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Published: July 25th 2006
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Horseback Riding
We booked a double tour today to save money on transfers. We started out with the horseback riding, which consisted of a small group of taking horses up into the mountains, as high as 2000 meters above sea level. The sun was intense and I shed my layers as I rode my horse expertly. He was a brown "stallion" and I cornrowed his mane and named him 'Pac. I didn't have a rubber band so his braid loosened but he still had that gangsta swagger and the born leader that he is, he refused to be in the back of the group and would run up ahead of the other horses and then resume walking only after everyone else was behind. Our guides were informative and showed us some incredible mountain views and we even crossed a few streams, at which 'Pac stopped for a guzzle. I thought he deserved some cool, crisp water for his effort but the guides said no because he was "working". In Argentina, the reins are held with one hand and pulled simultaneously in the same direction, so I had to pull them upwards and stop him mid-guzzle. That made Pac mad
at me and he trotted so much that my butt and the saddle became estranged. But I enjoyed it all, even though my hips started to hurt and when we took a break, Diego, a guide, realized my feet weren't hooked into the stirrups and buckled me in so tight that my ankles were grinding against the metal. Ouch!! Two hours on a horse is a workout!! Everything from the shoulder down hurt after the first hour. The horses were 'over it' as well because once 'Pac realized he was on the trail towards home his trot became a gallop and I had to reign him in order to stay with the group!! He calmed down but every time I gave him a little slack, there he went trotting and picking up speed until I had to force him to stop.
We arrived at the horse farm dirty and sore and feeling sorry for those girls who booked the 4 hour tour...we'd had enough!!! I bade 'Pac farewell and waited for the minibus to take us to lunch and onwards to our next adventure...
Canopy (Zip Lines)
I'd wanted to do the zip lines
since Costa Rica and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to do it in Mendoza. Zip lines are thin metal cables suspended about 150-200 feet in the air connected to posts. A person is suspended from a harness in a sitting position, and attached to a pulley that zips one through the air at a fast speed from one post to the next. In Costa Rica and other Central American countries, it is done in the rain forest over the tops of trees. In Mendoza, however, it is done over the mountains, and a rushing river.
The scariest part for me was the walk up. The path was no wider than 15" and ascended very high with a clear drop (to one's imminent death) on both sides. It was seriously to narrow to walk in pairs, and these mountains were red rock like Arizona, and the path made of gravel and rock. I was stupidly wearing fashionable Adidas with the super-flat soles (ninja style) and they had no tread to grip the ground. Once or twice my foot slipped and gravel went cascading down the side and it was only GOD's grace that I didn't follow.
I finally asked one the guides, Jose, if I could hold his elbow for support. he was cool with that and I baby-stepped my way up the mountain.
We get to the top and the hook our caribiner up to a cable while we wait our turn. My heart is racing, my head is a bit woozy from vertigo and the altitude, and I´m trying hard not to look down. The view is intense and I would love it under normal circumstance, but right now I'm feeling very mortal. When it was my turn I told the guide not to release his hand from the pulley until I was ready. Then I gave the OK and went zipping through the air with mountains and ravines beneath me curving, and jutting in different shapes and colors. Whew! The first one down, only 6 more to go...and you can't quit once you've started because there's no way back down the mountain. Matias, another guide, asked me to come to the front because some of the other people were doing the shorter stint. That meant unhooking my caribiner (metal loop that secures climbers and rappelers to their ropes) and walking past
everyone else who is secured and not plummeting to my death...hmmmm. I unhook it, and become very familiar with the group and I grope and grab them for support. The girl in front turns and extends her arm to help me along and in desperation I grab her and we lose our balance and almost go falling off the sides. She was hooked on so I wouldve just bear-hugged her until we were pulled to safety.
Jose, one of the guides asked if I wanted to go with him so I could do tricks and I was estatic about that. I was a bit freaked zipping by myself, but with a guide I found all this lost courage and when we went on an extremely long line he flipped me upside down! Now my head is pointing straight down and I see a 200 foot drop wizzing by me, and I feel the heat of the sun, and the wind is brisk at the pace we are moving and I just love it! He takes it even further and asks me if I want to fly like Superman. Of course I wanna fly!! Meaning my body is completely horizontal, I am suspended from my mid-back and shoulders from the cable. He straps me up and secures me and I zip over the rushing Mendoza river, which is class 4 rapids and a belly flop from this distance would shatter me into pieces, but I feel an awesome sense of liberation and accomplishment...kinda like the first time I ever said, "Look Ma, no hands!"
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