The day after we completed the Mandango Loop, we scheduled a four hour horseback riding trip. The guide, Mauricio came for us in a pickup truck and drove us 2 km into town where a boy had three horses ready for us. My horse was the youngest, only 3 ½ years old, and his name was Caramelo. We began at a walk, taking quickly to the paths outside of town. I’ve been on horseback probably 15 times in my life, but I’m not a very good rider. Soon we were trotting and finally galloping. I kept my one hand on the saddle horn to keep balance, an amataur move to be sure, but other than that, I felt pretty good.
We traveled paths in the foot hills around town, taking breaks occasionally for the horses to rest and drink. It was a nice ride, and the views by any standards were wonderful, although having hiked up on the mountain ridges the day before, I now knew what a really amazing view could be. Our guide was a 25 year old wrangler and 7 time bull riding champion. He was very pleasant and I was able to practice my Spanish with him. Mostly Link and Mauricio spoke though.
Although I was third inline, we all switched positions, at times riding abreast and a couple times where I was the trail leader. As the youngest horse, Caramelo was very energetic, and would have no problems breaking into a trot or gallop. Any fear of falling off the horse was completely eradicated by the ridgeline hike yesterday. I just enjoyed the ride…until I didn’t.
It happened after about 2 ½ hours of riding. I began to quickly feel uncomfortable, then sore, then really sore. The constant bouncing up and down of the trotting was hurting my back and my legs. The ride ended an hour later, after only 3 ½ hours. I was happy to get off Caramelo, even though we had paid for a full 4 hours.
After eating a meal at the little town square, we ran into Mauricio again who had already showered and changed from our ride. We set up a tentative meeting at the bar at our hostel for later that night.
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