>Day 95. Mendoza. (Tuesday)

>On our second day in Mendoza, Katherine headed out for her dream of horseback riding in the Andes. The following is provided by Katherine, as a contributing author :-).

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With mountains on all sides, and the vividly blue lake formed by the Potrerillos Dam (which is the source of water for Mendoza and all those grapes!) in view, I enjoyed one of the thrills of my life – horseback riding in the Andes!

Lucia and Juan…

own an estancia (a ranch, including a log house!) at 2000 meters elevation, in Los Carditos, Potrerillos, in the heart of the Cordillera mountain range, an hour from Mendoza.

Their 100 horses run free in the foothills, a two-hour trail ride (how distance is measured!) from the estancia. Juan rides there daily with their four border collies and brings back ten or so horses for their weekly rides, using his handmade braided leather lassos. Lucia rode with me (and Marlo, my gentle horse)…

and provided interesting insights into mountain life, including commuting daily with their three children to school in Mendoza.

Judith, from the tour company, also joined me….

Next time, I hope to be able to talk Dottie into joining me!
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What a great adventure for Katherine! As most of you know, I’ll try just about anything (except sky diving is not on my bucket list….yet), but I tried horseback riding in Costa Rica and had a bad experience with a feisty horse, so its tough for me to “get back in the saddle.” (Harriet (my cousin), as I recall I had another bad experience on a horse at a very early age at your farm in Kentucky). So, as they say, been there, done that :-).

I had chosen to do a spa day instead, however, this was the day that the volcanic ash situation worsened, and I spent the day changing our flights and moving us out of the horrible Hyatt Hotel, and into the very friendly and helpful Villagio Boutique Hotel, which was right around the corner.

When Katherine returned from “the Andes” we went to have lunch at Azafran, the restaurant we had gone to on our first night, which was wonderful (and managed by a delightful young lady from Dallas)…so that Katherine could fill me in on her adventure, as well as her interesting discussion on her ride up and back with her guide, Judith, about life and politics in Argentina.

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1 Response to ">Day 95. Mendoza. (Tuesday)"

  1. mdwebneck says:

    >Yay for Katherine, I'm not into horses, (due to bad allergies) but appreciate the thrill of doing something you've always wanted to do,
    For me it might have been a cross USA bike tour, but that is out of reach now, so really living vicariously through your Yiippppie Kii Yaaay experience

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