Today's activity was easily the best of the trip. We got to go horseback riding on a beach, through a forest, and on top of sand dunes! To top it all off, we were treated to another delicious barbecue at the instructor's ranch.
Now, my prior experience with horseback riding is very limited. I once went to a dude ranch with my girl scout troop when I was 12, but the fastest the horses went was a walk. Today we were told that we could go at whatever speed we were comfortable with, or even walk the whole time. I was given a horse that I was told was tranquil. Both of these things were LIES.
My horse would barely listen to me and had to be at the front of the pack at all times. In addition, the instructors often rallied the horses to gallop using a whistle from the back! And yes, I mean gallop. We did trot for a while, then we transitioned right into a full-on sprint. I WAS TERRIFIED. I felt as though I would fall off of my horse at any moment and I spent much of my time screaming nonsensically.
Nevertheless, I had a blast. Looking back, the experience was exhilarating. The scenery we rode through was gorgeous and I took a million pictures of the coastline and sand dunes (while travelling at a safe speed, that is). And when we got back to the ranch there were sausages, potato salad, rice, chicken wings, steak, pork, wine, and pisco sours waiting for us. We even roasted marshmallows! Honestly, the steak that this man grilled for us easily surpassed that of the expensive steakhouse we went to on Sunday.
After returning to the hotel smelly, sweaty, and tired, went out for a final dinner (pizza!) with all of the Chilean students who helped us out on this trip. This was a special dinner because it was full of goodbyes. We gave the students some Pitt apparel to remember us by and they reciprocated by giving us the coolest hoodies ever that had both USM (Universidad de Santa Maria) and Pitt logos on them. We are all going to wear them to the airport tomorrow so we can match when we return home!
Everyone agreed that this was their favorite day; it was definitely a great way to end the trip. I am not looking forward to tomorrow when we have to leave, especially since I will probably be extremely sore from the horses today.
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