Hiking, Horseback Riding, Lamb BBQ at the Ranch

Accommodations:. Costaustralis Hotel

After breakfast we had our very last hike in beautiful Patagonia. The day dawned sunny and I was able to catch the sunrise as it swept across the mountain tops, painting then a gorgeous shade of pink.

We went on a pretty amazing hike with the mountains in the background. It was up steep inclines over rocks buried in the narrow path, thick roots and thorny bushes, and then we hiked down again. When we got to the top, the wind was howling and once again, I could hardly keep myself from blowing over. Those Patagonia winds are fierce.

But the views were spectacular and it was an invigorating morning and worth the effort.

We had a box lunch on the bus as we made our way to a ranch, to horseback ride and enjoy a lamb BBQ dinner.

En route, we watched a gaucho and his dogs round up his sheep to get them into another grazing field. It was really cool to see a real live gaucho doing what they do best.

We arrived at the Pingo Salvaje Ranch, which reminded everyone of the show Yellowstone! The gauchos and gauchas greeted us on horseback waving welcome flags and we immediately went with them to be fitted for our riding helmets.

We were divided into groups… Those who could ride a horse and those who were newbies. Even though Allan and I have been on horses before, we decided to go with the newbie group.

My horse was called Chapteen and he was a tad headstrong. I told him I was the mother of four boys and I wasn’t going to take any crap from him… But alas, he didn’t give a flying fig.

We were given a few instructions…how to get the horse moving by making kissing sounds and whacking the house in the flank with the stirrup, how to get him to go left or right, and most importantly…how to stop!

Off we all went in a line and we had to keep our horses at least 4 feet from the back of the horse in front of us. My horse did pretty well with that, but he insisted on occasionally plunging his head into the grass to pull out a tuft to munch on. He almost dislocated my shoulder as I tried to keep him from doing that. To no avail!

One of the horses in front of me actually kicked his back legs out to keep the horse behind him away. He also tried to kick one of the gaucho’s horse as the gaucho went along side of him. Yikes!!!

And then… We were riding our horses along side the water, when one of the horses decided to just lie down…with one of the riders on him. Just like a camel! Holy cow! I’m so glad it wasn’t my horse. (Although I did say to my horse in a menacing voice…”Don’t even THINK about trying that stunt!!” Whether he heard? I’ll never know.) The gauchos had to ride over to the horse who was down and finally, they were able to get him up and back on the trail.

The ride was beautiful. The scenery stunning. At one point we had to ride down a steep hill, cross over water and rocks, and then clamber up the other side. When I saw that… I was like… You’ve got to be freaking kidding me!!!!! But my horse did it with a little urging from me and all was fine.

When we returned to the corral and got off our horses, one of the ladies in our group who didn’t ride a horse asked me how it was. I said “It ranked right up there with root canal!” She burst out laughing hysterically and said “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all trip!” (I’ll be here all week folks!!)

So even though my horse was a little headstrong, at least I can say…I rode a horse in the countryside of Patagonia in Chile. What an amazing experience!

We watched a gaucho demonstrate his prowess with his dogs as they rounded up sheep and then we walked to where the lamb was cooking. We watched the gaucho carve up the meat and it smelled delicious!

We went back to the house and the manager of the ranch told us how the ranch is run. She said the owners of the ranch have 500 cattle that are used for beef and right now, the cattle were about 3 miles away grazing. The cattle stay there until May when they are then brought back to the valley for the winter until August.

The horses stay at the ranch but during the slow season they are allowed to run free… No bridles, saddles, or horseshoes. When they come back after a few months, they know they have to settle down and get back to work – either herding the sheep with the dogs or giving trail rides for the guests of the ranch.

Then it was time to enjoy dinner and what a feast it was. The lamb was tender and meaty and we all enjoyed the entire meal.

We bid our goodbyes to the ranch-hands and drove to Puerto Natales to spend the night. The hotel is beautiful and our view is stunning.

Tomorrow we can sleep late and then we will have lunch at the hotel. Afterwards, we drive the four hours to Punta Arenas to embark on our ship. Punta Arenas is a port overlooking the Strait of Magellan.

So this may be the last post for awhile since there is no Wifi on the ship and I don’t think I will get cellular service. I will continue to write each day, and I will post whenever I get WiFi again.