I had the most brilliant time on Sunday and Monday. I will try to talk you through it step by step by I am bound to miss something because so much happened!
The fun all started with my pick up - my other pick ups had been with guides in 4 wheel drive pick up trucks so sort of expected the same so when a taxi with two passengers in the back turned up and the driver took out a piece of paper it really looked like he was about to ask me directions - before he could even speak I quickly said 'no espanol' to which he replied "Suzanne?" I was very confused! as it turns out he was my driver and the passengers in the back were 2 New Zealanders header for a day out horse riding at the same ranch. I felt like such a tit! but we all had a really good laugh and Simon one of the passengers said my face was a picture of panic at the thought I was going to be asked directions!
So we drove for about an hour and a half outside of Santiago - down the same road that I went for the Glacier trail and we arrived at the Ranch. One of the horses was being shod as we arrived - its funny in the UK we make such a big deal of getting the Farrier in and these cowboys just get on with it themselves.
There were a few yearlings running around in the paddock next to us - so nice to see so many young horses.
I met Ellen who is the daughter of Rose Deakin who owns www.horseridingchile.com and who had organised the trip for me and I met Hayley and Rodrigo who I would be trekking with - fortunately Hayley is a Londoner here teaching english and Spanish to the school kids and Rodrigo, her boyfriend, who is teaching outdoor sports to the kids at the same school so his English was perfect. It was lucky because Rigo my Cowboy doesn't speak a word of English - like not one word - not even hello. so I am very grateful to Hayley and Rodrigo for making my trip so much better by translating for me and answering all my questions.
So off we set the 4 of us with one mule with our supplies for the 2 days. As I discovered mostly packed with Cerveza, Vino Tinto and Pisco Sours! the lucky old mule was much happier on the way back down as his load was much lighter!!
So we go up and up and up - now this is the way to see the mountain side, forget walking up mountains, I never want to do that again.... horseback riding up the mountains is so amazing, I love feeling the power of a beautiful horse push both of us up the mountain side - then of course the feeling of complete fear as we have to go down the mountain side and the horse slides down but these horses know what they are doing, you have to just trust them. The first time we took a big dip down the mountain side - Hayley shouted at me to hold on as she was in front of me at this point and had just gone down that difficult bit - so I did as I was told and as me and my horse plunged downwards I could feel a muscle in my boob pop - never knew I had any muscles there, thought it was just loads of fat! but it was a muscle as fat popping can't be that sore!! Who knows what Rigo my Cowboy thought of me as I spent the next 5 minutes massaging my right boob until the pain went away!!!
My horse was called Lucero, and he was a real wee cute - an ex rodeo horse which you could tell because he really had a forward going spirit and liked to do things his own way - like taking shortcuts that would give me heart failure so I had to take over and start steering. Riding these mountain horses is so different from riding at home as you only ever hold the reigns with one hand, if you are right handed then its the right hand you hold with. It took me a little while to get used to this but the horse will only respond if you pull the reign across its neck and also with Lucero I didn't need to ever push him on with my heels, I just needed to think about going faster and he would do it. He was such a beautiful intuitive little soul. When I was worried about some of the steep drops down we had to do he would feel my nervousness and wait till I was ready and holding on to his mane and then he would do the plunge down the big rocks. It really was the most exhilarating and beautiful experience at the same time. I loved going up the really steep mountainside and loved coming down just as much. I loved being able to watch the lizards run across our path and watch the butterflies on the trees - you can't do any of this if you are walking up the mountain because you have to watch your feet constantly as its so rocky.
I have always been a lover of riding BIG BIG horses, the bigger the better but I have totally fallen in love with these little mountain ponies - Lucero could not have been more than 15 hands but what a little powerhouse (or powerhouse!) he is.
We rode up the mountain for about 3 hours and then stopped at our campsite and Rigo made us the most delicious sandwich - fresh tomato, fresh avocado with cheese all in the chilean bread called Marraqueta which is really nice bread but huge.
Hayley and Rodrigo decided they didn't want to ride any further up and would stay at the camp so me and Rigo headed back on the horses and really went to the TOP OF THE WORLD! Breathtaking is really not the world for it, there has to be a bigger word for how I felt and what I saw. I was on top of a mountain surrounded by mountains on my beautiful wee horse with only a spanish speaking cowboy for company. Absolute bliss. Its hard to explain what i felt but Freedom is certainly a word I would use to describe some of my feelings and at that point at the top of the hill where this photo was taken I was relaxed and so so happy.
