A Christmas present

Subject:	A Christmas present
Date:	Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:34:25 -0800

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - A 100-year-old Brazilian grandmother will experience
gravity in a whole new way this Christmas when she takes the plunge out of
an airplane to become the world's oldest parachuter, local news site G1
reported Saturday.

Aida Mendes asked her grandson as a Christmas gift to help her arrange the
jump which would get her into the Guinness Book of world records.

After getting the green light from doctors and her loved ones, Mendes was
planning to leap from a plane above Macapa, a city in the northern state of
Amapa, this weekend, according to the website.

"This is not my birthday present, it's my Christmas gift," Mendes, who
turned 100 in November, was quoted as saying.

"My grandson dared me, and I said 'sure.'"

Still flirtatious in her triple digits, Mendes added: "Because I did a lot
of sports as a young woman, I can really say that I am a 100-year-old with
the body of a 50-year-old."

Now she is preparing for the drop from about 3,000-4,000 meters (9,900 to
13,000 feet), and a shot at the record books.