Ninth Day, May 16

Today we got to go horseback riding. It was the first clear sunny day of the trip, perfect for being outside. We got in a van to go to the horseback riding place, we barely fit in the van, but it was still a nice and comfortable van. When we got to the ranch, we got to meet the lady who runs the place; she was very nice and friendly, she even let me borrow a hat. We all put on sunscreen to make sure we did not get sunburned while out riding the horses during the day. Then we all lined up to be given our horses; I got a nice big white horse, the only white one on the ranch. We stayed in the corral for about 20 minutes learning how to ride the horses, and also waiting for other people to get their horses. We held the reins in one hand, unlike in the U.S where we hold them in 2 hands (at least that is what I have seen); to make the horse go forward we would make a *pop* with our mouth and whip the back of the horse with the end of our reins. To stop the horse we would say “shhh” and pull back on the reins. To turn we would kick the side of the horse we wanted to turn away from, and pull to the direction we wanted to turn. While in the corral, we noticed that some of the horses had attitudes with each other. My horse bit Marquis, Morgan’s horse bit Sarah’s horse, and Julie’s horse would not listen to her.

                We left the corral and headed down to the beach, went up into a wood’s area, went up into some mountains made of sand, and then found a little glen up in the sand dunes where we took a break. It took about 2 hours to get to the break spot, so we were sore and tired. We had a snack of water and fresh-cut pineapple that was very delicious. We saddled back up and headed down to the beach for the rest of the trip back to the ranch. We got the chance to gallop on the beach, which was very scary the first time it happened, but soon I was encouraging my horse to gallop and race ahead, but then I would be told to slow down. Any time 1 horse started running, the others would too.

Once we got back to the ranch we had an excellent bar-bee-que. We had sausage, pork, beef, and some sides; it was all very good.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel. We got some ice-cream and all went out to the rocks by the sea to watch the sunset together, it was beautiful.

Lessons Learned: 1. Chileans hold the reins in one hand, not two.

2. Horses copy the other horses around them.