Ride Em' Gaucho... Trip to the Estancia Part I

On Friday we went to visit an Estancia (a ranch). There are lots of fun activities to do like horseback riding, ping pong, swimming, or just hanging out. You can go and spend a weekend or just visit for the day like we did. (They have rooms and such.) Its really more of dude ranch, although they do have do actual ranch things there too. It was really nice to get out of the city for a day.

We left the house at 8 in the morning, and I think everyone was ready to go. I think that shows how excited we all were. I don't think I even heard anyone complaining about getting up early, but then this is not a group of complainers. (Which is awesome!)

There are lots of weird things about life at study abroad, not bad, just weird. One is that you have to be ready to do class things everywhere. Eight of the students are taking Message of the Old Testament online. Usually they would just take the quizzes online, but usually everyone taking an online class doesn't live in the same house. So instead I give them the quizzes on the day they are due. Well, Friday was one of those days... so since we were going to be gone all day... they took the quiz in the bus. (Luckily it is multiple choice, so it wasn't hard to read their writing!)

When we arrived at the estancia, they had breakfast ready for us, which was way good. Apparently Uruguayans think eggs are a weird thing to have for breakfast, but they had all sorts of bread, meat, cheese, and jams. What everyone was really interested in doing though was horseback riding. There was an added urgency to the desire to ride because it was cloudy and supposed to rain later in the day.

(On a side note... I'm apparently not good luck to study abroad and good weather for group trips. When I went to study abroad as an undergrad, at first it seemed like every time we went somewhere as a group it rained. That seems to be starting to happen here too. Of course, it might because I go to study abroad in the spring for the place I'm visiting. But I'm sure that's not it... everything centers around me!)

Anyway... back to the story. After breakfast we headed out to the fence (it wasn't really a corral) where the horses were tied up. At some points it seemed like the horses and the students (and I) were sizing each other up. It almost looked like a junior high dance... horses on one side, students on the other, who are YOU going to as? Who do YOU hope asks you? As we were watching the men saddle the horses... all of a sudden we came to a realization: We aren't in Texas and they aren't using western saddles! There are no saddle horns. And the stirrups are different. I don't know enough about such things to comment intelligently on them... but one thing that was interesting is that all the saddles were covered in sheep skin. (Still not quite enough cushioning for trotting.)

After the horses were all saddled, the gaucho started pairing up horse and rider. He started by asking who's the best rider, because we need a good rider for this horse. We all start volunteering the most experienced rider. I'm not sure Jenna appreciated it though when we all yelled out her name for best rider. (I did find out later that her horse was hard to handle, but you couldn't tell from watching her.) Chelsea even appreciated it less when we nominated her for second best. I think the Gaucho really wanted Matt to be the best rider. It didn't seem right to him that the girls were the best riders. My favorite moment of the loading of the horses were the California girls getting on the horses. I think one had never been on a horse before, and the other had only been on once at Girl Scout Camp or something.

Once everyone was on a horse, off we went. Now just for the record, from here on out all the pictures are taken from horseback. So if I have some straight horizon issues, its because of the bouncing, not because I've been drinking! Actually my camera did really well.




Anyway we started riding around the ranch, and neighboring area. The scenery was beautiful. It is interesting though. I have been blessed to travel in several parts of the world. And really green rolling farm land looks pretty much like green rolling farm land. That is not a complaint. Actually, it makes me really happy because it is some of my favorite scenery. And there is something comforting about going some place that looks familiar.



Our group quickly split into two groups. The horses who were in a hurry and the horses who weren't. Pedro, our bus driver, went with us. He apparently is also experienced on horseback. He went with the faster group, while the gaucho (I never did find out his name) stayed with those of us who were on the plodders. The gaucho did tell us several ranch/ farm type terms like wheat. I'm afraid I don't remember any but the ones I already knew. :(


We rode past several cattle pastures, around a pond and through a "forest" of eucalyptus trees that were planted in perfectly straight lines in both directions. It was pretty amazing. On the way back it started to sprinkle. The gaucho had us make our horses trot. Mine, Rubio (Blond), would go for about a minute and then slow back down. Jonathan F. had the best comment. Trotting is not just a... um... real smooth ride and Jonathan passes me yelling, "I have no butt, I don't have the cushioning for this!"

When we got close to the estancia, the gaucho let us go a little longer. When it was time to turn back my horse all of a sudden decided it was ready to go and we went home much faster.

Well it was a good time. Here are some more pictures:

Our group taking a break by the pond.

Ride Em' Cowboy... Jonathan S. and the other side of the pond.

Anne only posed for this picture in honor of one of our aerobics instructors who seems to love this move. (See I can't make it through without mentioning aerobics.)

Proof that I was on a horse. The gaucho took it when we got back.

The End!