horse riding

Whilst in Vilcamba, as well as just chilling out i have been horse riding. it was totally amazing we trekked up into the mountains surrounding the town to a waterfall. Our group consisted of me and mike, 2 german girls, an austrailian girl and our guide, the trek took all day from 9 ish til about after 5. needless to say my bum was more than a little tender!!! also needless to say the day didn't pass without me being a bit of a spaz!- we got up early to have breakfast at the hostal and then rushed back to our room to get ready, we were just leaving the room when the guide picked us up in a taxi to take us to the centre of town to get on the horses. it was in the centre of town after the taxi had driven away that i realised that i hadn't changed my shoes since breakfast time and i was still wearing my flip flops !!! (duh, yes very amusing for everyone else as i had to leg it back to the hostal). once on the horses we climbed up the steep mountains away from the town towards the nearby national park called, Podocarpus; the views were spectacular and the skies were totally clear, we could see for miles. At the very beginning i was asked if i had any experience, ¨yes a little¨ i had replied, well my horse was mental!- all it wanted to do was gallop, everywhere. which to begin with was a little scary but fun once i got used to it. We trekked for several hours until we got to a small stream where we dismounted and had a small packed lunch. The austrailian girl, was by this time becoming a little annoying to say the least- she had clearly never been near a horse in her life let alone got on one, she was scared of heights and so spent most of the morning screaming at the heights and whimpering when the horse broke into any thing more than an amble (i personally felt a little sorry for the horse as she was not exactly a small size!!).After lunch we got back on the horses and rode to the waterfall, at the top of which we had to dismount and climb down an almost vertical cliff face to the bottom; but it was worth it, the waterfall was beautiful- the climb back up to the top was a bit sweaty however. Back on the horses we rode back down the mountain into town, my horse galloping at every opportunity and at one point a got stuck in a gate (!) my horse not realising that my kness are slightly wider than itself, my knees and inner thighs are now black with bruises!! good fun though.