Making Work a Commission

Abstract

Luisa had been teasing me all morning about my reluctance to go parasailing. Every summer she and her family drove three hours from their home in the central Mexican city of Morelia to the Pacific resort town of Ixtapa. They stayed at an all-inclusive hotel on the ocean and spent several days swimming, shopping, and trying adventure sports. On this visit in August 2005, Luisa, who was then 34, invited me to join her brother, my age-mate at 30, her seven-year-old daughter, and her teenaged cousin at the beach. The first morning there, I noticed that several vacationers had strapped themselves to a parachute tethered to a speedboat. When the boat took off across the bay, the passengers were lifted into the air behind it like human kites. Luisa challenged me to try the sport. I looked dubiously at the operators’ casual style and frayed equipment, but Luisa insisted that there was nothing to fear. Finally, I agreed on the condition that she ride with me. While the boat captain revved his engine, another man helped us into our harnesses. He instructed me that when we circled back to the original spot on the beach, I would have to slow our descent by pulling on one of the ropes above my head. All I had to do was listen for his signal—a whistle.