Mission Impossible

 Treble, Chocolate, MediaNoche, and Aventurera. Those were their names….and ride on we shall! I haven’t ever been much of a horseback rider, not because I don’t like it, but because I have just never really been around horses. However, I have to give much credit to these four horses, because they did what I thought to be impossible. Let me tell you the amazing story! Hehehe.

Mission Impossible takes place in the mountains that surround a quaint little city called Vilcabamba. A mouthful isn’t it? I kept saying Vilcaboomba. It took me the whole weekend to get the name right.

These are my companeros that took on Mission Impossible with me. They never left my side. The chica in the middle is my beautiful German friend, Christina whom I will miss greatly for the next six weeks of my stay in Cuenca. More on Christina later. The boy to her right is the famous Simon…And finally, the boy to Christina’s left is a Swiss chico by the name of Reto.

We, as a team, decided we wanted to go horseback riding for our first day in Vilcabamba. The lovely hostel we stayed at had a binder full of activities. One activity would have us riding horses up a mountain for about three hours. Then, we were to climb the rest of the way on foot, and finally, ride the horses back down for another two hours. Lunch would be included, and we would even stop at a waterfall to swim. Perfect.

Little did I know, I was about to participate in one of the most challenging exercises of my life! It’s Tuesday, and I’m STILL sore.

Christina started out behind me. This is us preparing for our journey up the mountain. I turned and excitedly took a picture ready for whatever lay ahead of us. Goodness gracious, I really have to work on that. I think I’m too much of a dreamer. Maybe I should be more of a realist. Horses CLIMBING a mountain. Why didn’t it dawn on me that not only was this going to be a breathtaking experience, but that it could also be a life-taking experience as well?!

Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of the climb. It may have been because I was too afraid to take my camera out for fear of falling off my horse, which would consist of me falling off a mountain as well. You guys, I have never seen slopes that steep before. The pathway up the mountain was tiny and the whole time, I kept wondering to myself how the horse would fit in between the sides of the mountain. We were probably climbing for maybe a minute when Simon’s horse suddenly stopped. The horses were in a line basically on top of each other, so you can imagine what this looked like when Simon’s horse (the one directly in front of mine) gets its foot caught in the rope. It could not move, and we were going uphill, so we were at a slant….stuck. I kept telling Simon that his horse was stepping on the rope and therefore couldn’t move his other leg to climb the rocks. Simon could not pull the rope free, and our guide (who was the last one) had to get off his horse and climb up to Simon to free the horse’s leg. And this was all after about a minute into the climb…

The rest of the way was equally SCARY. At one moment, Christina’s saddle completely slipped off her horse. Now Christina was two horses in front of me, and we were also on an incline. As her saddle slipped backwards, the pull caused the horse to slide backwards as well. Friends, I looked up to hear Christina yelling something and then I saw her horse heading straight for Simon’s and then mine. My heart literally stopped.

Our guide jumped off his horse and again came to the rescue. The horse managed to stop before it crashed into the others. Christina was okay, just a little dirty from the fall. My prayers continued…..

Before we got to the point where we would begin walking, one more thing happened that had me actually screaming. Yes folks, screaming. It rains a lot in Ecuador, and a lot in the mountains of Ecuador. So…there was quite a bit of mud. And, how hard is it to climb a mountain in the mud? Slippage is inevitable no matter how well-trained the horse is! Simon’s horse slipped first, then mine began to slip, and I could hear the horse behind me begin to slip as well. I was in the middle and at this point, it was a decline…so in my mind, I saw my horse falling into Simon’s horse while Reto’s horse fell into mine. I surely did scream!!!! I couldn’t stop myself. Being on a horse is scary enough, but when it starts slipping in mud down a mountain surrounded by other horses, it’s hard not to loose it!

BUT THEY DID IT. They pulled themselves together and continued walking downhill breathing heavily. I felt so sorry for the horses. They were SO tired and working so hard for us. My horse’s name was Treble and in all honesty, I really think it was the best one.

Okay, despite all the screaming and heart stopping moments, the view was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I looked around in awe at the surrounding mountains coming short of breath every so often. I had never seen landscape so incredible, so green, and right in front of my eyes. Dear God, I truly do stand in awe of You and Your creation of this world.

Here, we finally stopped to give the horses a break.

And this is what we saw.

Though the camera doesn’t do justice. At all.

Before we began the rest of the climb (via our feet), we stopped for our lunch. The guide pulled out of his sack some cheese, some guacamole, and some bread. He began to cut the cheese (hehehe) with a random knife that he pulled out of his pocket. He sliced it and I am a woman with a small fear of germs and so I thought to myself, “Self, what else do you think he has cut with that knife?” But, I ATE EVERTHING. I was too hungry to worry about it and everyone else was eating it so…..

After lunch, we began our climb to the waterfall. We slipped, we fell, we laughed, and we held on to any and everything for dear life. God was with us. That’s the only thing I can say. At one point, I was on my booty with my hands in the dirt crawling though a tunnel of weeds and branches, sliding around in mud trying to get a foothold. Another thing I can say, I was dirtier than I had ever been before.

Christina was brave enough to jump in the water once we reached the waterfall. I would have jumped in as well except I didn’t have my suit on at the moment. And, I knew we had a LONG way to go.

You go Christina. She laughed at me so many times and told me she was going to make a country girl out of me. What’s funny is that I’m not a city girl either. Ah, what am I?!? Christina probably is the most adventurous person I know. She is fearless. I envy her.

 The picture below is us climbing the mountain. Though it doesn't look like it, it was extremely steep, and at times, there was a section of rope tied to a tree or rock which we used to pull ourselves up the mountain. I was shaking and sweating and a mess. Much like the time I almost missed my flight to Panama City! Except this was much worse.

Again, you can’t tell, but if Christina would step to the left even just a little bit, down the mountain she would go. (Below)

 And if our horses stepped to the right just a little bit, down we would all go! (Above) This was on our way back. We had to go back the same way we came. By this time, my legs were aching from walking and being in a saddle. But I was loving every moment. (Looking back on it anyway)

        
                                                    Vilcabamba at night.

This picture I took after it was all said and done. It was my last night in Vilcabamba. It was one of the most memorable experiences and I will probably carry it with me for as long as I live! I wish I could share the sights with you. I wish you could look inside my memory to see what I saw. And, I also wish that you could meet Christina. Sadly, I have cried several times thinking about how I will probably never see her again. You know, along with moments like the mountains of Vilcabamba, there are also moments that you share with a friend that leave a little print on your heart. Moments that were so short and only lasted a few days, but they’re the memories that last a lifetime. How I wish she were here for longer…

                                        Goodbye Christina. Que Dios te bendiga.