Yippee Yie Kaiyay (sic)

Ride em cowboy, uh, I mean gaucho!

It was dad and crew off to the horseback ride in the mountains. Marianne stayed behind as she didn’t think her back would have handled the bouncing. She chose wisely as the bus ride to the ranch was bone jarring. The ranch is about twenty minutes from our house in Chacras, most of it on a dusty gravel switch back. It wasn’t New Zealand scary but it added to the experience.
When we arrived at the ranch, and I don’t mean like a ranch you’d see in the movies but more like a ranch you‘d see in central Mississippi, we were met by about ten wild dogs. I thought this should be interesting fighting off the dogs to get to the terrified horses. Turns out the dogs are part of the ranch (there goes that word again) and they are buds with the caballeos. Our guide introduced us to Orlando, an original Argentine gaucho in full regalia. I couldn’t figure out which was more interesting, the flat gaucho hat or the black slippers. They don’t wear boots in Argentina, apparently they’re too hot.
Everyone was assigned horses and shown how to saddle up. AnnMarie has done this numerous times but this was Brian’s first time ever in the saddle. No problem, except Brian didn’t have spurs. He spent a lot of time digging his heels into his horse’s side with little effect. I should have told him most tour horses are a bit on the slow side. At least mine didn’t try to throw me in the cactus, which is usually what happens.
The ride took us through the foothills of the Andes. We were in the shadow of Sierra Plata, a 6100 meter peak covered in snow. The big mountain, Aconcagua, at 6900 meters is about fifty km away. We rode mostly on sanderros, small twisty sand paths through the desert. I didn’t ask about rattle snakes. What I don’t know can’t hurt me.
We rode for an hour and then broke for tortitas and matte. Matte¢ is a strong tea that is sipped through a silver straw and shared by everyone. As our guide explained, it’s not so much a drink as an experience. The kids would have much prefered the experience of Sprite, based on the look on their faces as they sipped. The tortitas are soft biscuits filled with bacon. The bacon is really cow fat but who am I to complain when I’m miles out in the desert and the only guy with a knife is wearing stunning black slippers. Pass the matte¢ mate, por favor. Muy bueno!
We got back on the horses and headed for the barn. The dog pack was with us the whole time running in between the horses legs. I thought this was particularly funny when we were on the very narrow ledges winding our way through the hills. I was just waiting for one of the horses to stumble on the dogs. And I knew it wasn’t going to be Orlando’s horse. We made it back just as my ass went completely numb.
Back at the “ranch” (should I say it reminded me of Grenada after hurricane Ivan went over?) the kids got to play with kids. There was a coral of thirty of so baby goats. I think that may have been the highlight of the trip for Brian. We were going to have a goat roundup but it was time to get on the bus. Needless to say a good time was had by all, but I seem to be walking funny. I wish I had those slippers.