After taking these photos we headed back down the hill, some of the best riding I have ever done was on this descent, slip sliding away down the mountain side - my heart was in my mouth especially when Lucero was so pleased he had got us passed a particularly difficult bit he would trot to the next difficult bit but we were still on a steep decline!
We arrived back at camp with me all hot and sweaty and a bit asthmatic with all the mountain dust so me, Hayley and Rodrigo headed to the local swimming baths....
Is that not the most beautiful swimming pool you have ever seen? Once you were in it wasn't cold and all the fish in the pool stayed at the bottom while you were swimming and didn't attempt to nibble your feet. I hadn't taken my swimming costume so went in wearing my yoga top and my trekking pants (well they are fast drying and definitely needed a wash!) it was pure luxury and just cool enough to make you feel good but not so cold you wanted to get out. Even Hayley went in and she hates cold water but she did a few lengths. Rodrigo did a lot of dive bombing from the rock on the right of the picture - Chilean men like to show off!
Hayley and I dried out like a couple of lizards on the rocks for an hour or so and then we headed back to help Rigo with the dinner preparations.
It turns out that Rodrigo, Hayleys boyfriend, is a huge Bear Grylls fan so started a fire within 2 seconds using a special piece of equipment - although I did point out that Bear would have done it with two stones but lets not be picky, we had a fire!
Being a vegetarian as always is a pain in the arse for everyone else who isn't a vegetarian so Rigo my cowboy didn't really know what do do with the Corn on the cob, aubergine, courgette and red pepper - yup I know I hate aubergine and courgette but I thought it might be ok on the BBQ but then Rigo decided he was going to make a stew with it - oh fuck - I really hate stewed vegetables but ultimately I am British so I am NEVER going to say anything to this lovely old cowboy who only wants to make me happy! It would have been an insult to say I didn't want stew that I wanted all the veg bbq'd so I did what I normally do when being polite and presented with Aubergine and Courgette and soggy Pepper and cut it into small pieces and swollowed it whole so I didn't have to chew it - if I have to chew these vegetables when cooked then I start to make pukking motions - I really didn't want to have to do this round the camp fire. The saving grace was the Corn on the Cob and the bread so at least I enjoyed something!
Rigo my Cowboy is on the left in the red shirt with Hayley on the bench and Rodrigo with his bottle of tea on the right. The horses had been let free up on the hill by this point. and my stew was being started.....
So we ate by the campfire and Rigo continually offered Cerveza which of course would be rude to refuse - well I can't refuse fucking Aubergine and Courgette so there was NO WAY I was going to refuse beer!!! once the Cerveza was done we moved onto a tetra pack on Santa Rita Tinto 120 - I am a complete Santa Rita convert now so even if its served out of a tetra pack it is still going to be better the Concha y Toro!!! so down the Tinto went - it really was only me and Rodrigo drinking - Hayley had a few beers but no wine and Rigo wasn't drinking - apparently he is a real drinker normally but Hayley didn't know why he wasn't up for a few on this night so all the more for me and Rodrigo - oh dear!!! so once the Vino tinto was done it was on to the Pisco Sours - oh my god, it tastes like Lemonade! Pisco Sours is a Chilean and Peruvian national drink - its made of Pisco which is high alcohol low grade wine which you add sugar and lemon juice to - completely lethal!!! with no one drinking it except me and Rodrigo it was always going to end in a mess! so after talking about energies and the universe on repeat for about 2 hours, Hayley and Rigo went to bed leaving me and Rodrigo to put the world to rights and see THREE SHOOTING STARS! the most beautiful thing in the world to see - I have been so lucky in my life to see lots of shooting stars but these felt special, they felt like they were showing me my future as they ended - very very very special.
One of the funniest translation questions I had been asked was by Rodrigo who I think was trying to describe me - he said to me 'what do you call people who like some things and not others' I looked blankly at him not really understanding what he was asking so he then tried to help by saying 'do you call these people kinky?' after I wet my pants with laughter I had to ask him what he means by people who like some things but not others - we got to the bottom of it when he said 'if you don't like something are you called picky?' After I had finished rolling on the floor laughing I told him he should be careful of his use of Kinky and Picky as it may get him in some trouble! Brilliant and so funny and he was definitely describing me a as Picky NOT Kinky!!! Can you imagine where my brain went when he started taking about Kinky and people who like some things but not others - of course i was thinking how on earth do I get out of this conversation!!!
So after the Kinky conversation and a bottle and a half of Pisco Sours - Rodrigo would happily have drunk the last bottle dry but I knew I had to ride down a mountain the next day so we headed to sleep at 1130pm - the latest I have been up so far on my trip.
