Horses and Hangovers

The morning after unlimited meat and wine we had the inevitable hangovers and I only managed a short walk into town to draw money, passing some unusual urban art under construction, before we were picked up to go horse riding. The barbecue had taken its toll, too, on Stephen, who was also staying at the hostel, and he had slept in and missed the tour he had signed up for; so as not to waste the day, he had decided to join us horse riding.

The gaucho shows us how it's done

I don't quite manage it

When we arrived at the ranch, the gaucho who had picked us up at the hotel showed us how to throw a lasso; the aim was to capture a cow skull on a tree stump. When I stepped up to have a go, he told me three chances and then you run. I tried three times and I got close, but failed. OK, now you run, he told me; so I did. I thought I might escape by zig-zagging, but he was too good for me and I was caught!

I get my just desert

Stephen does it first time!

Joanne nearly does it

Then it was time to set off on the horses. I was pretty nervous, not having been on a horse since I was about seven, on a tame pony in Ireland. These horses were also quite placid, so it wasn't as difficult as I feared. After getting over the initial nerves, though, I started to find it a bit boring, just trotting along, but after a little longer I relaxed even more and found it quite a pleasant journey through the country, but it was still frustrating how slowly we were going. Finally, our gaucho said to us do you want to gallop? and slapped our horses behinds' while geeing them on. At last some real fun! To my surprise the gallop was actually more comfortable than trotting or cantering, because there is only one “bounce” every cycle of the hooves, so there isn't as much bouncing. It didn't last long though, and the horses soon slowed back to a trot without ever galloping very fast. Afterwards the gaucho explained that the horses do this because they are not stupid, and they can tell that the people on their backs don't know what they are doing.

All the way through, Joanne's horse, Caramelo ("Sweetie"), was very badly behaved: Caramelo was determined that it should always be in front, and any time my horse or Stephen's started overtaking, Caramelo turned its head to the side and bit the other poor horse. Poor Stephen's horse, which was really quite small, was clearly bottom of the pile, and by the end of it did not dare pass either my horse or the evil Caramelo.

Me on my horse

Joanne on the trail

Joanne on her horse

Through the undergrowth

At the top of the trail

Authentic gaucho

When our trek was finished and we dismounted back at the ranch, I discovered that my only remaining pair of long trousers had ripped a huge hole right at the crotch! Now I had no long trousers at all.

All on our horses

My horse

Return path

Fighting through thicket

Caramelo on the rampage

Back in town, Stephen, Zdenek, and Lucy came out with us for dinner in a restaurant across the road from the hostel. I decided that I'd had enough of steak and had a traditional stew, but regretted it as soon as Zdenek's thirty peso steak arrived: after all the great steaks we had seen in Argentina, this was the best one – and huge. Meanwhile Joanne decided to give the meat a miss altogether and go for the lentil stew; when it arrived it did have lentils in it, but it also had beef, chorizo, and bacon in it! We were going to have to get up early the next morning so when I saw coca tea on the menu, I decided it was probably just what I needed to help me pack before bed. It tasted pleasant enough, a bit like green tea, and I think it probably did help with the packing.

Spanglish on the menu!

Next morning we got another grumpy taxi driver, who even ignored my buenas dias! then at the bus, the bag handler was refusing to give people their luggage receipts until they tipped him. Not long after we left town, the bus was held up for an hour by yet another demonstration. We only had one more night in Argentina and I was becoming very pleased about that.

written by

The Happy Couple on October 15, 2009 from Salta, Argentina

from the travel blog: Michael's Round-the-World honeymoon

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