Ok, so since my friends couldn't climb the volcano that day there was a drastic change of plans.. While Jessica slept off her hangover accompanied by laura, Claire went on a bike ride to national park called Los Ojos de Caburga, and the rest of the group and I went on a trip through the Mapuche land on horses. Now this plan sounded fine and dandy except for the fact that it was raining, and pretty hard as a matter of fact. We were hesitant to go horseback riding, but the tourist agency it was better for us to go during the day rather than at night.
So the 5 of us hopped in a van and picked up a French girl from another tourist place and took a drive out into the middle of the country. We crossed this really narrow sketchy bridge that I thought was going to collapse, but we made it over just fine.. then it was down a muddy road where fish tailing occurred. We finally got to the place. The guide gave us ponchos to protect us from the rain, and we hopped on the horses and went... I apparently with the mist riding experience got a horse that just wouldn't fully cooperate with me. He wouldn't go when I asked, and on the way home.. oh ill describe that in a bit.
We started out just walking down some roads, the whole area was pretty cool to look at, and about an hour after that we got to the foot of a mountain. And the guide said we were going up it. Now, I'm not going to lie, I was really scared because the trail on this mountain was pretty steep and soo muddy i thought my horses feet were going to slip out from underneath him. But I kept myself calm and talked to my horse. My friend Matt probably things I'm crazy, but I think it's important to get to know your horse, even if it is just for a few horse. Eventually we had to abandon our animals and walk the rest of the way up the mountain.
This was an adventure in itself. It got soo steep and it was soo muddy we had to grab on to trees and maneuver our feet in so many different ways to get up to top. When we were at the top of the mountain, the guide kinda started insulting us, and giving us his opinion of what kind of personalities people have from which countries. But I won't get started on that. We were up there for about 20 min, took some photos, learned some history of the Mapuche, and headed back down.
The way down was pretty tricky. If we had plastic bags to wrap around ourselves we could have just slid down the hill to our horses, but with the lack of resources we had to walk. Or attempt to, most of us slipped on our bottoms a few times, and Sarah accidentally pulled the guide down with her once. We eventually made it back to our beloved horses.
We were heading back...Well it took a few min because Matt's horse would just not move...and I encountered the scared moment of my life on a horse. The first part of the mountain that we came up was this really, it' hard to explain, but Iwas sure my horse was going to fall down it. Yes, I was scared, but there was another guy to help us down this part, so I made it through safely.
On the way back we got the opportunity to not only trot, but canter back to the starting point. Omg this was the best part of the day! Once I started cantering my horse didn't want to stop, I made him so the rest of the group could catch up, but he just wanted to get home and get this gringa girl off of is back. I'm not going to lie, if I could I would have skipped climbing the mountain and just rode that horse all day. I miss horseback riding a lot. I hope I can continue it someday.
Well, we got back to the hostel, after getting stuck in the mud and having to help push the car out. Later that night we went to some termas, hot water springs, and relaxed. We met 2 boys from Israel and learned that it is mandatory to serve in the military there for 2 years after you are 18 for men and women. It was interesting to talk to them.
On Sunday, while the others climbed Villarrica, Laura and I walked to los Ojos. It was a 13km walk.. no it think it was longer. Well, anyways we walked in the blazing sun and talked and talked and talked some more. It was a lot of fun! and well worth the sun burn I received because I did not wear sun screen because Los Ojos were soooo beautiful! It was a small park, but we got amazing pics there! we caught the bus back to the hostel and relaxed until the other peeps got home around 5pm. They had some of the most interesting tan lines ever from climbing the Volcan! hahaha i still laugh about them. That's about all we did on our trip. I'm going to post pics tomorrow, they are still on my camera and not on my computer.
hope ya enjoyed!
Leslie
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