15/01/2020 – El Chalten, Argentina

We finished the crumpets at breakfast today, which means we have gone through 4 packets in a week. When I say we I mean mostly me as everyone knows I am a crumpet fiend! After breakfast we had some time in the room to enjoy the view and chill a bit. Although chilling was not really possible as we were all so nervous about the next activity! We layered up with all our warm clothes and went to the stable for 11:00. We were met by the lovely gaucho who threw us all some knee high chaps to put on over our shoes. They were made from beautiful tan leather. We were given our helmets and then each shown our horses. Dads mount on the horse was pretty amusing and it took a few goes before he was up. Still, A for effort as I expected him to find any excuse not to get on a horse considering he hasn’t been on one since he was 3! I think Patagonia is the place to be for horses though, so we were all determined to do it. The gaucho didn’t speak any English so it was a little bit tricky to communicate via my broken Spanish. He very quickly showed us how to stop, go, and turn. His horse was pretty wild so we all just stared back at him with fear in our eyes. We started our trek very slowly in a line behind the gaucho, the three farm dogs running alongside nearby. The ground was soft sand and it felt like quite hard work for the horses but I would imagine it must be nicer for them than concrete or road. Mums horse kept wandering off and munching on the grass, and then speeding up to catch us up, which did cause a few helps to be called out! Once we had all relaxed as much as we were going to relax (so not very relaxed then!) we could start taking in the scenery, which was stunning. I was a bit too scared to let go of the reins to take pictures on the way there, but managed some on the way back. Eventually we got to an opening and started trekking along the beach - absolutely breathtaking! We were on the horses for about an hour, and stopped outside a little cabin in the middle of nowhere. I was dismounted first, then mum and then Josh, and then mum, Josh and the gaucho had to help dad dismount, which was even more amusing than the mount! He looked like a lego man with his legs staying in the same position as he slid sideways. Mum helped pick his right leg up and slide him over, the gaucho looked after the horse and Josh basically picked dad up and put him back on the ground. I was doubled over in silent giggles, and fortunately dad took it all in good humour too. The gaucho told us to take 15 minutes to take photos so we wandered up the sand dunes and took the view in. When we returned to the cabin there was a spread of bread olives cheese and meats ready for us. Dad had a glass of Malbec which he hoped would settle his nerves! The gaucho (I do apologise for calling him this but I really can’t remember his name!!) lit a fire outside, which was no easy task as it was so incredibly windy! He cooked us steak and vegetables on the fire, which was really tasty. The dogs got the leftovers much to their delight! He washed up for us and then it was time to mount again, which was equally as amusing as before! We trekked back, mostly along the beach on the way home. Josh said that this moment was one of his top moments of the whole trip, and it really did feel very special! I think we had all relaxed a lot more by the way home and could really soak it all in. We had perfect weather, it was windy but bright blue skies and not a drop of rain. When we got back to the stable I filmed dads dismount whilst the others helped him as I wanted to document it, I really doubt dad will ever willingly get on a horse again, so I do feel lucky to have shared the experience with him and mum (and with Josh too of course.) We gave all our gear back and thanked the gaucho for a lovely time and also thanked our lucky stars for having all survived and enjoyed something that none of us had felt particularly comfortable with beforehand! We walked back to the room and had a hot drink. Mum had a little snooze and Josh wrote his diary entry. Dad realised that his glasses case had fallen out of his pocket on the beach, and said in retrospect he had felt something fall. We put our boots on and left Josh writing the diary, and set off for the beach. We walked a good hour down and along the beach and just when we were about to turn back and give up, found the case a little bit soggy by the waters edge. We walked back along the beach and Josh joined us for the last bit too, it was a beautiful day for a walk. We got back to our rooms and all bathed our achey muscles, and it was beer o’clock. We walked down to the bar and played pool with a bottle of champagne. Dad had hurt his hip during the mounts/dismounts so we managed to persuade him to take some ibuprofen. We went for dinner and shared the table with an Argentine couple who have a holiday house in Uruguay near to Punta Negra where we had stayed. They couldn’t believe their ears because it is like the equivalent of us bumping into an Argentine person in Bath and them telling us they had spent new years eve in Waldringfield. It is such a small world! They were really friendly and we had some good chats with them over dinner. We went back to the bar and the staff had lit a nice cosy fire for us. Josh and dad were waiting for it to get dark so they could look through the telescope at the stars. Problem is it just takes forever for it to get dark here! After dad and Josh had managed another glass of red wine, and accordingly had blue teeth, we called it a night and went up to our rooms. It was absolutely freezing outside and we were told that it had snowed in the surrounding areas up the mountains today. We chilled in mum and dads room a bit before bed.