Final Day's Adventure

On our full day in a foreign country, we were going to go out with a bang. We had an exciting day of an excursion that would leave us with a concrete memory:  horseback riding along the Chilean coast. We rose with a complex variety of emotions ranging from anticipation to excitment to anxiety for the day's activity. The bus took us to a ranch about 30 minutes from our hotel. We were greeted by a bold-natured Chilean rancher only speaking Spanish, cattle dogs running about and a five-day-old calf in the pen. Photo opportunities were plentiful already. A representitive speaking English asked us to sign our lives away before we were already mounting the horses. With all the excitment, I got caught up in taking pictures of friends saddling-up. Then, I look around and notice that I am the only one still on the ground. The rancher is now bringing the large black beast towards me. I ask Jorge, "Could you ask him the temperment of this animal?" Response:  " It is the only one left." Now its a total gamble. I have never ridden horseback (aside from a pony on a string that I have vague memories of). Oh well, I bite the bullet and saddled up. After a, quite literally, five-second tutorial of horse maneuvering, I was all alone with this animal. Indicative of how the day was going to go, I turned the horse to go towards the group, but he had other plans. He walked himself over to get some food. I had no control, and this was going to be the story of the day. After a nice walk out of the ranch (with some snack breaks again), we were headed toward the beach. We walked along the coast to get all the inexperieced riders, like myself, acquainted with the animals. I already began to learn that my horse was not one for hanging back in the pack. I welcomed this, as I started to gain some confidence in my friend. We walked and trotted along saphire Pacific waves folding on themselves. It was all smiles in the group as we began to enjoy the experience. We detached from the coast to head inland through a green woodsy terrain. We traveled along trails hugging brush and small ponds with horses in trot anxious to unleash. My horse, with an absolute mind of his own, began to play games with me. In the midst of modest communication with the Spanish-speaking rancher, my horse begins to diverge from the trail. I try to pull him back with the group with no avail. Retrospectively, maybe I could have been firmer, but that is a lesson learned. He head towards one of the ponds I mentioned. And without hesitation, in we go. Now I have a horse taking me waist deep in a pond and a racher shouting at me in another language to turn my horse. I completely without control. Eventually the rancher comes over to rescue me by using some aggressive turning methods on my horse, namly laying a beat down on its face to turn it landward. So after that excitement, we ride between a woods similar to western Pennsylvania. It felt different than the isolated nature of the woods I live in however. Finally we emerge to find towering sand dunes to our left. And we attacked them. This is when I had my first experience in a gallop with the horse. We tore at the sandy peaks without hesitation. We slowed down and finally all I see are these golden hills and copper moutains far in the distance. We rode through the dunes of the beach, without seeing even a sight of the ocean, making the ride feel as if we were riding through a desert. Eventually, we breaked underneath a tree to rest the horses and ourselves. More photos were taken and everyone streched and prepared for more. So far, so good. But I wasn't prepared for what was upcoming. Single file walks along the sides of steep dunes silenced the group. I think everyone was trying to let the horses focus, so they wouldn't go tumbling down with an equestrian giant. Finally, after a few more of these experiences with some easy galloping along the way, we returned to the familiar coast. It was on this straight away that the excitement began. We were riding gallop half the time back the the ranch, my horse leading the way. At times, I felt powerless on the back of such a strong creature with massive waves crashing on my right and thundering hooves behind me. Other times, I felt empowered by the exact same stimuli. I made it back to the ranch in one piece and said "ciao" to my new friend. Before another homely barbeque, similar to the one I experienced the night before. After we finished, we met with Verner and all the students for pizza and beer to say our good-byes. We had made some greet companionships with these people and we appreciated them so much for hosting us so well. It was sad to be leaving. Tomorrow we board to leave Santiago for back to the States and home. It will be a rough good-bye.