The day after the glacier disappointment I decided to not go back and try again (it was still a bit foggy in the morning), but to do something else. I was in the middle of Patagonia cowboy country so I decided to go horse riding.

Now you may remember, from my volcano hike in Guatemala, that I am in fact, allergic to horses. Horse riding seems like a strange activity to want to do for someone who is allergic. But I like horses; I have fond memories of riding as a child. So off I went to the pharmacy to stock up on allergy tablets!

I chose to do the afternoon ride. A 2 hour ride starting at 4pm, meaning that the sun would set just as we were getting back to the ranch. Then there would be an asada (BBQ) back at the ranch. Perfect I thought! It was foggy again! This meant that there was no sunset, it just got more and more foggy until it got dark. But we were already back and enjoying the steak by that point!

I got on my assigned horse (no one seemed to know its name!) and the owner gave me a short lesson (in Spanish) on how to ride like a cowboy. They apparently only hold the reigns in one hand and the other is free to… take selfies? Anyway, I slightly over estimated my horse riding skills. My free hand was firmly gripping the saddle and it was a while before I dared to release it. You have to be the boss of a horse or they do what they want. This horse clearly knew who was boss and it certainly wasn’t me! Getting the horse to move was only possible with the help of the guide. Off to a great start! It did get better, I managed to keep the horse moving, I could get her (I was assuming it was a her at this point – after all they wouldn’t let someone like me loose on a male horse right??) to turn left of right. I thought I was doing great. Until the other two were getting quite far away from me… I tried getting my horse to walk a bit faster, by giving a gentle kick with my heel, but not wanting to kick to hard in case she thought that was her queue to go galloping after them! But she’d already realised by this point that if she didn’t want to do what I wanted then there was no way that I was going to make her! They had to slow down and wait for me to catch up. At some points, for no apparent reason my horse would start trotting. Trotting I could do. This was something that I learnt all those years ago. It was a bit different here. I was taught the rising trot. Here they just sit, stirrups as far forward as they can push them and lean backwards. Not the most comfortable thing to do and not the best looking way to ride a horse. But whatever works! When the others started to gallop, I was worried. I felt my horse wanting to follow them. Wanting to run with them. It took a lot of pulling back on the reigns to get her to only trot after them. By the end of the 2 hours I think I had done pretty well. Going down and up slopes, through rivers, some of which were iced over, through thick boggy mud and over very uneven ground. I enjoyed myself and I only sneezed once! It was a shame that it was foggy and all I got to see was flat countryside until the horizon and then surrounded by fog.

We didn’t come across any animals, just lots of bones from animals that had died/been killed and then eaten.

Back at the ranch it was time to get off the horse. I didn’t think I was that cold until my feet hit the ground and I realised that my knee was basically frozen. It was really difficult to move it to walk. I think the combination of the cold temperatures, the sitting still on the horse for 2 hours and gripping the horse tightly with my legs throughout had caused this feeling. Walking back up to the ranch helped to defrost it a bit and sitting in front of the fire helped as well! Outside of the front door a group of sheep had collected and a llama.

I’mpretty sure the llama was a pet. By the way she was getting hugged by the cowboy and by how close she was getting to us. The final hint was the fact that when I went to take a photo, she lifted her head up to pose for the photo!

The ranch contained loads of memorabilia, such as a dinosaur egg, some dinosaur vertebrae and tools that would have been used thousands of years ago. The owner also told us about how the ranch had originally been about 500 m further downhill, but that after the Perito Moreno glacier dammed up the Brazo Rico arm of Lake Argentino and the rupture that then occurred in 1917, the water level increased so much that this building was flooded. After that they abandoned it and moved to the current location. The Perito Moreno glacier dams the lake about once every 4-5 years and when this ice dam is ruptured the water level increases dramatically. From the ranch it was possible to see a darker area of land and this is the extent of the lake after the ice dam ruptures.

As with all previous asadas I have had in Argentina, the steak was amazing! This time we were given what I guess was a t-bone steak. With a couple of slices of garlic on it. Delicious!