My bed wasn't in a tent, it was on top of a camping mat with a sleeping bag - so i got to sleep under the stars that were sending my such beautiful messages about my future - OK I WAS DRUNK!! GIVE ME A BREAK! I lay there for half an hour speaking to the stars - YEP STILL DRUNK! before I fell asleep, into the deepest best sleep ever until suddenly something was falling on me and making screeching noises - I could hear myself grunting but not really knowing what was going on - Hayley had got up in the middle of the night for a pee and fell right over me. Rigo was out of his bed with his Cowboy knife ready to take down the Mountain lion (or snake) that was making me grunt. Fortunately he is an old Cowboy and not so quick off the mark otherwise Hayley might not be with us anymore!
Anyway back to the best sleep and awoke at 6am to hear some branches breaking so I open my eyes to see Rambo making a fire - sorry not Rambo but Bear Grylls but he had the Rambo bandanna round his head so he did look like Rambo. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep thinking I can't really have seen Rambo or Bear Grylls - just another one of my weird dreams! It turns out Rodrigo doesn't really sleep long and is always so active so it was him not Rambo or Bear Grylls I had seen starting the fire at 6am.
At 8am I woke again and only because the sun was so hot on me I got up and had a cup of twinnings ginger and lemon tea - I brought it with me before you think my Cowboy is very westernised! I then converted Rodrigo to it - he had a whole water bottle full of it and enjoyed the ginger flavour - they don't really do Ginger in Chile - we had a whole conversation about where Ginger is from - we decided China but I am not sure if that is actually where it is from.
We had breakfast of Porridge and fruit salad and scrambled eggs and bread - it was really fantastic - so simple but really delicious.
We then had the rest of the morning to relax as we weren't heading back down the mountain until after lunch so Rodrigo (who can't sit still for a minute) wants to go for a walk. I really can't be bothered - I walked to the San Francisco Glacier just days ago don't you know so I opt to stay at camp. So Hayley goes off with Rodrigo and I stay at the camp with Rigo. I decide to go and find myself a rock in the shade but near the river to meditate, just as I settle in on the rock Rigo finds me and hands me one of the camping mattresses - what a wee sweetie - he must have seen me up on the rocks trying to get comfy and brought me the bed. So that was me for the next 2 hours - I meditated to the sound of the water, the sound of the grasshoppers, the sound of the big buzzing things that would come right up to your face and were huge fuck off things - bees apparently but not like we would know a bee.
I woke myself by snoring occasionally but I had a couple of hours of the most relaxing time I have experienced in 18 months (last time I felt like this I was on my trek from Nepal to Tibet). I saw Iguanas, leopard geckos, normal little lizards, frogs and tadpoles (its Chilean spring just now). At one point I was lying on my bed on the rock next to the river and heard a russle of leaves above me and opened my eyes to see one of the pony's drinking the river water a foot away from me - I didn't move but we made eye contact, it was so AMAZING. I really felt truly happy at those points - the interaction with the wildlife and the horses.
That was when I realised we have to make our own Happiness - as human beings we rely too much on other people to make us happy, which is fine in the world that we live in but if we can't make ourselves happy then how can we ever be really truly happy and what a burden we put on our loved ones to make us happy. I don't want to spend my life looking for other people to give me what i experienced these last two days - even though other people were involved in helping me to feel completely and truly happy, I have to take responsibility for my own happiness, we all need to take responsibility for our happiness. Is that what I have been searching for on my spiritual journey? I don't know but it was definitely a light bulb moment and one I am really happy I had. So I now take full responsibility for my own Happiness. I don't expect anyone else to take on that responsibility. Although I am more than up for someone making me laugh!!!
After my epiphany we had lunch - another amazing sandwich from Rigo and we packed up and heading back down the mountain. The dust was pretty bad on the way down - I think because the horses were moving at a faster pace so kicking up more dust so i struggled a bit with my breathing but after learning EFT could help me I used that and also let Lucero, my cute wee pony, have more control of the downward journey so I could concentrate on my breathing - a couple of times he was heading to suicide mountain drops and I had to redirect him to keep myself from having a heart attack but a really smooth fast journey back with lots of downhill trotting, which I began to really enjoy.
We got back to the ranch and unpacked, Hayley and Rodrigo headed off and after the horses had been watered and fed Rigo took me up to the main road where I was to meet my driver who took me back to Santiago.
I loved my time in the mountains - i don't think think blog really has done justice to how amazing it really was and how it really made me feel so happy to be there but I totally recommend it to everyone, its the most amazing experience I have had in my life so far.
Thank you to my amazing wee mountain pony Lucero, here he is in the picture below.....
suzxxx
