In honor of our last night in Ritoque, the eight of us decided to go horseback riding through the desert, mountains, sand-dunes, and along the beach. This 3 hour escapade started pre-sunset and ended after sunset…in an ideal world this would be a very romantic outing, but of course this isn’t an ideal world. To make the long story short…horseback riding sounds easy, right? Wrong. Therefore, I’m going to tell you the “long” story of how the 8 of us nearly died and how I almost committed suicide…
As soon as we arrived at the horse stables, Marcelo, the man who worked there, got straight to business and divided us into 2 groups. He said: for those who’ve previously ridden horses before go to my right and first timers go to my left. I proudly walked to his right BUT let’s be serious- this doesn’t mean I’m a pro, I’ve only gone horseback riding a few times. I didn’t know what the intensity of going to his right was initially going to entail. (Oh, side point- I’m the shortest one of my friends; meaning I should get the shortest horse. It's only fair…)
Since I was busy yapping with some people, my friends got first dibs on ALL the short horses and I literally got the last pick. To be correct, I wasn’t even able to pick my horse…there was only one left. Once Marcelo saw me and my lovely height he hysterically started laughing and said, “This horse is for REALLY experienced riders, jajaja (hahaha).” Really, really? Jefe (boss) that was so NOT funny! I began freaking out because not only was “my” horse for experienced riders but comparing it to all the other horses (including Marcelo’s horse) it was the tallest and biggest horse. I eventually got over it and said, “Screw it, this is the only horse left, just suck it up and take it.” So I did. I wish it was only that easy.
Once I was fully straddled onto Piojo (the horse’s name), everyone and I mean every single person (even the other horses) started laughing because proportionally the horse and I were significantly off.
I can’t explain to you how nervous I was. I even had Marcelo hold onto Piojo’s reigns because I was so scared. I suddenly calmed down when I realized Piojo was limping because if he's hurt then he can't do anything to harm me. Clearly that wasn’t the case because Marcelo said, “He’s a strong horse, don’t get fooled.” Oy. Eventually I was comfortable with Piojo and wanted to ride alone so Marcelo let go. I started galloping and steering Piojo in the right direction. Every now and then I would give it a kick and we would trot. I learned how to pull the reigns which made it stop and usually it did. I, more or less, had control over Piojo.
This is where I need to apologize…mainly to Nick, actually pretty much only to Nick. There was one moment when Piojo almost collided into Nick’s horse and I started cursing the life out and blaming him. The words that came out of my mouth should never be repeated ever again…I honestly never knew I could talk like that. I guess that’s what happens when you almost face death. I know you were shocked Nick…Sorry!
Alright back to the story--- It got to the point where Piojo started sprinting so fast and beyond everyone else that I knew there was nothing I could do about it. All of my insides were out and I couldn’t feel a thing. I was so numb I was sure I was going to die. Legit. I remember contemplating if I should jump off Piojo and see what would happen, and if I were to die then at least I was going to die in the dunes of Chile! I’m not trying to be morbid but I literally saw my life flash before my eyes. My heart is beating so fast just from typing this…aaaahhhh!
I was in such shock that nothing was coming out of my mouth. Eventually Piojo slowed down and there were tears streaming down my face. Once I got my voice back, I screamed “Marceloooo” so loud I’m surprised the embassy didn’t rescue me. I turned around and saw him, and he instantaneously knew to grab onto my reigns and that was that. We concluded that riding these horses was the scariest yet BEST thing that ever happened to us (even the boys thought so, sorry for publicizing this haha)!!
There was an hour left of the ride and Marcelo told me as we were galloping along the beach that Piojo is an Arabian-English breed and used to be a race horse. A FREAKING RACE HORSE. No wonder. Even with a limp, my horse surpassed everyone else’s and wouldn’t stop. He felt back at home!
I can say on behalf of myself and my friends that riding through the mountains, desert, sand-dunes, beach, seeing the sunset, and oh yeah almost dying is definitely an experience I will NEVER forget. Where in the U.S. (or Australia) will you ride a horse so freely that you pretty much almost die? No where! Not that I’m saying almost dying made the experience fantastic; however, it was definitely a perk. But all I am saying is that I will most likely never have this experience again. In a way, it was a moving incident that allowed me to feel care-free.
Only in Ritoque can almost dying feel refreshing!
