We are now proper cowboys

Trip Start Nov 01, 2006

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Argentina Salta, Argentina
Tuesday, December 11, 2007

So after a mammoth train and bus journey through Bolivia into Argentina, the lowlight of which was the most disgusting dinner we've ever had in Oruro, Bolivia and the highlight was the stop off on the bus through Argentina were we had our first bottle of chilled white wine in weeks and tapas, we arrived at the hostel recommended by Trish and Tasha, which was nice considering all the rooms opened onto the common area or pool table. We were a bit worried we wouldn't be able to sleep if people were still up playing pool. We immediately sorted out the horse riding for 2 days time and went out for dinner with Molly and Cara, two girls we had met at the border crossing. After a quick asado (bbq), the girls introduced us to fernet, a local spirit, usually drunk with coke. After a few of those, we decided to head home but we stumbled across what looked to be like a prom. There were loads of Argentine teenagers all dressed up to the nines waiting to get in this swish looking hotel. Elliot and I immediately decided that we wanted to go in too

Girls go riding

. The girls decided to go home, maybe being from the US they'd seen lots of these sort of things, but we hadn't. One of the locals had excellent English and after 10 minutes we paid our 2 pounds entrance and were in. Now I have to admit the rest of the night passed in a little bit of a blur. But I do remember having almost perfect Spanish, particularly after the free beers started. I was also very pleased to find a room full of cake later on. We made lots of friends and were very successful at starting a dance off, where Elliot jumped through his leg perfectly. When it got to about 4am we decided to call it a night as we were knackered from all the dancing. We had also solved the problem of not being able to sleep in the hostel by being the last people up!
We woke up the next morning a bit hungover, but an early lunch of steak (the best we'd had in Argentina) and red wine, whilst watching Spurs beat Man City soon sorted us out. In fact the restaurant was so nice, we went back for dinner and Elliot had steak again! Time for an early night so would be ready to be picked up for horse riding at 9am the next morning.
The ranch was about 30-40 minutes drive outside Salta and we were picked up along with a lovely couple from Ireland, Muireann and Ken. We were relieved to find out that they had virtually no horse riding experience as well. We met Enrique the owner along with our 2 guides, one of whom was an ex rodeo champion of Argentina

Horses having a rest

. There were also 2 Germans girls, one of whom was an experienced rider who completed our group, so we all saddled up, jumped on our horses (with the aid of a step ladder) and set off at a leisure stroll (or whatever a horse does that's very slow). The scenery was beautiful and we all had a giggle if one of the horses started playing up or trying to eat everything in sight. We were taught how to ride Gaucho (cowboy) style which involves holding the reins loosely in one hand and resting the other on your leg (until you get to gallop - then you wave the free hand in the air proper cowboy style). We all learned to trot and canter a bit in the morning and after 3 hours we were back just in time for lunch. The food was amazing! We had asado with loads of red wine made by the local monks. Two Dutch guys joined us for lunch and then a couple of hours later we got back on the horses for the afternoon ride, which was just as much fun and we managed to go a little bit faster. The German girls and Dutch guys went back that night, but the rest of us stayed and had a lovely dinner made but one of Enrique's friends and managed to polish off 11 bottles of wine between 6 of us! I went to bed just before 1am and Elliot made it to sleep nearly an hour later when all the others went to bed. The next morning Muireann and Ken had to leave so it was just me and Elliot on the ride. It was still great fun though and we learned to gallop properly. You should have seen us whizzing round the side of the road laughing and remembering to wave one hand in the air cowboy style! We went back to Salta after another asado lunch and were completely knackered. We were booked on a 26 hour bus to Iguazu just on the Brazilian border at 6.15 the next morning and Elliot wasn't feeling his best, so it was another early night.

(photos to follow)