Riding out our last day in Sacred Valley

I was awakened this morning by banging on my door. It was Avishai. We were going horseback riding today, our last day in the Sacred Valley, and Avishai and Viviana were joining us. I didn't really want to go. The night before there had been a ritual gathering around a campfire by the full moon. Many people took the medicine provided and had stayed up all night meditating, singing, drumming, and waiting for the sun to rise. I didn't make it until sunrise, but I was still tired. But we were committed. No rest for the weary. So after a brief breakfast of lentil soup by the fire pit, where others were still stretched out sleeping, we were off.

We met the horses in Maras, a sleepy all brown town that is home to the families who own and tend the salt mines of Salineras. Salt has been captured from the ponds here since the days of the Incas. The families own, tend, and share the income from the ponds. This was yet another example of how many Peruvians live collaboratively sharing workload, profits, and ownership.

Horseback riding while traveling can be a very iffy thing. Frequently, horses are not well cared for and the trails are so well known by the horses, it can feel like the equivalent of a merry go round. But this was not the case with these horses. We were in for a treat.

The horses were beautiful and the owner, our guide, was extremely attentive to every detail. The horses were Peruvian Step horses, which means that they look a lot like dancers with their high prancing legs. What it also meant was that they were very fast. I was assigned an older mare named "Lucero". I figured that she would be a bit doddering--she looked so docile waiting for us to take off.

While leaving town, some young children ran alongside us shouting hello, their black eyes shining with excitement. The horses were all peppy. But Luciana turned out to be really peppy and Avishai and I quickly took up the lead, our horses playing out some kind of competitive race.

The landscape was astonishingly beautiful. We traveled along old Inca trails, through meadows and farmland, through a couple villages, and into our destination, a beautiful lake, where we had a healthy lunch.

The horses were all clamoring to be first and when the path was wide enough, we traveled in a pack. We all laughed about the imagery that it brought to mind as we rode together pressed in a clump with the clattering of their feet. It felt as if we were in a scene from a wild west movie, particularly when we returned to the desolate, dusty town of Maras.

Getting home from Maras was just an extension of our adventure. I've gotten used to catching a ride with lucky strangers who have cars and are willing to play taxi, or to piling into "combis", minivans that carry as many people as can fit. Inevitably someone in the crowd of patient and smiling faces will strike up a conversation with me. The conversation always goes the same way: where are you from?, how long are you in Peru?, and how do you like it here? My answer is always the same: "es hermosa". They always look at me knowingly. They may be from here, but they understand what they have. They will nod and laugh and say something in Quechua to the others in the van causing everyone to laugh and smile. And when my stop comes, I'll pry myself out of some contorted position and say to everyone, "hasta lluego", which means "until later". There are no goodbyes here--just happenstance encounters.

Horseback riding in the Sacred Valley: Apupacha Horse Adventure, www.apupachaadventures.com