The Ceiling of the Andes

My words cannot do justice to the amazing 5 days on horseback I spent in the Andes in Mendoza province. I will give the bare details and let the pictures do the rest.

Company: Pioneros Cabalgatas http://www.pioneros.com/
Personnel: 2 Pioneros guides, 2 vaqueros (local guides who know the mountains very well & who owned the horses we were using)
Tack: traditional Argentinean; 3 blankets on the horses back, followed by a saddle tree of wood/metal, followed by 2 sheep skin rugs. The blankets and sheep skins are also used as your bed underneath your sleeping bag.

Clientele: As previously related, I was lucky enough to meet Lisa in a hostel in Mendoza where she told me of her plans to join this ride. When I said that I was interested she contacted the Buenos Aires office to see if there was still room and if it wasn't too late for another addition to the group. I was able to join (obviously). Another different aspect to this particular ride was that it was marketed internally (not internationally) to the Argentinean market – so we were the only 2 tourists. The rest of the group was made up of 10 Argentineans & 1 Spanish guy living in Argentina. Pioneros does also market internationally through horse riding travel agencies, but those rides have more personnel and as a result are more expensive.

• Day 1: Meet our horses, load up with our saddle bags and take off into the desert. 3-4 hours flat riding to a valley river where we set up camp. That night it was mild enough to sleep in the open (even though we had already put up our tents).
  
  
• Day 2: After breakfast we mount up and begin to ride out of the valley. Today is a hard 3 hours riding again. We are going up and down rocky mountain sides, gravel & stones moving under the horses' feet and making them slide. There are some scary moments but as my horse has decided he is still hungry and tries to grab mouthfuls of grass whenever possible – even if that's while balancing on a surface hardly large enough to hold his four feet – I realise if he's not worried, then neither should I be. The horses here are amazing – they live out when not working and as a result are hardy, working animals that are incredibly obedient and sure-footed like goats! (The sure-footed bit, not the obedient bit). Today is an active day in the saddle, spent either leaning backwards to help the horse balance as he goes downhill, or leaning forwards & standing a bit out of the saddle as the horse carries us both uphill. Tonight we make camp high in the mountains, again beside a stream, with a couple of caves used for cooking (and to sleep in if the weather turns bad). Again we are lucky enough with the weather to be able to sleep outdoors and after a campfire singsong, we turn in for the night.
  
• Day 3: is a long and dusty day. We ride for 6 hours+. 2 hours in the morning, break for lunch, then 4 hours to get back to base. Today, once out of the mountains, we are riding through dusty scrub. When we get back to base, Pioneros transport us back to our hostel where running warm water is much appreciated & long overdue. I don't get out of the shower until I'm wrinklyJ.
  

• Day 4: Today we are riding again into the mountains, this time to a lookout point to see Aconcagua. Riding for about 6 hours. Unfortunately the weather closes in and we don't have a good view at the summit. We camp in an abandoned mining village, and use the old houses' chimneys for cooking.

• Day 5: We ride back to base, say goodbye to our horses and have a farewell meal with our guides & vaqueros.

Pictures available at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=160128&id=693536230&l=35b7552fb7

Random reflections while hopped up on sugar & white flour products

7.15am – I was shook (gently) awake by the bus steward this morning to have my breakfast. Lisa (girl I went horse-riding with) & I joked about the long haul bus rides and how you would only get served white food – so before the inevitable post breakfast crash, while the sugar & refined white flour is buzzing round my system here are a few random reflections:

1. It does seem to be the case that Argentinean bus companies prefer to serve their customers white food – not sure why that is. As an example I will relate the menu of Que Bus (who I am travelling with right now); Dinner last night: white bread sticks, white bread roll, mayonnaise, breaded chicken with smash (powdered potatoes), potato salad with 1 olive & slice of ham and a Madeleine (like granny's homemade queen cakes). Breakfast this morning: crackers (main ingredient white flour), 2 biscuits (like Danish butter cookies) and a Madeleine. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining – in fairness when listed out like that it IS a substantial amount of food - it's just also a substantial amount of white floor & sugar.
   

   
    

2. Whatever you think of him – Michael Jackson had a prolific music career, and even if it is before 8am, listening to his greatest hits at full blast while eating my white breakfast is not as bad as you would imagine.
   

