Tuesday, June 5, 2012

A horse, of course.


After a marvelous 21st birthday, it’s hard to return to the mundane. Luckily, we’re in Chile and every day is a new adventure!

This past Saturday, both Rachel and I had the chance to go horseback riding in Ritoque, which is just a little ways north of Concón about thirty minutes or so. We arrived and everyone got to pretty much pick his or her own horse, with the exception that some horses go faster than others and therefore required a little more experienced (or daring) riders. This proved to true for our dear friend Charlene, whose (mis)adventures you can read here..


Beachward bound
After we were all saddled up and had taken a few practice runs around the fenced area, we started for the beach. Now, at this point, it almost seemed like our horses were rather bored with us, and simply followed one after another; however, once we got to the beach we were given a little more free rein with them (buh dum ch).
We spent the next couple of hours traversing through sand dunes, fording small rivers, or galloping across the beach just like a movie. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and aside from being a little bow-legged and having some sore shoulders the next day, it was amazing. (But really, nobody told me that when you turn 21 your body starts to fall apart!)

Lift your feet!
Goofing off  :)
Aw, our horses were friends!




Ambling along through grassy sandy dunes
Off they go!

There's only one, Concón.

Slow and steady wins the race.

We went to Concón after riding horses to go to Las Deliciosas, a well-known spot for amazing empanadas, but apparently they’re on vacation for the month. Fome! Either way, we found a local shop just a block away to eat empanadas all the same.

Rachel, Katie, and Alyssa enjoying the sand between their toes!
June has brought some exciting things to us in Chile: some extraordinary weather before winter totally sets in, and also some new exchange students! La Universidad Viña de Mar got five new exchange students last week who are here for a month of intensive study. Four of the five students are from the University of Oklahoma, but Rachel and I only knew Alyssa beforehand. We were all so excited to meet them and help them get acquainted with the other students and the town. On Friday, we went walking around the town, and ended up at our favorite place El Baúl Café before the night was over. Sunday, Katie, Rachel, and I showed Alyssa great things in Chile like the helado, the churros, the ferias, and of course, the beach! (The pacific is still cold, even if we only stuck our feet in.) It’s hard to believe that these new students will only be here four short weeks, but I’m sure they’ll have a wonderful time all the same.
We cannot get over how cool/edgy/hipster/fetch this place is! GAH!


Other than these exciting adventures, we have nothing else to report. Third exams will be upon before we know it, and after that FINALS! We just got our second test back from our Business class with the other Chileans and we did exceedingly well! (6.9 and a 6.8 out of 7 for the both of us!) Our professor even complimented us our "ortografía" skills and our "capacity to reply to questions well, in a language other than our native tongue." We're super stoked, because if we do well on our last test in this class, we won't have to take the final. *fingers crossed*

Somewhere we have to fit in a trip to Argentina and Peru. (I’ll leave the heavy planning to Rachel.)

Back in the States, we have quite a few friends who’ve had many wonderful and exciting things happen recently. To all of our friends who have gotten married, had a baby, learned how to juggle (wait what…..?) we are so happy for you and cannot wait to reminisce about your special experiences. (especially you, jugglers.)

2 comments:

  1. I'm so happy that you are both doing exceedingly well in your business class! I also think that it is very interesting that you all are now the experts showing people around the town. :-) Riding looked like a lot of fun and unfortunately, I have not yet learned to juggle. I love and miss you!

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  2. I love, love, love that you are experiencing such great adventures in Chile! Makes me want to do the same! And don't worry...even though the body starts to fall apart at 21, it keeps on ticking well past the very ancient age of 50. : )

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