Giddy up pahtnah!

Wednesday, July 21st
Today, Stephanie and I would start our adventurous day off with a 4 hour horseback ride. We met our guide, Gerardo, and our horses Pinchicho and Olivia and were off! The ride was beautiful and relaxing. Stephanie was quite experienced with horses as well because she was a groom when she was younger. You could tell that our guide Gerardo loved his job. At one point we took a break from riding and he told us all about the history of Baños and the story of the volcano. It was quite entertaining. At the end of the ride, I was embarrasingly exhausted. I forgot how much I loved riding and how much energy one can expell when trying to convince a horse to go where you want him to. We hopped of our horses after 4 hours and treated ourselves to a very expensive ($2.00) open air market- made meal of eggs, chorizo, beans, etc. It was amazing...and no food poisioning! We befriended a girl named Vida, from California, while we were eating lunch. Steph and I invited her to tag along for our afternoon yoga session and she accepted our offer. So, after lunch the three of us headed to a private $5 yoga session with a trained herbalist and natural theraputic instructor. Lalita, the instructor, was extremely flexible and gave a relaxing and calming session. After the yoga, we meditated for about 30 min and I passed out. Next we headed back to the hostel to change for dinner and to grab out suits for the hot springs. I was sitting at the computer at the hostel when I saw my buddy Reto, the Swiss guy I befriended in Puno, walk by. The minute we saw each other we were so excited to be together again. He was now travelling with a Swiss girl, Tanya, whom he had befriended in Panama. Because of this reconnection, our plans changed and we would all go out to dinner and swap stories about our adventures instead of going to the hot springs. I had also planned on leaving tomorrow but now I would stay an extra day to catch up and spend time with my buddy. Tomorrow, all of us (Steph, Vida, Reto, Tanya, and myself) will go hiking around the mountainside of Baños and in the evening we'll hit up the hot springs