I Still Hate Horseback Riding

Torres del Paine

Today the activity is horseback riding. I hate horseback riding and usually don’t do it, but

Naomi and Neil on horseback

everybody who does this one comes back raving about it and as it’s my last trip etc. So off we go in Doris out to the horseback riding ranch and we’re all fitted out with beautiful Patagonian horses and go clip clopping along. The scenery is spectacular and for the first time, I find a horse that will actually do what I tell it to. Usually, horse and I don’t get along, but this horse is easy to ride, if not very comfortable. So I enjoy it except for the trotting that comes between the gallop and the walk. I’m not crazy about that part. We are lead by a beret wearing Chilean gaucho and his brother and no matter how good I feel about my performance on the horse, they make it look easy.

As fun as it was, when it’s over I formally announce my retirement from horseback riding. I’m very sore. Steve and Sail from Tucan have a group here and they’re camping in the same campground but at a site much more swish than ours. Tucan is the higher rolling tour, so they have tents that are all set up for them and a giant tent just for hanging out. Anyway, they’re having a wine and cheese party, so Steve and I decide to crash it. Steve is the tour guide and he started about the same time I did. For some reason, we always seem to run into each other. He started about the same time I did and seems to always work around the same places I do. There are some tour guides that I’ve heard about for a year and a half, but never run into. Sail’s the driver and has been around forever. He’s probably about 50 or so and knows more about overlanding than almost anybody. So we hang out a bit, before I head back over to my group and sit around the fire until going to bed.