The best way to get a feeling for a city at the beginning of a stay is to do the bus tour - you generally get to see the highlights from the bus or you can jump off at any of the stops that are of interest so I went off and did the bus tour where I met an older gentleman from Vancouver who was on a Cruise that had stopped off in Valpariso. He had been in the city for a few days so gave me a few top tips - mainly the free walking tour that leaves at 10am every day from the main square so I am going to do that on Tuesday and also that there is a free bus from the bottom of the national park to take you up to the Virgin Mary statue so I got off at the park stop and got the free bus and saw the virgin mary. I would share the photos with you but I am a fuckwit and I picked up the wrong adapter for my camera when I left so I need to go to the apple store tomorrow to get the correct one, so photos will follow.
One of the areas we passed through on the bus was Bellavista - it looked like a fab place to be and it had lots of shops selling Lapis Lazuli, which is a fantastic healing stone - here is what google says about it
A stone of protection that may be worn to guard against psychic attacks, Lapis Lazuli quickly releases stress, bringing deep peace. It brings harmony and deep inner self-knowledge. Encourages self-awareness, allows self-expression and reveals inner truth, providing qualities of honesty, compassion and morality to the personality. Stimulates objectivity, clarity and encourages creativity. Lapis Lazuli assists to confront and speak one’s truth and inspires confidence. It bonds relationships, aiding in expression of feelings and emotions.
Lapis Lazuli boosts the immune system, purifies blood, lowers blood pressure, cooling and soothing areas of inflammation. It alleviates insomnia and vertigo, and overcomes depression. Lapis Lazuli benefits the respiratory and nervous systems and the throat, vocal chords, and thyroid, cleanses organs, bone marrow and thymus.
Hmmm - Not sure I need to be encouraged to self express or to be any more honest than I am but I can certainly do with it for the old respiratory system so even though I have a Lapis Lazuli crystal already which I didn't bring it with me I will be heading off to Bellavista on Tuesday to pick myself up one for this trip as it is a good healing stone to have and what better picking it from the country it originates in. Chile and Afganistan are the only two countries in the world where this Crystal can be found and I am not planning on going to Afganistan anytime soon!
So after my bus tour I went off to meet the Cowboys for some horseback riding - how disappointing when I meet up with 3 guys from Toronto who are also on the tour and our guide is a really pretty girl called Sarah from Finland!!! Anyway we all had fun, Sarah was a great guide who did instruct all of us that when we are going up a steep hill to lean into the horse's neck and when going steep downhill to lean backwards and hold onto the back of the saddle with one hand - this made me laugh to myself as it reminded me of the trip my sister and I did last year. Whilst trekking from Western Nepal into Tibet we had to ride the horses at various points but my sister had never been on a horse in her life so without this valuable instruction of leaning forward and back she ended up underneath the poor horse's neck when going downhill and when going up hill she slid right off the back. It really was very funny.
We headed out of Santiago about 45 mins and into the hills where we arrived at the Ranch where we got our hats and chaps and our trusty mounts and off we went. I had a beautiful gelding to take me through the hills and although he tried all of the horse riding school tricks to see if I knew what I was doing we got on like a house on fire. It's so funny that world wide all the horses have the same tricks - pull their head forward quickly to see if you are paying attention and may be you might fall off over the front of the horse if you are not or the stopping sharply to see if they can get you off the back or taking off at a trot with no warning. Anyway been there and done that so many times with these wee cuties so I was fine, not sure the boys I was with were quite as fine!! there was an awful lot of cries to WOAH and exclamations of WHY ARE YOU GOING THAT WAY to the horse etc etc. We were out for about 3 hours in total which is the longest ride I have had in 10 years so I am so going to feel that tomorrow but fortunately it is the wine tour tomorrow so I can drink my pain away!!
Just about 15 minutes after we set off I could feel my lungs tightening up - fuck, I left my inhaler in my rucksack in the jeep that picked us up which was back at the ranch! what do I do? do i make us all go back or do I just get on with it? but its a 3 hour trek so I started to worry that I was going to be having a serious asthma attack by then which of course made my chest tighten even more so I started to go through all of my exercises of what I do when I am having an attack and can't get help - short breaths in, deep long breaths out (people don't realise that Asthmatics have a problem breathing out not breathing in so our lungs fill with air which is why we appear breathless but if we take long breaths out and short breaths in it really helps) so I was doing this but I was starting to wheeze which is a bad sign - then I remembered!!! the reason I am back on a horse is because of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) an amazing healing system which clears the meridians and helps with anything that we are feeling. So I started to tap my head and chest and within 5 minutes I could feel my chest easing and I could breath in more deeply. I had never used EFT for my Asthma before but it was amazing how quickly I felt so much better and that was me for the rest of the trip, absolutely fine and no need for my inhaler. If you want to learn more about EFT then go to www.eftuniverse.com
Riding through the hills was very beautiful and peaceful and it reminded me of how lucky I am to be able to do all of the things I enjoy doing. I may have had a break from riding for 10 years but I am now firmly back in the saddle and loving every minute of it. The dogs were running along side us all the way and that is my dream now - to have my own horse and dogs to run alongside while I discover the Ayrshire countryside. But I still have too much travelling around the world to do so its on my list for when I am nearer 50 and have ticked off the majority of my bucket list.
The riding trip was organised by www.chileofftrack.com - these are the same people I am doing the Glacier trek with on Saturday. They are fab, and Sarah our guide this afternoon and evening was really great.
So I was out on my own doing my own thing in the morning, not having to think about someone else or do something I didn't really want to do just because someone else wanted to do it. It was really fab. I do really enjoy my own company and I really have been enjoying thinking my own thoughts and emptying my brain of all the Case Histories shite that I have been carrying around and even in the afternoon although I was with a guide and 3 guys from toronto, I really was able to just be inside my head and enjoy the peace of the hills and the beautiful scenery. I can feel that I am starting to relax after 5 months of my shoulders being up around my ears somewhere!
I do find it easy adapting to these situations where I am on my own with no security blanket of a boyfriend, sister, friend or work colleague to speak to which means I just have to get on with anyone in any situation and I thought this afternoon and evening was a good example of that. Out horseback riding with 3 guys from Toronto who I had never met before but we got on really well. After we had got back to the ranch we had some dinner and shared a bottle of wine and had a general chat about Toronto and Scotland etc etc. I always find it amazing how we can be in these situations and just chat away to strangers, always finding something to say and then finding we all have something in common. I am not sure why I find these situation ok to deal with where others just wouldn't have gone on the trip at the though of having to talk to strangers. May be its the job I do where on a daily basis I am begging favours from strangers!! Anyway here's to being Adaptable - its a great skill to have and I am grateful the Universe has shared it with me.
It was a brilliant day, photos to follow of the day soon.
Off drinking wine tomorrow so should get some sleep as I am up in 7 hours.
suzxxx
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