Pony Time, Pizza, & Packing Up

Thursday was dedicated to horseback riding, much to my enjoyment! We took a 45-minute van ride over to Ritoque Expediciones, which provides mini kayaking, ziplining, and horseback riding excursions to friendly tourists like ourselves. All the horses were tacked up when we got there. Lisa and I got first pick since we had riding experience. Apparently we got "the fast ones" ;) There was a donkey that followed us along the whole way! He liked Jessica a lot.

Everyone managed to get up on their horses without any major issues!

The ride was amazing. We rode all over these big sand dunes. There were a few scary moments where I wasn't sure how in the world my little Chincoya was going to stay upright, but she proved me wrong every time!


All the horses did a great job. Abby's seemed to be a little itchy, so he took a break..

Other than that, it was smooth sailing! Before we knew it, the beach was sneaking up ahead.

I don't think any of us could really believe that we were actually riding horses on a beach in Chile, but let me assure you, it happened! We got some good runs in.. Everyone stayed on just fine!


One of our guides, the husband half of the couple that owns Ritoque, was kind of like the Chilean hauso version of Chuck Norris. We all admired him greatly :)

On our way back towards Ritoque from the beach, we had to cross a river-type thing. We let Chuck Norris man go ahead to test out the waters. Him and his horse got pretty deep in the first time, but after the second attempt, we all followed. I'm really glad the horses were so willing to trudge through the water because I definitely would have thought about it a second time before plunging in.


As we neared the end of our ride, we came across some fish that were stuck in shallow water. There had been a pretty substantial river there all season, but the day we showed up, the river finally went out to sea, and apparently these fish had missed their ride. Being awesome and all, Chuck Norris man and a couple of the other guides caught them with their bare hands to bring back to make for dinner!

Speaking of food, by the time we got back to Ritoque, we were all starving. Luckily for us, there was a fabulous Chilean barbecue waiting for us! There was plenty of fresh salads, soda, wine, and of course, lots of meat! We had choripans as an appetizer (little chorizo hot dogs in buns) and then beef and pork with potatoes as the main meal. As soon as everyone filled their tummies, we all went into nap mode. For some reason, sitting on a horse for 3 hours takes a lot out of you!
A lot of napping and showering happened once we got back to the hotel. We met Werner and all of our student guides over the last 2 weeks at Diego Pizza. Everyone was there! Well, pretty much everyone. We had some different pizzas like one with maraschino cherries and blue cheese, a Hawaiian pizza, and the one I liked most had beef, tomato, some kind of corn meal, and avocado!We gave all of our university friends some pretty fancy-schmancy Pitt tshirts, and they got us all USM hoodies! I'm probably going to live in mine after this trip.
A few of us went to get our last taste of gelato. Nicolas and Daniela came with us. Sadly enough, we had to say goodbye to both of them before the night was over :(
The whole group ventured out to Goose for our last night out. We got to see Camilo, Mauricio, Javier, and Maria there! When Maddy, Marshall, and I ventured out to the gas station later that night, we happened to see Felipe, too. We felt just like locals! Except for the part where we're too white and blonde to ever fit in to that category.
The next morning started late for most of us. I tried denying the fact that I had to pack, but once everyone got in to packing mode, I joined in. Ironically enough, a few of us girls got Subway for lunch. Figures that our last meal in Chile would be something we could get in the states.
After we got back, I was messing around on my computer (putting off the rest of my packing) when I heard a knock at the door. I expected it to be someone from our group, but it was Javier and Maria! They stopped by the hotel to say goodbye, which was about the nicest surprise ever.

We got to chat about what we thought of our trip and what it's like in Pittsburgh (because Javier's going to come visit us in 2011!) Pretty quickly after that, we had to throw all of our things on the bus and leave for the Santiago airport. I won't go in to detail about the rest of it because it's lame, but everyone's home safe and sound now.
Now I just need a job so I can buy my next plane ticket to Santiago :)