Given the strenuous nature of our day yesterday, we decided for something with a little less walking today. We had heard the horseback riding was great here, so decided to give it a try. We had some extra time in the morning, so we did a short walk up to the top of a hill overlooking the town. The views didn’t quite compare to those from the Volcano, but definitely good views of the town. On the way back, we saw an evacuation sign that we hadn’t seen before- we have seen signs for tornados, hurricanes, but not volcanoes! We took note but hoped tat this wouldn’t be needed during the rest of our stay in Pucon.
They picked us up for horseback riding at 12:30 and drove us out to their farm. They asked us about prior riding experience then paired us with a horse that they thought would match our skill level. My horse was named Sombra (shadow) and Alejandro’s horse was Lican. After we had introduced ourselves and mounted the horses, we were off.
The ride was beatiful! We rode through the forest, near a river, and across fields, with the landscape constantly changing. We had views of three volcanoes and also stopped for a short hike up to a waterfall and a salami sandwich. It wasn’t like a typical ride that the horses just follow along- we actually had to let them know what we wanted them to do- even though they didn’t always listen that well! Mine kept trying to eat throughout the whole ride and didn’t like the new horse, so I had to be careful not to let her get too close, or she would try to nip at it! Towards the end, there was a large field and we rode full speed on our horses (we “cantered”). It was exhilarating (and somewhat scary)! The only downfall was that during the canter Alejandro lost his sunglasses… Oh well, they weren’t expensive but you guys will have to wait and see what the replacements look like.
And we’ll leave you today with an amazing sunset. We promise there is no filter at all on this picture, it absolutely looked completely fake even in person!
Travel Fun With Cassie and Alejandro 