Hold Your Horses!

Our horseback riding excursion began at 11:20am with José Luis, our 26 year old tour guide who owns the 15 horses in his stable where he rents them out for anywhere from 2 hours to 30 day horseback riding trips. For $30 (Ecuador uses U.S. currency) Emily and I paid for a 6 hour horse trip with lunch included only to find out we could have gotten it for $20. Oh well! We decided it was worth far more than what we paid so it didn't bother us. Let me start by saying that I am by no means an experienced rider. Not even close to intermediate. I would put myself in the category that comes before beginner- as in I have been on a horse 4 times in my life, not including the time when I was 8 and I fell off a pony at a birthday party and didn't get back on a horse for 14 years. This was Emily's first time  ever on a horse so we would be sharing a special moment of facing some fears together! Luckily I had some recent practice at our family reunion this past August going horseback riding but it was very low key and just 2 hours. Emily and I rode for 6.5 hours in the end and boy did our butt cheeks feel it afterwards! Sitting on a chair was difficult. The breathtakingly spectacular views often times kept me speechless, but also had me repeating in amazement 'I can't believe how beautiful it is here.' Almost 3 hours into our tour, we stopped and got off of our horses to hike down to our lunch spot- a waterfall! The steep climb down made me worried about the climb back up but I had no idea what kind of visual treat I was in for ultimately making the excruciating climb back up totally worth it. The huge waterfall splashed down onto the large rocks resting at the foot of this natural beauty. We sat down on the damp ground within a mist of the waterfall. Wedged between hamburger buns, placed our salad of shredded carrots, lettuce, tuna from a can, and mayo. This mix made a surprisingly delicious lunch. An apple and a bottle of water to wash everything down was just what my hungry tummy needed! We finally faced the steep climb ahead of us to get back to our horses; Corazon (heart), Mil Amores (A thousand Loves), and Tequila (no explanation needed). José Luis explained to us that his 15 male horses have all been castrated to help manage the aggression they would otherwise have with their manhood- especially around female horses owned by other small town touring agencies offering horse trips. Our ride back to town with gorgeous views of mountains and valleys dusted with just a few clouds creating hundreds of different shades of greens felt like riding along a backdrop. It was difficult to believe that a) such incredibly remarkable places exist and b) I was actually in South America riding a horse with my good friend Emily who was my neighbor at the University of Maryland! Our experience was magical and something I will never ever forget. We took one last picture when we returned to town just before 6pm and dismounted our horses. Ouch! I remembered having a sore tush from my 2 horse ride at my family reunion in West Virginia, but nothing like 6.5 hours of riding and getting off of the horse just three times. Luckily I remembered a trick from West Virginia to take pressure off of my knees by pushing foreward with the balls of my feet on the stirrups. Thank goodness I used it because my knees minimally hurt and my soreness went away after just 20 minutes. We tipped José Luis and Emily gave him her phone number so we could meet up for a beer later. He never did call us- probably because he doesn't usually get girls' numbers, even though this was completely innocent. It worked out fine because we were exhausted. I changed hostels to a place much cheaper. At my first hostel I was paying $25 per night for a private room and bathroom, but only because a dormitory wasn't available ($12 per night) when I checked in. Don't get me wrong, my room was lovely- I just can't pay that much. That also worked out because I had food poisoning for the first 25 hours after arriving in Vilcabamba. Well the morning of horseback riding Emily and I met 3 gringos having breakfast at a restaurant outside- 2 young cuties and Al; the late 50 something year old man who looks like the offspring of Gerry Garcia and Hagrid from the Harry Potter series. Although his appearance is a bit, well, big and hairy, he is a very sweet man who has been around the world and has held some fascinating occupations i.e. prison guard, taxi driver, bouncer. After telling the guys which hostel I was staying in, Al laughed at me telling me I was staying in the most expensive hostel in town! Al told me that a dorm in Valle Sagrado is $4 per night. It's not an extravagant hostel but it has the basics; hot water, a kitchen where I can cook (always a plus in a hostel because many have just restaurants not available for personal use by guests). After bringing my belongings to my private room for $7 a night, hot water in a communal bathroom, and wifi that was just put in last week, I realized that the family-like community of a hostel where I moved was a fantastic decision! Emily and I went with Al to grab some dinner at Charlito's- a gringo- owned restaurant one block from the center. I ordered the soup of the day which was potato lentil and delicious! And what was listed as 'camote con queso' which means sweet potato with cheese. I thought it sounded delicious (which it was!) but it turned out to be a giant plate of sweet potato french fries. Luckily my friends and the 3 new people who joined our table outside had no problem whatsoever assisting me in finishing the abundance of food I had ordered for $3.75. I love Ecuador prices in American dollars where as I have trained my brain to think in Soles in Peru, although I did find it difficult to bring my currency thinking back to dollars after being in Soles for 5.5 months! I'll be heading back to Lima this week and I really look forward to thinking back in Soles! The day after horseback riding Emily I did a bit of walking and stretching as our bodies were stiff and then went to The Juice Factory where I bought a delicious smoothie with kiwi, banana, pineapple, and spinach! Who would have thought such a bright green smoothie with an interesting combination of ingredients would be so incredibly delicious and sweet!?  