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Published: August 7th 2006
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La Mula rubbing Martina´s stink off
It was so funny that each of them did this in turn! On Thursday we went to town to find a good guide to take us on a 2-day horseback trek. We had read wonderful reviews of a New Zealander named Gavin, and another couple staying in our hostel had gone with him and loved it. He charges $70 per person for 2 days, which includes all meals etc., and we managed to convince our new friends Lew and Anita to come with us.
Seeing Gavin´s office in town it becomes immediately clear that he is a character! He is a thrice round the world traveler, and has been living in Vilcabamba for almost twenty years - longer than any other gringo (of which there are a few). He purchased one side of a mountain (!) for around $4000 back in the 80s, with the goal of taking care of it. The trip involves riding horses up tiny, twisty mountain trails up to his
refugio, where you spend the night and get to hear his wild stories. We got to his office where he and his quiet (and hungover!) teenage Ecuadorian assistant Oscar were saddling up the horses. There were a few local kids there watching, who got quite a kick out
of seeing us - we all looked pretty ridiculous. Josh will dispute it, but he looked funniest of all, wearing his all-synthetic, brand spanking new Columbia hiking gear, uber-gringo sunglasses, and Choco sandals 😊 I was feeling pretty glad I brought jeans. Josh of course told Gavin I had experience riding horses (which is true, but of course he didn´t mention that it´s been about a decade!) so Gavin said he got me the fastest horse in town. Needless to say I was kind of nervous - but Josh luckily broke the ice when he made his first failed attempt to mount his horse. He wasn´t quite able to swing his leg over, and slid down - and my nervousness magically disappeared! It wasn´t quite like riding a bike (i.e. you never forget), but I felt very comfortable. Anita was super nervous, any time her horse so much as shifted the weight of his legs she would let out a small whimper! But she got accustomed really quickly. Josh was - again - the funniest. I think it´s because he had told us this story about being put on a horse in Costa Rica which took off galloping, with Josh
barely hanging on for dear life, and that set the tone. Every time we started trotting, it looked like Josh was going to fall off the horse, and was just barely managing to stay on. It was hilarious.
Once we got out of town onto the dirt trails we were all having a blast - the views were incredible. Sometimes the trails were really, really steep, and on the edge of a hundred-foot drop! But we all trusted our horses because they all knew the trails by heart (well, except mine, La Mula - but I rode last, much to his frustration!). We stopped a couple of times, once to pick some oranges as a snack, and then at a river so the horses could cool off and drink. All in all it took about 4 or 5 hours to get up to the refuge, which Gavin built himself with a couple of locals. We sat enjoying the PHENOMENAL view from up there, overlooking Vilcabamba and the mountains beyond it. From town, to the West, there is a mountain ridge that dominates the view, but from up there you could see past it to much much higher mountains we
Bromeliad in cloud forest
This was one of the most stunning bromeliads we saw. That´s our friend Anita in the background. didn´t even know were there. It was absolutely gorgeous - and we were lucky enough to have a cloudless, blue sky. We watched Oscar take the saddles of the horses, each of which would then lay down on the grass and start rubbing its back! We joked that they were rubbing our stink off 😊
Gavin brought us lunch and then we went for a hike into the Podocarpus National Park, which is a cloudforest only less than an hour hike from his property. He pointed out all kinds of indigenous and medicinal plants, which was really interesting, and we got to see a Podocarpus tree (after which the park is named). We also saw entire fields of orchids, though most were not in bloom at this time of year. We also saw tons of different and beautiful bromeliad species.
We got back to the refuge just in time to watch the sunset over Gavin´s famous sundowners - freshly squeezed orange juice and vodka. Oscar brought over a butterly he had found that was of a type Gavin had never seen before (which is pretty incredible given that he´s been there for 20 years and knows just about
everything living there is to know up there). Gavin told us about the tragic changes he´s observed over the last few years, most notably from farmers starting fires in the mountains that become uncontainable. He is convinced the cloud forest up there will die soon, and is doing his darndest to raise awareness us about it. Oscar cooked a yummy stew of rice, quinoa, carrots, and chicken, which was even better with Gavin´s homemade
aji (delicious hot sauce made from tree tomatoes that Ecuadorians put on everything). And we just sat around listening to Gavin´s stories, and then Oscar started a campfire outside so we could all warm up. Oscar had been pretty quiet all night because he doesn´t speak English, but I started speaking what little Spanish I know to him and he started talking, which made everyone happy!
After a nice night´s sleep we woke up around 9 to have breakfast and head back down. They had told us we´d take the same trails as the day before, but we ended up taking different ones about halfway down which was really neat. We got back into town around 4 and stopped to have a drink and cool
down before saying our goodbyes. Then we got to gallop, which I had been wanting to do the whole time - it was so much fun! Gavin had told us that horses naturally compete with each other, and for the whole trip mine had been wanting to be first in line. Now he had his chance, and he started racing with Oscar´s horse - it was exhilaring! It was a phenomenal trip, incredibly stunning views and flora and great company. We couldn´t recommend Gavin more highly.
Now we are in Mindo, a beautiful cloud forest town just northwest of Quito which is known for its abundance of rare birds, butterflies, orchids, and hummingbirds. We just met up with our friends Adam and Molly, who are here studying bats - more on that soon!
Love,
Josh and Martina
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kristin
non-member comment
ya'll are so damn lucky
i'm so jealous of ya'll! I totally wish I could just take off work for weeks at a time and go travelling. Enjoy your time - ya'll deserve it! :)