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Neil
We've now moved south from Santiago into a small university town called Talca. The hostel we're staying at is a 10 minute drive into the countryside from the main town, and is set in beautiful surroundings - a great find. The hostel was built by German couple who extensivley travelled Chilie and then set up the hostel and a travel agency. The place has a real homely feel to it, and meals are cooked each evening by a chiliean chef and served into a cosy wooden panelled dining area where everyone gets together and shares travelling experiences.
On our first full day we decided to do some Horse riding! When we awoke it was pouring with rain and really cloudy and miserable looking but we continued with our plans. We were told to take a local bus from the town into the mountains where at the last stop our cowboy would be waiting for us with 3 horses - one each for Nicky and I and a third for our American friend Dave who we met at dinner the nght before and decided to join us. The bus ride to our destination was on a really old thing,
with leaking roof and battered interior - exactly how I thought most South American buses would be, painted in bright yellows and blues.
Sure enough as promised, our cowboy was waiting for us when we arrived. I've never ridden a horse before so i was a little bit unsure of what to expect. I'd been joking around the dinner table the previous evening saying how I expected to be able to gallop at full speed before our day was done! The cowboy spoke no english at all but luckily Dave had spent 8 months in a Peruvian jungle and had managed to pick up fluent spanish. Despite this ability to communicate we recived very little instuction on how to ride - tap here to make it go was translated for me, but nothing else - not how to stop, turn and more importantly how to gallop at full speed.
My horse hated me. Despite my numerous pats and strokes it obviously was angry at my lack of a spanish tongue. We were following the cowboy through some amazing trails with steep climbs and decents, even through rivers and streams that we're about a metre deep - I was
amazed at what they could climb, it was even quite scary at times. My horse would follow the lead cowboy until he saw a tree with a branch at the height of its back - and go straight under it with no regard for his load. I nearly came off a couple of times and was constantly wrestling branches and bushes.
Nicky's horse was a bit slow at the start, it kept stopping to eat trees, but it soon picked up the pace. The ride took us through some amazing forests with a mixture of evergreen and decidous trees that we're turning red, orange and brown. It was stunning.
When we got towards the end of the ride, i think the horses senced this and picked up the pace to a trot - which i engouraged. I even got the horse to overtake the lead cowboy and go even faster with a tap of my heels. This was great fun until Dave's horse revealed a competitive streak and followed me to the front and tried to overtake. My horse was having none of this and just went for it - started galloping at full pelt down the gravel logging track. I was holding onto the saddle with my left hand and gripping the reins with my right and my backside banging up and down on the saddle. I didn't have a clue how to stand or sit and basically held on for dear life while the two horses raced each other for the finishing point. At one point Dave's horse edged ahead again, and my horse changed down a gear and put in another burst of speed that scared the crap out of me! I just remember grabbing as tightly as I could and hearing the huge thud of the horses hooves carving up the gravel and mud. I wish I could have seen what i looked like - a complete idiot probably - but once safely back on the ground I was really pleased we'd done it and was over the moon that i'd galloped!
Nicky
Chile is fast becoming one of my favourite countries that we have visited, the people are really friendly, the views are beautiful and if it wasnt for the weather there would be so much to do. Unfortunately our so far fool-proof plan to follow autumn around the world so that everywhere is a little quieter etc has failed us, because autumn in chile is just rain, rain, rain by the looks of things. But we decided we couldnt let that stop us, especially as we dont have that long here so as Neil said we took the train out of Santiago to Talca. The hostel we were staying in is a nodern casanda with a veranda overlooking the hills and surrounded by countryside. We booked ourselves on this horsetrekking trip a little after we arrived. I wasnt too concerned about the rain,our room had a shower and there was hot food waiting for us when we got back, so I knew I wouldnt be cold abnd wet for long.
When we arrived at the top of this mountain the only thing where the bus dropped us was a little hut and a coca cola sign,which we worked out was a sort of cafe. The woman who ran it was so friendly and instantly offered Neil and I a pair of waterproof trousers- she obviously didnt think we would last 2 minutes in the rain with what we were wearing and she was probably right. I dont think we would have been considered the height of fashion in our waterproof gear but I think it did help.
The trek itself was amazing, despite the weather the views across the hillsides to the tops of the mountains and down into the valleys full of autumnal trees were great. It was a little scary at times when the horses started slipping on the wet leaves and in the mud but I never once felt I was going to fall off - probably because my horse really wasnt going fast enough for me to fall off!! It had two speeds, plodding and stopping to eat!! That was until we got towards the end when it obviously could smell home then it kept getting little bursts of energy, trotting for a bit, then getting tired and stopping again. And it didnt like being overtaken either - so when Neil and Dave decided to race it decided to join in-much to my amazement!!I did have to hold on tight for a bit until I managed to gather up the reins and get him to stop. I dont think he was all that impressed with the running though, again he soon got bored and decided to eat instead!!
When we got back to where we started we were soaking wet and a bit cold and realised we had just missed a bus back to Talca by a few minutes and there wasnt another one for 3 hours!! Luckily the woman from the cafe was on hand to play mum - she took our wet clothes from us, gave us tracksuit bottoms to wear while she dried them (mine were a nice green colour and Neil had a Mickey Mouse pair with diamantes down the side!!) and gave us copious amounts of tea and coffee - it was exactly what we needed!!
My legs and back ached a little bit the next day but it was so much fun and a real Chilean experience.
Hope everyone is ok.
Lots of love
xx
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Angie & Jim
non-member comment
Howdy
We thinks a rendition of 'Diamontestone Cowboy' should be sung Neil!! What a fabulous way of seeing the countryside. Lots of love and hugs xxx xxx