July 5 2009 - Crazy horseback riding

July 5 2009
Today we went horseback riding. A group of about 13 went. It started with a pick up truck coming to the villa door, expecting only a few passengers…so, we hopped into the cab and took an exciting and slightly terrifying ride up the mountain to Q’enko, where the horses were waiting for us. Q’enko is near Sacsaywaman. The pickup could barely get us up the mountain!
When we finally got there, we waited around for a bit and finally were let to the horses. These were some horses, too. They were definitely not excited to be where they were, and most were wearing questionable saddles.
My horse, was too small for me really, and looked anorexic.
Finally, everyone got there horse and we started off, we were literally on the horses for 3 minutes when the guide, who was following on foot, told us to get off; we had come to the first (and only one we saw) ruin site, The Temple of the Moon. After wandering around for 5min, we got back on the horses, and basically toured the Sacsaywaman Archaeological Park for 2 more hours. My horse and another girl’s horse were trouble. My horse’s name, I found out toward the end of the ride, was Solitario (Solitary one). For most of the ride, I was a good 50 meters ahead of everyone else…hence the horse’s name. If my horse wasn’t in front, it started biting the other horses to push to the front… not the nicest of creatures. The other problem horse was Johanna’s. Hers, ironically named Sunflower, decided to trailblaze most of the time, plowing over small bushes and tearing off up the mountain and off the trail. It was extremely entertaining to watch as she had absolutely no control over this horse. The guides were fairly absent for the trip…occasionally tearing through bushes and trees at a run to prevent us from going the wrong way. Mostly I was alone, with my horse Solitario, in the lead, where he liked to be. It was definitely fun, and for $10US, totally worth it. Another girl, Kim, had a horse, she named SeaBiscuit, who would poop, and then turn around and eat his poop. EW. So, those were the kind of horses we were on. Haha. Definitely an adventure of a horseback ride.