After our smoothies we came back to my hostel to sit in the garden and chat and along came Al with Sonke who was looking for his brothers Olaf and Hendrik. These 3 brothers are 29 year old blonde hair, blue eyed German triplets! Oy vey! Emily, Al, Sonke, Hendrik and I sat on Al's patio of his private room and chatted in perfect English occasionally saying things in Spanish to throw in some practice for Sonke who is learning and Hendrik who is intermediate. Al is fluent and Emily and I are advanced. We spent the early afternoon and evening sharing beers, stories, and yoga stretches to help loosen the muscles in our backs and boy did it help relax us! The third brother, Olaf came to fetch the boys to go down to a bar, Dacapo for a performance as they are all musical. Sonke chose to stay behind and set me up with another dreadlock on the bottom half of my hair while the other 2 went on to set up. After 30 minutes of knotting my hair into a neat dread, we all walked down to the bar to join the others for some more beer! I knew I wasn't going to last long as I had been slowly drinking since 2pm and it was now 9pm. I was happily tipsy and decided to share a beer with Emily and listen to the German triplets serenade the audience with music in a language I think 3 people of the 15 in the room could understand. Although I didn't understand it, I sure did enjoy it! Emily and I went back towards the center of town to part ways and went to bed at 10:30pm. I woke up ay 8am to meet the triplets and Luis- Olaf's friend from town (Olaf has been living in Vilcabamba for a few months and loved it so much that he invited his 2 brothers who are still living in Germany to come out and see him and this beautiful town so they hopped on a plane and came!) and we went on a 2 hour hike up a mountain to Luis' friend's cabin in the woods to go camping! By the time we rounded up the troops and all of our supplies, we made the uphill hike for nearly 2 hours stopping every 30 minutes or so to give our legs and lungs a break and to observe our magnificent surroundings or an incredible spider in it's web (I know my mom and uncle howard are cringing as they're reading this) while keeping our distance so as to not anger them. We came to a river where a bridge of logs had been set up- one log for each leg and there was no way in hell I was going to walk across a river of medium rapids on 2 balance beams so I opted to forge the river and Sonke came along for moral and physical support. He came with me either because I was the only girl in the group and he wanted to make sure I made it okay, or he has a thing for me and he wanted to make sure I made it okay haha! Either way I was flattered that I didn't have to make this scary journey alone. Luckily I made it with my waterproof shoes still intact and the only tragedy being that my shorts got wet. No problemo because I brought pj pants and a sweater for the cold night ahead of us! We finally made it and somehow I seemed to be covered in significantly more mud than everyone else! We turned on the water pump and I was able to wash off my legs and feet and change into my warmer clothes. We started a fire, did some resting and stretching, took a nap, and went on an afternoon hike observing nature and marveling at the views. Our camping adventure was probably the most rustic thing i've done since I was in GirlScouts about 14 years ago and it surprisingly didn't bother me as much as it used to. While we ate dinner around the campfire, we saw cows and horses wandering around from the semi-nearby farms and mooed back at them every so often. The Germans do surprisingly good impressions of cows! The walk back down the mountain yesterday morning was much easier and faster than going up as it took us half the time! We rinsed off in the same river we approached beforehand with the bridge but managed to find a different route so we could avoid the nerve-racking journey across 2 poles. After returning to town around 11:30am, we went to the organic market where we found out that most of the good pickins were gone by 8am! We bought some great fruits and veggies and went back to Rafael's house- another friend of Olafs where the triplets were staying for free. Sonke the chef made the equivalent of what I consider potato latkes with potato, sweet potato (the sweet potatoes here are purple and sweeter than the orange ones!) carrot, red onion, egg, flour, salt, pepper, fried in oil and I made my favorite kind of salad; tomato, avocado, red onion and i threw in some garlic because everything is better with garlic! It ended up like a really chunky guacamole because I don't think the person I made in charge of cutting my avocados realized that I wanted cubed avocado, not mashed like guac. Oh well! It still tasted delish. We sat down to finally eat around 3pm and enjoyed each other's company. We even invited over Luis for lunch to thank him for helping us with the hiking/camping. We spent the rest of he day relaxing and exchanging conversations amongst the diverse crowd in English, Spanish, French, and German! By 9pm on a Sunday we realized we were getting hungry! Luckily Rafael and the triplets had loaded up on tons of fresh ingredients  from the market that we didn't use up for lunch so while people went off to do their own thing in town, the 2 chefs (Sonke and I) began letting their creative juices flow and each prepared a dish. Sonke made a reduction of the veggies we had an abundance of; cabbage, onions, broccoli, and he threw in some pineapple and sweet potato. It was an interesting mix seasoned with cumin, salt, pepper, basil, and thyme. He also made some fried german bread. It was made with toasted corn flour, water, wheat flour,  and sugar and topped with freshly made cheese from the local farm. I took carrots and sweet potatoes and boiled them until tender. I then sauteed onions and an apple until caramelized and pureed it in a blender. I topped it off with some milk and my sweet potato & carrot puree was a huge hit. It's so fun when you're surrounded by 3 men and they all give you the nod of approval of being a fabulous cook! We sat down to eat at midnight and I could barely finish my food! I went back to my hostel at 1am and fell right asleep. I was awakened at 7am by the banging of the construction of an outdoor roof over the patio. I'll be going to sleep early tonight and catching a bus tomorrow to begin my journey back to Lima. I have to take a 1.5 hour bus ride to Loja, then 8 hours to Guayaqil. Then I'll have to figure out how to get back to Mancora/Tumbes in northern Peru so I can fly to Lima on Thursday rather then the 18 hour bus ride! I have some time sensitive matters to attend to in Lima in the next 5 days so I can't spend almost an entire day on a bus after all of m initial traveling back! I'll miss Ecuador but I am thrilled I came up here!