Horseback Riding!

I wrote this yesterday:
My birthday was on Sunday, and we went horseback riding. We were going to go paragliding, but the wind patterns weren't suitable. That was fine by me, I love riding horses. We will go paragliding a different time. Horseback riding was going to be my present for Danny for his birthday, but we never had an opportunity to do it until now. We had so much fun. We woke up at 6:15, took a bus to La Cumbre (2 1/2 hour bus ride each way), had lunch in town, then went horseback riding for 3 hours!

Danny and I woke up an hour later than we planned this morning, and we sounded like we were 90 years old. Every part of us hurts. It was worth it. We were led through La Cumbre by a gaucho named Juan. A 'gaucho' is loose equivalent to a cowboy. It was really peaceful. As you can see from the picture it was a beautiful day. Juan's dog came along to protect us from cows and other dogs. He got attacked by another dog one time. Danny called it 'Doggy Compton' because there were dogs chasing him regularly.

My horse, Bianca, had a mind of her own. She would just take off running whenever she felt like it. At first I didn't want to get ahead of Juan, so I would pull back the reigns. Toward the end I just gave in and let her run. My mom said she was 'barnsour'. Which evidently means she was eager to get back home. We had so much fun. Horses are truly amazing animals. We will have pictures posted soon.

I had my last class with Florencia today. It was kind of sad. I really like her and she helped me so much. I think it will be good to have the group classes though. I will be able to talk to people in Spanish more often, and hopefully make some new friends. Wish me luck!