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Riendo en la Cara de la Muerte...*

Wednesday, 17 November 2010 04:00

Going Off Course - "Sentarso ganzo tonto!" Edgardo screamed, but the intrepid American continued to stand as the maniacal Rio Misahauli heaved and crashed malevolently around her. She was smiling. No, she was laughing....

She was laughing in the Face of Death. Ha!

River rafting in the Ecuadorian Andes is not for wusses. And Katherine Schlaefer, the gringocita standing in the front of the raft (photo Top L), is definitely not a wuss.

So un-wuss-like is the St. Paul triathlete (photo Top R) that she is unafraid of most things that terrify the rest of us, like spiders, the dark, Nazi zombies and big assumed-to-be-slimy-but-they-are-not-really snakes. In the second photo above, she is affectionately handling a Green Anaconda, the most deadly constrictor in the world. This young serpent, which Katherine nicknamed Desilzan Verde, had not eaten in almost three weeks when this photo was taken. Still, Schlaefer was undaunted; once again laughing in Death's face, she placed the hungry reptile over her shoulders.

Was Katherine even a little scared (pocito scaredigatos)? Por supuesto que no! (Translation: Heck No!)

And what about the third picture? The one where she's hanging precariously from a rope made of scarves that were probably purchased at Target. How dangerous is that? Only intrepid Face of Death laughers like Katherine and Cirqe Du Soleil guys do that kind of stuff.

Katherine Schlaefer is not only brave, she's frightfully smart, well-traveled (as you may have already surmised; Ecuador isn't even in the United States!) and astonishingly worldly for one who has only been breathing for 32 years. She speaks at least six languages: American English, Spanish, German, Porch-you-geeze (phonetic spelling), British and Australian. And has done lots of humanitarian public health stuff in South America.

Check out her bio below. We're sure that you'll be as totally blown away impressed as we were.

Background:

Where you grew up