Gaucho horse-riding

I slept in until 9am, time to just catch the end of breakfast. Then I had a quiet morning where I planned the rest of my trip. I tried to exchange dollars for pesos in town but I needed my passport. I continued walking to the bus station to buy a ticket to Bariloche. The bus I had wanted on Saturday night wasn’t running, but I managed to get a big ‘cama’ seat for Sunday night. Perfect for this epic 18-hour journey.

I went to the supermarket and bought vegetables. The actual supermarket was huge but it only sells Argentinian Italian-style food – prosciutto, cheeses, meat, pasta, tomato sauce, creams, risotto rice, dulce de leche. There wasn’t much choice! For example in the spreads aisle, there is only jam or dulce de leche. No peanut butter, Nutella, marmalade or anything else.

At 4pm I was ready for my horse-riding experience. I told the guy at reception that I’ve never ridden a horse and he replied I’d never been to Mendoza before either. I think he enjoys talking me into things because later he tried to make me sign up for paragliding.

Our guide picked us up on time, something I really wasn’t expecting. A Dutchman from the hostel was also doing it, and two Brazilian people who were very well-dressed for the occasion (fake eyelashes and full make-up) and staying at the posh Diplomatic Hotel. They were nice.
We arrived at the ranch on the vineyard. There was a huge BBQ outside, a few dogs lazed about. Our guide readied the horses and then showed us basic controls. Marcel, the Dutch guy had some experience so he was given a slightly fiery stallion. With my zero experience, I was given ‘the grampa horse’, which to be honest I was delighted with, he was smaller than the others and seemed very docile at that point.

However, as we started walking up through the stony, scrubby hills he kept trying to eat. Constantly. The guide told me I needed to make sure ‘Bono’ was following the first one closely, not falling back. I didn’t want to whip the horse with a bamboo stick we were given. I’m pretty sure Bono knew I was a complete beginner, he definitely had an attitude. We scaled a narrow ridge and watched the sunset at the top.

On the way down, Bono knew he was heading for dinner so he was a little quicker and happier. I had
mastered a few more commands like ‘stop eating’ and ‘go’, which probably helped. We even trotted for a bit thanks to Marcel leading, it was super bumpy and I felt like I was going to bounce right off the horse. The sky was a dusky pink and the hills looked pale. The scenery was beautiful.
At the ranch, they were BBQing up a storm. There was a beautiful outdoor table but it was cold so we sat inside. The conversation felt very grown up to the previous night; football, Brazil’s economy, corruption in South America. It was interesting though. Simone didn’t say a word, peeking out from her huge lashes. And as we consumed more bottomless red wine, the conversation started turning to dogs and pets.

They drove us home. There were apparently two Argentinians in our room now but they were out
partying. I even managed to get into bed before midnight!