Art & Horses
Wow! I am on a roll today, as this is my third post that I am drafting today. Easy work when I sleep well and am on a plane. But let’s get back to Mendoza.
Wake up in the morning as usual everywhere, and I had some breakfast after getting ready - the most important part of any day. Over breakfast, I met Isaac, an Englishman who was doing an internship in Santiago in Chile.
Funny story here, when I was being checked in the previous day, the girl at check-in thought I was Isaac, and checked me in as him. The only reason I realized was because it was a different room than what I had booked, so I let her know and she put me in the right room. I guess the story made it to him when he checked in, since it was shortly after me.
We laughed about the mishap and had a good conversation over breakfast, also meeting Bianca, a fellow Canadian from Montreal, who just moved to Mendoza. We explained to Isaac the “differences” between Quebec and the rest of Canada, as well as the relationship we share.
After the morning conversations, I spent a little bit of time writing, not nearly enough, before I decided to head out to town. I had a few hours to kill before my afternoon horseback riding activity, and was in desperate need of a hat to protect myself from the sun.
This walk was when I really fell in love with Mendoza. There was art everywhere, whether it was the tiling on buildings and fountains, the brilliant architecture, or the graffiti and paintings everywhere. For some reason, it made me recall Seville in Spain, a city which I inexplicable loved. Seeing all this, along with the greenery and the people out and about just made me recall my time in Spain, and put Mendoza somewhere special and close to my heart, and am sure will recall it forever.
I picked up some cherries from a street vendor, bought myself a hat, and then decided to break off for lunch. I opted to sit in one of the many coffee shops which lined up the pedestrian street and embrace the beautiful weather. I enjoyed a pastrami sandwich on ciabatta bread, which was so crunchy on the outside but so soft and fluffy on the inside, and I was able to taste the aromatic local olive oil which I drizzled over the sandwich. It gave me a preview of my upcoming olive oil tour which I was improvising in two days. The lunch I had was at Figo, and I would certainly recommend it if you’re looking for a nice afternoon snack to enjoy in the beautiful weather of Mendoza.
After lunch, I headed back to the hostel, where I spent a few hours by the pool before my pickup to the horseback riding arrived. There were a few others from my hostel joining, so we had some introductions on the ride as we picked up some others along the way, and soon reached the ranch. It was the most traditional ranch, at least as I would of expected, something from a Western or Telenovela or something. I really am not trying to stereotype or generalize what I saw, but rather am trying to explain what my (somewhat uneducated) impression of the place was.
The guides explained how to handle the horse, which I had already known due to my limited experience horseback riding, and then we were all getting on our horses to enjoy our 2 hour ride. We had a mixed group, with people who had never been on a horse to others who had grown up around horses, so it was interesting to see how everyone’s interaction was.
We then set on our ride, which was an enjoyable ride through the bush at the foothills of the Andes mountains, and it made for an amazing backdrop. The ride on the horses was smooth, although I have to say that it was by far the most uncomfortable saddle I had been on, especially on the horses would trot. My competitive side came out a few times, when I (tried) to overtake others and be in the top of the line, although it wasn’t always easy, especially when you consider that horses have a mind of their own and do not really like to be told what to do. I mean my horse was also somewhat of a goof, where he decided to bite another horse at some point so I had to keep him much more under control after that. He was always trying to provoke this one other horse for some reason, and I did my best to not become a side victim of his behaviour.
After the riding, we got back to the ranch, where they had a pool for us to enjoy although none of us decided to jump in. The weather did not look too promising, as it was cooler and the thunder clouds seemed to be getting thicker and closer. We waited around for dinner for what seemed like an incredibly long time, although we were all excited to have a proper Asado, cooked in a clay over. I will apologize for not having that many pictures of the end result of the food, since we were all too busy eating to care enough about taking pictures of the food, although we had quite a meat fest which was delicious and did not seem to end at all. I will include a sunset picture though to compensate for that.
We stayed around for about 2 hours having dinner and socializing, everyone getting to know each other and discussing their travels. There was a family from Belgium, who decided to take sabbaticals, homeschool their children, and travel around for a year, which was cool to see and understand the challenges and rewards of such an adventure. After that, we were taken back to the hostel.
The hostel was anything but quiet that night, with everyone sitting around the garden socializing and enjoying the music and some games. I met up with the guys again, and we discussed how our days went, since they had the same horseback riding tour in the morning instead of the afternoon. I also met another person - German Sasha, who was travelling around South America all the way from the outskirts of Frankfurt, as well as Charlie, who was volunteering at the hostel all the way from the UK. Hostels are amazing - they’re like a melting pot of people from all over the place.
We all had some great conversations and got to play a jumbo sized Jenga game, which I lost on two occasions before deciding to call it quits. We also met some Argentinian travellers which was also great since it was a chance to meet locals (at least from the country) and learn more about them. A few hours later, we all retreated to bed, as the next morning was the FIFA World Cup Finale, and everyone knew that it was about to be an extremely long day.
Overall, it was a wholesome day, whether it was meeting people, riding horses in the Andes, or falling in love with a city which is something I hadn’t done in a long time. It really puzzles me how it happens, since it is never in a place that I would expect or anything, but it usually is a combination of weather, people, atmosphere, and experience. Have you fallen in love with a city before? Where? Do you enjoy horseback riding? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, but till then, stay positive!
