As I was leaving the ride attendant was yelling something at me in Hungarian . I don’t know if he did not want me taking pictures (they sell those tourist photos of you snapped at the fastest point on the ride) or if he was worried I would drop the camera.  He could have been telling me to slam on the brakes, your car is defective and about to flip off the tracks.  Anyway, there a short snippet below to show you the bobsled.  It’s not exactly extreme, though it does get going and was quite fun.

By the time Szilvia and I got off, the others had moved on, so we left to find the ropes course.  We wandered around, found the parking lot again, doubled back to the bobsled, went back in the direction we came from – took a slight left turn down into the woods and we could see the course.  I found this puzzling – you park buy a general admission ticket to the park and get a map to the rids and all seems like a mini-Disney wannabe, but the rides are not really marked with any signs.  Anyway, we arrived.  The other ladies were not there (apparently, they took off down one of the paths in the woods and got quite lost – but would arrive here later).   I was not sure about the ropes course – there is all this gear and helmets.  Humm, well, Szilvia persuaded me to go with her.  A group of the students were now joining us. 

After getting your gear, the staff gives you some instructions on how to use the clips and such and there is a small practice course to try it out. Szilvia had to translate.  The practice course was not far off the ground – maybe 5 or 6 feet – where I learned to clip onto the cables.  Basically you are going from one tree house like platform to another clipped to a steel cable so that if you slip you won’t fall, you’ll just dangle by your harness.  At the end of the practice course was small zip line – you attach both your clips and this pulley like thing to the cable, step off the platform and slide down.  Ok.  It did not seem too bad.  There is a kids course to one side where the height of the course seems to allow an adult to basically walk around with the kid – only 5 feet off the ground.  I thought about going over there. 

So I start the course – you have 2 clips and you are always supposed to be clipped by at least one to the cables at all times – and, thankfully, the cables are color coded.  Red means use the two clips.  Red with stripped yellow and black means use the two clips and the pulley system. When I started, I was only 5 or 6 feet off the ground.  Each section is a different challenge – a single steel cable that you walk across like a tightrope; swinging logs you walk across – a zip line that you ride from tree to tree. OK. But as you get along the course, it gets very high up.  AND THERE IS NO CHICKEN EXIT.  What happened to the chicken exit – when you get up really high and you think CRAP what am I doing up here?  And I realize, OK, where are all the adults.  Agnes isn’t here.  Marina and Ana are watching – but not putting on gear.  Yes, there is Szilvia, but she isn't even 30 years old.  There is no way to turn back and no way to get off and the course gets increasingly higher and more difficult.  Oh, my gosh.  What am I doing up here? 

At one point I had to clip to a steel cable and hang upside down like a possum and pull myself through a tunnel.  One zip line was so high off the ground, I just could not believe I even stepped off that platform.  Actually, once I stepped off the zips were the most fun, because it is no work really.  Walking on a single steel cable high up on the ground is just amazing.  I can’t believe I am doing this – I place my feet perpendicular to the cable and, of course, I am holding on to the overhead cable to stabilize.  Going slowing – the last thing I want to do is fall off and dangle up there – how would you get back on.  I don’t see any staff around – so who would help you. The thought that I would just dangle, kept me determined to not fall.  The hardest part for me was this rope grid that looked like something out of Army recruiting video – be all you can be.  That was the time I felt most unstable and knew I could fall.  And it took a lot of upper body strength so I was just determined to get to the other side – but this took me longer than any of the other parts.  The course was long – maybe 45 minutes or more, and finally I got to a point where there was a sign – and 2 ways to go.  One was obviously a zip line to the ground.  That’s what I took.  The sign said – end of beginner’s course (Szilvia translated) and you could see the course go on with all sorts of weird challenges – some that looked like torture.  No, seriously, it looked like something in a movie that you have to get through and fight off dragons to save the princess – with dangling bags that can knock you off the cable and was that barbed wire? – probably not, I only imaged that.  But there was no way I was going further, I felt relieved I had made it this far.  I actually felt a fair bit of accomplishment.  I was certainly the oldest person up in the trees.  And my kids would have loved it – as they are far more adventurous with bungees and skydiving.  This was nothing.  I wish I had more video – I took a short bit at the very beginning – when I had no idea how hard the course was.  But I survived my time at the Mecsextreme Park.  And, by the way, the park has this weird logo that is a mad looking bunny rabbit – like a cross between Bugs Bunny and Rambo – like a bunny that could attack you and rip our your heart with its teeth.

Hey, if this post was long the ropes course was far longer!