Spring break in July continued....

Ok, so I believe I left off after our first day in Valpo.

The next day (Thursday) was our most exciting adventure! While we were in Mendoza and we were researching things to do in Chile, we just so happened to stumble upon this website advertising horseback riding in sand dunes in Chile. We immediately said, "Por que no?" (why not?) without even really looking further into it. Literally, our thought process was: wow, those pictures look cool, it's cheap, let's do it. Little did we know that this day would turn out to be a once in a lifetime experience! Job well done!


We also just so happened to pick the perfect day to go as well (cause we're that good). It was beautiful, sunny, and surprisingly warm (considering our track record of freezing our butts off the rest of the trip). We also decided to have someone pick us up from our hostel and take us to the place (good decision #3) because after driving there, there is no way we would have arrived on our own.

When we got there, we immediatel hopped on our horses. This was my first time EVER horseback riding, and let me tell you, this was not basico (more like avanzado!! rather, avanzado times 10). Anyway, my first time getting on the horse I had no problem. However, the rest of the day getting back on the horse was quite comical. Anyway, we got on and I was like, hey this is pretty cool. And then I thought, shoot, how do you stear this thing? But no worries, I quickly got the hang of it (or so I thought). We then departed for the dunes (the four of us and our two guides--btw, how cool is it that this is their job?!)

We then started walking towards the dunes, and by this time I was still trying to get used to being on a horse. It probably didn't help that I was trying to take as many pictures as possible at the same time! To the left is a picture of the beginning of our trip. I don't know how or when we reached the sand dunes, but it was like all of the sudden we were there. The next picture is a view of the sand dunes. Yes, we were at the very top! After walking for a bit through the sand, I'm guessing the horses became more comfortable with each of us because they soon started to trot occasionally. I (luckily!) had the slow horse! However, Racehl's horse loved to trot, as did Bri's and David's. If one went, they all went. And I can't even describe the adrenaline rush that you get when you trot down a hill. Actually, I shouldn't refer to them as hills because they weren't. More like small mountains, but it was the coolest thing ever! Even though 3/4 of the time I was holding on for dear life!

Here are some more pictures below!! The picture of me on the beach-- Valpo and Vina are in the background. And the picture before that, I am the one on the very top left-hand corner!

After making our way through the dunes (trotting A LOT towards the end) we ended up on the beach! We were the only ones on the beach (duh- it's winter, but still it was cool) and we walked about a couple of miles next to the water. My horsie (his name was Pantomino) liked to put his feet in the water. He also liked to take his time walking (no objections here!), and thus I was often bringing up the rear of the group. The other horses were of trotting (almost galloping---they are pros obvi!), but I was thoroughly content walking :-)

We then made it to this camping spot inland, and our guides full on made us a legit campfire. And by that I mean they were ripping branches off of trees and making a fire. Champ status camping, no? Once the fire got going, they took the coals from the bottom of it and moved them to a separate spot under a grilling rack. Here they put meat and pork and beans and tortillas to cook. Professional camp-style (aka nothing my family would be capable of considering our track record with camping HAHA). I don't know how they pulled out so much food, but they did and it was awesome! By this point we were getting pretty sore from riding horses, but that didn't stop us one bit! We headed back to the beach, and which point the other horses took off trotting again, and surprsingly I did some trotting as well! One of our guides was also showing off his horse skills. Props to Rachel for capturing this picture! After the beach we headed back to where we started because it was getting dark by then!

I can't even describe how sore we all were the following day. It was actually really funny, but VERY painful. Our original plan was to come home this day (Friday), but none of us wanted to leave without having time to spend in Vina. Entonces, we decided to stay an extra day! Como siempre, I am on the run and don't have enough time to finish, but stay tuned :-)