May 16th: Horseback Riding

Today's planned activity, horseback riding, provided a very scenic view of the area close to where we have been staying. The ride helped me realize that Chile not only has a large range of climates throughout the country because of its length, but also has many different terrains in the area surrounding Santiago and Viña del Mar. The ranch where we started our trip was in an area that was predominantly grassland with a few trees. We then rode down a trail and crossed a road to get to the beach, where we rode for a little while. Even if I lived on the coast of Chile, I don't think I would ever take the ocean for granted. The water is so blue here, and the coasts are beautiful, especially when they are a combination of rocks and sand, as they are at some points. When we left the coast, we returned to the plains landscape, which reminded me a lot of eastern Colorado except for the fact that there were significantly more trees in this area. After this area there was a stretch of sand dunes which looked somewhat desert-like. This part of the ride had the scariest part, as there was a section where the horses had to follow one another in a single file line to avoid sliding down one of the dunes. This section made me especially nervous because for a lot of the ride my horse liked to walk as close as possible to the horses next to it rather than going in front or letting the other horse go first. Everyone made it across with no problems. The final area we passed through before stopping for a small break was a forest.

 

The provided snack was delicious. The guides brought a few fresh pineapples and cut them when we took our break. I do not know if I have ever eaten pineapple as fresh and as sweet as the ones they brought. It was especially delicious since I have not had as much fruit as normal during this trip. After our break we retraced part of our original route to get back. By the end of the trip I was very ready to get off my horse because I was sore from riding such a long time. Since I have not ridden many horses I was not really sure how to get the horse to do what I wanted, and therefore it decided to trot most of the time which, as I found out, is the worst of the three speeds that we went because of the rhythm of the horse's gait.

 

Tonight, we met Verner and many of our Chilean friends at a pizza place in Viña del Mar. It was nice to have the opportunity to all be together for one last night before leaving Chile and getting to see many of our new friends. To end our trip, many of the Chileans and almost all of the people in our study abroad socialized and danced for most of the night into the early morning.