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Published: December 2nd 2005
Hi everyone. You know...not a minute goes by without us both realising how lucky we are to be doing what we are doing, and boy do we appreciate it. Not more so than a few days ago, when we woke - on a Monday morning no less - having spent the night sleeping out under the stars, lying on a sheepskins saddle beds and watching the sunrise over the foothills of the Andes, with our bellies still full of the perfect beef cooked by the Gaucho the previous evening over the ´Asado´. Now that sure beats the M25 !!
So...this is the story of our real cowboy adventure. We went on a two day horserding trip...we chose only two days for fear of two things...the heat and our bums !!! We seemed to choose our trekking company well, becuase it turned out we had a really áuthentic´experience...not at all touristy.
We were picked up from our hotel and were driven an hour an a half out of Mendoza to the Gaucho ranch. When not taking tourists up the mountains, the horses are let free in the vast amount of land, (a trillon acres or something!) and as we arrived,
so did the horses.
Whilst they were being readied, we went to see the goats...it was very funny watching steve trying to catch one...his sandals ended up being clogged with goat poo! (I just picked one up as it wandered past !!)
So once the horses were ready, we set off into the mountains...luckily as we were now at about 2000m it wasn´t feeling as hot as in the Mendoza, but we still plastered on the factor 30.
The scenary was stunning and we were up and down some very steep hillsides, which seemed a little bit of an effort for my horse, as it seemed to stop dead at the top of very steep hills! (although it was probably sensing my nervousness, so decided it was going to take it easy)! We rode for about 6 hours until we arrived at our camp site, in the middle of nowhere. After resting our sore bottoms for a while, we then then went hunting for wood for the fire and then settled down to copious amounts of Mate, a very popular herb drink, which is supposed to relax and refresh you.
The meal was amazing, Steve was
salavating at the exitement of it all! There were only four of us and the size of beef was HUGE!...however we managed to eat our way through it without too much effort, as it was cooked for ages and to perfection! We´d been looking forward to this for so long...the true cowboy Asado...and it didn´t disappoint.
So after stuffing our faces and drinking 2 litres of red wine...we decided that a lie down was in order.....so we stumbled a couple of yards and tucked ourselves into our sleeping bags and looked up at the carpet of stars for ages, a very magical experience.
The next day greeted us with an amazing sunrise and after breakfast we set off for the ride back to the ranch. The countryside again was amazing...so vast and the sky was so blue.
We arrived back at the ranch at about 4pm and I must admit we were both shattered...our bottoms were in serious pain by this point, so we were both pleased to be back....not quite sure we´re ready for a 10 day horseriding expedition, but a 2 day one suited us just fine.
Anyway, hope you like the photo´s...
By the way, hope the UK is going over board about Christmas, coz you´d never know it existed here in South America! We´re looking forward to seeing the decorations when we come home xxxxx
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Stuart
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Questions & Answers
Those off-white fury things you sat on were they alive before you started. Those off-white fury things you sat on behind the horses head, were they alive before you started? I noted the Lawrence LLewellen Bowen bedroom make-over. I always knew he had something but up until now it had evaded me. We now have a new leader of the Conservative Party. Do you really want to come home? Be happy be safe. XXX