Alli Soenksen: Horseback Riding!!! Last day :((

Today was one of the most amazing days of my life, definitely tied with the day we
went to the wine company for the best day of the whole trip. It was our last full
day in Chile and Jorge scheduled for us to horseback ride the whole day. We woke up
and drove to the same area where we paint-balled...luckily we weren't doing that
again. We drove up this huge hill to a family owned ranch; it was gorgeous. The
house was so unique and culture filled. We went out back where we saw acres of open
land filled with horses. Next to the fields, there were smaller cages with piglets,
roosters, chickens and boars. There were also dogs, puppies, and cats all around the
yard. A woman and her husband own the ranch and as we are talking to them, I learned
that the husband began breeding horses when he was 11 and now they have over 40
horses! Some of us put on chaps ( I didn't) and the owners along with a few workers
put us on horses that best suited our size and horse riding ability. I was put on a horse called "Torondo" and he was the color of a cow. He was an awesome horse though! All 23 of us walked down this huge hill in a big pack towards the beach. The beach was amazing..we were walking along/in the water and I just felt completely free. We took the horses across this river and through all these paths until we came to a big open area that looked like a desert. There were just miles and miles of sand-dunes. The owner leading all of us pretty much said we could do whatever we wanted up to our ability so I, along with a few other riders, galloped through the dunes. It was unbelievable. I used to ride when I was a kid, but never with that much free reign. We then came to one really steep sand dune and my horse started falling down the hill! Nick already fell off his horse and a bunch of others were having trouble getting around the dune. I was screaming for dear life because I thought my horse was going to fall on me. Luckily Torondo kept going and made it up the hill...PHEW! We then were allowed to gallop all the way along the beach on the way back to the house. That part of the ride was by far the most amazing. When we got back to the ranch, the owners cooked us a huge feast. Jorge told us we were going to have a BBQ, but I was just imagining a few burgers and hot dogs. I was wrong. We had choripan (little sausages on a small bun) with salsa, meat, pork and veggies, potato salad, regular salad, wine, soda, cookies, and coffee/tea. It was probably one of the best meals I had in Chile. We just sat by the fire, ate, and talked. When we left, we drove back and went to our last dinner with the Chilean students. We had really cool, unique pizza and got to say our goodbyes to the students. The Chile program was also nice enough to give each of us a sweatshirt from the university we took classes at. I am seriously going to wear it every day. Today was by far the best day of the entire trip. The horseback riding and the feast made it amazing, and then being able to have our last dinner with the Chilean students was the icing on the cake!