I had the most delightful day, regardless of the shape my fanny and legs are in now!  Carol, Juan (the trainer) and I rode for about 5 hours today.  We left the resort around 10:30 this morning, rode into Vilcabamba which is probably a mile or so from the resort.  We rode on through the town and out into the mountain area behind the town, up some gentle mountain roads that were dotted with homes, a beautiful river (more on that in a minute) and a manufacturing plant.  Oh yes, and there is "The Forgotten School" there too where kids and teachers go everyday but they have no supplies, desks, chairs or anything.  Carol said they call themselves the "Fogotten School" because no one seems to care that there are kids that desperatly want an education and teachers that want to teach and have to do the best they can with nothing.

The river that flows beside the road has an area that is like a bay (don't know what you call it when a river has a pool) that Juan let his horse walk into.  So, of course, I thought I was supposed to too, that the horses probably wanted a drink.  Made sense to me.  Well, my horse LOVES the water!  It started kicking up its front feet and then it's back feet, playing in the water!  Juan said to take him out so I did, but I must admit, it was funny being on a great big horse that was playing!  I have ridden for years and never experienced anything like it, it was a hoot!

Then we rode up more roads, looking at the beautiful mountains, the flowers growing everywhere and listening to the cars and trucks that came up behind us and moving the horses off to the side of the road.  The drivers were very respectful of the horses, they slowed way down and didn't yell or honk or try to spook them as some in other countries would have (and have) done.

I thought that riding up hill would be difficult but it wasn't that at all, it was riding DOWN that caused the stress on the legs and butt!  Oh my gosh, I realized how old I was (or maybe just out of condition for riding) by the time we got back to town for lunch.  Now, I was fine until it was time to get off!  My legs were so pooped the right one didn't want to swing over to dismount!  Juan stood beside me and I leaned my hand on his shoulder which gave me the angle to dismount without falling on my face!  Bless his heart!!

We visited with some locals while we ate (and all the way into town we said "Hi" (well I did, Carol and Juan said "Ola") to all the people that we saw.  It was kind of neat, some of the young ones responded to me in English!  When we got to the cafe there was this delightful old (and I mean OLD) man that walked up, said hi (in English) and started past.  Carol asked him to sit and have something to eat, it appeared that he could really use it.  I believe he is one of the old ones from the valley.  The valley is know for being one of 3 places on earth that people live to be well over 100!  We saw a couple today that were well over 110!  Seriously, and they were walking along doing thier business just like a younger person!  Amazing.  As we visited with this gentleman, he said he spoke English and French but no Spanish.  How strange to find that in town!

When it was time to leave the cafe, I had Juan bring my horse to the curb and that gave me the necessary height to mount without looking like a fool.  Again, Bless Juans' heart!

Carol said that we should ride the horses around the square a couple of times to show the locals what happens when horses are taken care of, feed well and trained.  The horses that Carol, Juan and I rode were abused horses that she has taken in and Juan has trained and worked with to get them into the fabulous condition they are in now.

Carols' horse had been so abused that it had broken the leg of one trainer, smashed the face of another and wouldn't let anyone get near him.  It's a beautiful black stallion, wild as wild can be to everyone except Carol and Juan.  The horse actually adores Carol.  She was not a rider when she bought him, had ridden about 2 times as a child.  She didn't realize that the horse was a danger, she just thought he was beautiful (like the Black Stallion books she read as a kid….so did I).  She said when she went to ride him, he looked at her like she had to be kidding.  She said he let her up and has never given her a bit of trouble.  The horse must have known that she loved him and wouldn't hurt him and knew nothing about riding and took pity on her.  They are quite a sight to see, Carol with her white hair flowing beneath her black hat and the horse proudly kicking his hooves out to the side in some step that I can't remember the name of, but it was beautiful to watch.

We rode around the square twice with the horses literally prancing as they showed off.  It was a great time.

Juan graciously told Carol that I was a natural rider, that there isn't a horse on the place that he would not let me on.  What a nice thing to hear after not riding for so long.

We left town and rode a "back way" back to the resort, it was a little more than an hour ride past the monestary where the nuns are cloistered, the school and church in some little village (about 5 houses) and the old peoples farm that Carol has written a grant for ($1M) to continue to raise organic foods to feed the people.  Then across a bridge that was just wide enough for the horses (after letting a motorbike across first) which was quite high over the river.  Now, you know how fond I am of heights.  Had visions of my horse thinking, hey, I can dump her here and be done with her…kindly he didn't and we made it safely across.  It was pretty, just not something I was prepared to relish until after the fact.

We got back to the resort and I got to see where the horses are pastured and where Juan and his family live.  Then back to the main entrance where I dismounted (again with the help of Juan) and said goodbye to Carol and Juan.  Juan's son took my horse back to the pasture and I limped my sore legs and even more sore butt to the main level, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat there until I thought my legs would make it the 42 steps to our room!

When I got here, Greg was feeling pretty nasty.  Carol had told us, when we arrived, that eating so much fruit and healthy food could really mess up your digestive track, today was his day.  He went to the spa and tried to get that to calm his painful stomach down, that didn't work so he went to Cristen and asked if there was something he could get, that Carol had warned us about this and that there was something the natives use to calm things down.  Cristen said yes, that they would go pick some herbs fresh from the gardens, make some tea and bring it up for him.  Anyone that knows my husband knows that he hates tea and coffee, but he was so miserable that he sipped it (Cristen said not to "drink" it but sip it) and that it really did help.  He still feels nasty but not as bad as he did.

Tonight is festival night in town, it's Saturday and they celebrate with music and dancing in the streets every Saturday night.  Carol was planning to go and wanted me to go along.  I told her it would depend on how I felt and let me tell you, the thought of going anyplace other than dinner tonight was more than I could have done!  Carol must have fallen asleep too since she didn't come down for dinner.  She said that she hadn't slept last night, was busy answering emails and working.  Hope she did get some rest and will wake up in the morning feeling refreshed!

It actually gets cold here at night, there is no heat in the rooms so you bundle up in blankets when it's bedtime and try to get warm.  Tonight I thought, shoot, close the curtains and maybe that will help.  I think it probably will, even though they are really thin, and blowing out, but at least it stops some of the breese that cools everything down so much.  It's actually not bad at the computer right now and last night I 'bout froze doing this, so it's better!

Tomorrow we are going into town to the market, it will give us an opportunity to see other crafts and get to know the town a little better.  We are looking forward to it, unless Greg is still feeling nasty that is.