In retrospect, I should have waiting on the mountain blog. On Saturday, we went on a horseback riding trip to a waterfall, Salto de Apoquindo, that is fed by Cerro San Ramon. Back in October we took a long hike that was approaching this waterfall from a different path and there was no way that we could make it the whole distance so it was nice to finally see it.
A colleague of Rob's, Gonzalo, planned the trip and his family went as did a few other folks that he knew (and that definitely had a lot more experience on horses complete with spurs and I don't know what you call things that looked like gaiters but for horseback riding). The trip took about 2 hours each way and had an elevation change of about 1000 meters.
If we knew how much up and downhill (and slipping) we'd be doing there is NO WAY this arrangement would have happened!
The first few minutes before I lost feeling in my .....
2.5 hours later, after relearning how to walk we walked to the waterfalls. It was so dry the whole way that this was truly an oasis.
campside
Elisa and Jonathan were the only ones to try out the frigid water. Jonathan went under the waterfall but it was not photographically documented.
The meat (actually the second round of meat) being prepared by our guides. I brought a pasta salad ;-)
An ongoing theme - J. really needs a dog (so do I).
Post lunch siesta while the kids ran around exploring
and playing hand-clapping games with Beatrice
This 15-day old foal followed Mom the whole way - pretty impressive!
Needless to say I am in extreme pain in unmentionable places today as well as my hand that was gripping on the "horn-ish" thing for dear life. It was beautiful and interesting but I will skip the next trip like this.....
Update: Gonzalo actually used a program on his iphone to track the trip. This is pretty cool. You can add the satellite view to see the mountains. Amazing.
Knowing the situation (heck, I can still feel the pain from my first trip on horseback), I am REALLY proud of you! The waterfall looks spectacular, the meat scrumptious (heh!), and everyone looks happy. I hope you recover soon from the endeavor, but a big congrats! Tammy
P.S. I will take that dog - it looks almost like a Newfie. What a cutie!
The good news is that after 48 hours I am able to sit again and, sort of like childbirth, as the memory of the pain fades the memory of the beauty is all that remains.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteKnowing the situation (heck, I can still feel the pain from my first trip on horseback), I am REALLY proud of you! The waterfall looks spectacular, the meat scrumptious (heh!), and everyone looks happy. I hope you recover soon from the endeavor, but a big congrats! Tammy
P.S. I will take that dog - it looks almost like a Newfie. What a cutie!
The good news is that after 48 hours I am able to sit again and, sort of like childbirth, as the memory of the pain fades the memory of the beauty is all that remains.
ReplyDelete