WEDNESDAY.

---

Wednesday! Ohh my gosh, so much fun. We woke up around 9:30? 10? and my dad/sister headed to breakfast, while I stayed in because I wasn’t feeling too hot. From there, we went and sat around the pool for a few hours until 2. I hadn’t eaten all day, so I tried to eat a bit at the lunch buffet, but even a few mussels, plain rice, and fries was too much for me to eat. I started feeling really dizzy and my stomach ached, so I figured it was because of too much sun.

We went horseback riding shortly after—the van picked us up at the hotel at 2:25, and after 2 more hotel stops and a one-hour drive through the mountains/deserts, we arrived at a real Mexican ranchero! It was soooo effin’ cool.. again, I always thought Cabo was just tropical beaches, but the hour long car ride took us through the touristy parts, the beaches, the slums and pretty poor parts of Cabo, the city, the mountains, the deserts, and hella hella cacti. It was so awesome…at times, we were winding around the top of a mountain, so I saw all of Cabo and the views were spectacular.

As we neared the ranchero, the roads turned into dirt and rocks—soo bumpy. The blue ocean was to our left, and miles and miles of deserts and cacti were to our left, with enormous mountains off in the distance. As I may have said before, Mexican drivers are NUTS. There are a lot of just 2 lane roads (one going the opposite way), so the drivers will speed past the person in front of them, either down the middle of both roads or heck, on the other side! My family was just gasping and holding our breaths as our taxi driver sped like crazy. There are speed limits, but there are abs no cops on the roads whatsoever.

So as we got closer and the roads turned to dirt, we got thrown around like mad. It was dusty, dirty, bumpy, and just flat out nuts. We finally made a left and drove a few minutes down a road and saw this little shack that had some horses and ATVs. They had 2 dogs there and one was adorable—it was beige and white and had the markings of a short-haired collie. So cute. One of the families there with us was German (I think). They were def speaking German and it sounded so cool…I love to sprechen ze Deutsch. We were the only family doing horseback riding, so it was super nice.

Our cowboy leader dude was named Jose, and my horse was named Fly. I forget the other 2 horses…something Hispanic, but one name meant “peanut”. The tour was about 2 hours, and it was AMAZING! Oh my god, the views were unlike anything I had ever seen. It was the 3 of us on our own horses + our cowboy and his horse. The cute thing was that leaving the stables, another horse was running around us. Jose told us that my dad was riding its mother, so the baby tagged along with us the whole time! It was amazing—all the horses rode in a straight line, single file, and the baby refused to let it’s mother get in front of it. My horse liked to do whatever the horse in front of it did, and it rode right on the horse’s tail…literally. My sister’s horse liked to slow down, then run to catch up. My dad was given the “lazy” horse. Jose took us through cacti and the deserts for the first hour or so, then we ended up ON the beach!! We rode along the coast for 30 mins or so, in which we got some cool pics and my horse finally became 2nd in line (Fly was sick of being #3). The waves were crashing on our right, and there were these incredible rocks/desert on our left. It turns out, we were riding along the Pacific Ocean! We had gone so far south/southwest on the Baja California Sur peninsula, that we had reached the Pacific Ocean—the sun was even setting over the Ocean, which is something I’ve never seen before. Even back in Cabo San Lucas, the sun sets back over the hotel towards the mountains (we’re facing the far southeastern tip of the peninsula, so it’s kinda a weird angle).

So as if that wasn’t amazing enough, we turned and the horses rode up a hill, so we ended up on the top of a massive hill right on the beach—overlooking the sand and Pacific waves from high above. Def my favorite view from the trip, by far.

From there, we rode into the desert some more, saw hella cacti, turned around and went back onto the beach for a bit, then ended up back at the ranchero. The ride back was a little crazy—Jose started trotting, so of course Fly had to trot as well. At one point, she broke into a gallop. Yes, a GALLOP. I haven’t ridden a horse in a few years, and I had a drawstring bag on that kept bounching too. We didn’t even have long pants, just mesh shorts. I was being thrown all over the place, fearing I’d fall because I was laughing so hard. My hair kept falling out of its bun, so finally I just rode with my hair blowing in the wind. Ooh la la…not. Fly also hated when Megan’s horse would try to pass it—Fly’s ears would flatten and she would turn her head. At one point, after Fly had been trotting/galloping like a mad horse for a few mins, she slowed down and kicked Megan’s horse. Yes, with me still holding on. I was like “Wtf… did my horse’s back legs just leave the ground?!” Terrifying. But so funny…I looked like a fool the whole time, so I was just laughing. At myself.

Aside from the amazing views, we also saw some nice wildlife. Some lizards, vultures, dogs, cats, unidentified rodent?, bugs, cacti, etc. We also passed a fish skull and a donkey? mini horse? skull, both of which were just chilling on the beach. Pleasant.

After we got back to the ranchero, they cooked us complimentary cheese quesadillas, which I ate most of, and gave us some waters and granola bars. After some small talk with the locals, we headed back in the taxi and got dropped off t the hotel. It still amazes me how far out in the middle of nowhere this ranch was. The beaches were abandoned, and the waves were crazy. Cabo waves would be perfect for surfing…but they only crash at the shoreline. There’s this massive 10-20 foot swell, then boom. And as soon as the wave crashes, it immediately pulls you back under…hence the deadly undertoes. But they’re still gorgeous.

So I was feeling pretty alright once we started riding until we got back to the hotel, but then as soon as I was in the lobby, my stomach started hurting, my headache started, and I just felt gross. I ended up laying on the bed for 3 hours while my dad & sis got ready for the dinner buffet. I had taken Pepto, but I had no idea why I felt so awful. Maybe a mix of food/excitement/heat? But I was just laying on the bed, crying because I felt so crappy. My fam headed off to dinner, while I attempted a shower and just stayed in bed. I managed to feel a tiny bit better, drinking some water & 7up, watching the Hannah Montana Movie (haha yeahhh I know..), and eating a banana. I fell asleep pretty early—between 11-11:30? and chose to stay in the hotel while my family went fishing the next morning. (Yes, I’m writing this post on Thursday instead of Wednesday.)

And now for the oh-so-exciting Thursday.

Peace, love, & galloping horses on the Pacific beaches,

Melissa <3

---