Yesterday I mistimed sunrise and woke up a little too late so this morning I had an alarm set for about 6. The way the mountains are arranged means there actually isn't much of a sunrise I discovered, so I quickly admired the scenery before happily getting back into my warm bunk until breakfast.
Today's adventure was horse back riding! This is something I've done several times, though never more than once a year and always while traveling. Omar was again our guide and he led seven of us on a gorgeous four hour ride. I should also mention that in my previous horse back riding endeavors, it's never been for more than 30, 45 minutes tops. As my backside can attest, four hours is much more than 45 minutes!
My horse was a beautiful milk chocolate brown color named Castana, chestnut. She was happiest to do whatever the horse immediately in front of her was doing whether it was trotting, walking, or, her favorite, eating. Castana and I got along well and she was quite responsive to my commands.
Our route took us to the entrance of Cotopaxi National Park after about two hours where we stopped for tea and cake(!). The clouds were thick enough that we couldn't see Cotopaxi and I teased Omar that it wasn't really there. Before long, the winds had picked up and we were happy to get back on our horses to warm up. Except that it hurt to get back on our horses! Two hours is enough for your muscles to figure out that something funny is going on and to start to rebel. For me it was my thighs, for others it was their bums. But it was too far to walk back, so on we rode.
We passed countless fields where the locals worked. I don't know why, but it is traditional for women to wear fedora hats. I love fedoras and I think more people should wear them, especially when milking a cow or riding a donkey or chopping down trees.
One member of our group had requested to visit a nearby school. As a teacher, she wanted to meet local students and teachers so she could tell her students back on England about it. This turned out to be the absolute highlight of the day. One little girl sprinted out of a classroom and would have tackled Omar had she weighed more than 40 pounds. She turned out to be his four and a half year old daughter. A Swede picked up the nearest football and started a game with a bunch of eight year old boys. It was great fun watching a blond behemoth tower over the Ecuadorian boys!
I wandered a bit and chatted with a couple of students. When the impromptu football match ended, the boys started thinking of different animals and asking us how to say them in Spanish.
"Como se dice caballo?"
"Horse."
"Como se dice tigre?"
"Tiger."
"Como se dice mono?"
"Monkey."
"Como se dice pulpo?"
"Octapus."
"Como se dice iguana?" They were momentarily disappointed whenever the animal had the same name in English.
"Como se dice oso?"To which I replied, "Mira, tengo un oso," and pulled Mini Bear out of my pocket. The boys loved her and were ecstatic to have their picture taken with her. After they pawed over each other to see their photo on my camera's screen, I was impressed by how gingerly they handed Mini Bear back to me.
Every time we told them an English word, they'd say, "Ooooooh," for a second and then quickly move on to the next animal. My favorite, though, was when they learned the English word "skull" and started to run around the courtyard chanting "skull" in a way that only little kids can do.
It was time to go so as we remounted our horses, the kids climbed on the fence and I called them monkeys in English. One of the boys then asked me in Spanish, "Can you come back on Monday to teach us English?" I told him I couldn't so he, logically, asked if I could come back on Tuesday to teach them English. It was really sweet and hard to say no to, especially since I do really miss teaching. I have a feeling that one of these days on one of my trips a kid will ask me that same questions and I'll end up staying somewhere random. Sounds good to me!
But back to horse back riding. It wasn't far back to the hostel and, after following a horse that was walking too slowly for her taste, Castana decided she wanted to trot. Off we went at an easy trot until we were a good distance from the horses in front of and behind us. Once I realized we were alone, I, of course, started to sing--quietly at first and quickly much louder. Castana's ears perked up, she let out a mighty neigh, and suddenly took off at a full gallop! I held on tight and even encouraged her to continue. This was my first time galloping and it felt great to be going through the scenery at full speed! She continued pretty much nonstop until we reached the stable. When I dismounted, I saw how sweaty her neck and chest were after the physical excursion. If only I'd had some peppermint to give her as a treat!
Lunch was a hearty soup and I got to curl up with the hostel's dogs in front of the fire before several of us piled into the hostel's van to move on to our next destinations.
I was heading to the northern town of Otavalo to see its famous Saturday market. Lucky for me, the mother-daughter duo were also going as well as a Dutch couple. The five of us were dropped off on the side of the Panamerican highway and were told the next bus to Otavalo would arrive in just under an hour. There wasn't much to do there to kill a whole hour: look at the chicken feet on the grill, discover there were no nearby toilets, go exploring the area for some suitable bushes. Luckily the bus came early and, apart from a gorgeous sunset over the mountains, we had an uneventful arrival in Otavalo.
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