   
    

3. Am on my way to Patagonia with a decision to make. I will arrive in Ushuaia on Friday night. One of the last ships (that I can find) is leaving for the Antarctic on Monday morning – the Canadian tour operator has quoted me WAY more than I would prefer to pay. What to do, what to do? I know there is room on the ship – do I hold out & try to find an open tour operator on Saturday in Ushuaia or do I just pay it & secure my place on the ship? Decisions, decisions...
   

   
    

4. And with that...the sugar crash sets in....

Luggage Issues

I am unable to pack lightly. For a while I was living in Switzerland I kidded myself that I had become a capsule packer – when going home to Ireland for the weekend and I would "only" take 10kg hand luggage with me.

Packing for South America was an ordeal that took 8 hours alone to make the stuff I wanted to take go into the bags (yes, bags, plural). But there's a lot to do here (and I want to do it all) & in a lot of different climates: I had to take into account summer weather/Patagonia/polar weather/amazon weather and horse riding gear lists. I have lost count of the amount time that planning and agonizing over what to bring took me. People laugh at me when they see the amount of stuff I haul around. Then the amusement turns to horror as they contemplate lugging it around themselves, and then incredulity when I tell them it all weighs 27kg and takes up an 85l rucksack and a 35l day pack.

Or at least it used to weigh 27kg. I haven't had the opportunity to weigh the bags recently but everything is fitting much more neatly and the bags don't seem as strained or difficult to close. I'm not holding my breath and praying that the zip doesn't burst each time I close the bag anymore. Either: 1) the bag has stretched, 2) I've gotten really good at packing, or 3) I'm lugging so much crap around with me that I can't possibly remember it all; and I'm slowly but surely leaving stuff behind all over the place that I didn't really need in the first place and now I don't even notice when it's gone. I'm hoping it's a combination of 1 & 2, but there is more than a sneaking suspicion that it's number 3 L.

Here's what I know I have lost/forgotten/misplaced so far: 1 pair of converse trainers, new bottles of shampoo/conditioner/shower gel (1 each) – these all went missing in Cordoba – but I was moving hostels a lot there, and usually hung-over at the time. 1 pair of riding gloves – I managed to lose these on the last day of the ride between and after taking my saddle bags off my horse and unpacking the same saddle bags a couple of hours later at the hostel. Silly me – I was annoyed about that one even though they were really old gloves but I specifically brought the old woolly ones so that I could use them in cold weather as well.

Yesterday I realised I couldn't find my phone. The last time I remember having it/using it as an alarm clock was in Uspallata – which is over a week ago – so I must have left it there. Again I don't mind too much – it was useful for receiving texts but I wasn't able to send any – the only real problem is that I have lost all my numbers. So if you are reading this & I had your number before, please email it to me, thanks J.

I have also ditched a sum total of 4 items of clothes so far: a skirt and 3 t-shirts. At the beginning I couldn't bear to do it but the novelty is starting to wear off. I don't mind the weight or lugging it around – that's not the issue – it's the worrying about whether my bag will break/burst that I can't handle. I've also bought a pair of shorts, ¾ length trousers & a sun hat, and got a really nice top from my mate Grainne who was purging her bag – so I guess all that negates the stuff I did toss. Woops – watch this space to see if I end up living in my bags cos there's enough room in there for me...

Serendipity!

I had booked into my hostel in Cordoba until today...but on Thursday night I made a split second decision to leave on a Friday night bus to Mendoza despite the invitation to go to Salta. I was tired of the humidity in Cordoba and wanted to get on with some physical activities after 2 weeks of sitting in a classroom.
I got to my hostel in Mendoza this morning and about an hour after I arrived a south african girl who is also travelling by herself arrived and we got chatting as the hostel receptionist explained the various excursions available to us. Turns out this girl is going on a 5 day horse-riding tour in the Andes and I was able to join the group...so excited about it! We're going to be camping out on the mountains..it's exactly what I wanted to do!

Serendipity! :)

http://www.pioneros.com.ar/english/horseback/cielingofamerica.htm

Buses, Bibles & Spanish lessons

Taking spanish lessons in Cordoba for 2 weeks. Took an overnight bus from Buenos Aires to Cordoba. It was my first overnight bus so I dont have anything to compare it to - but it seemed a bit odd that there were bibles on each seat wrapped up in the blanket & pillow they give to you...it got even odder when the bus hostess handed to everyone a comment sheet, a welcome note & a copy of some verses from Romans 2!