I was very excited to pick out my horse, being that it was my first time ever horseback riding. There was this beautiful dark brown horse that I had been eyeing, but the guide asked me, "Is this your first time?" Of course, I said yes. As a result, he paired me with this smaller light brown horse.
I was still excited, until the halfway point to the volcano! My horse's name was Zapichu, and let's just say that he must have been a stubborn, young horse. He didn't ever gallop, he walked really slow, and he just didn't listen to me when I told him to do something. I loved Zapichu when we weren't riding, but when we were riding, I would get so frustrated! Anyways, I still had an amazing time.
The trail was pretty rocky, but the horses had walked that trail so many times that it really was nothing for them. It was so much fun to ride, and the area was so beautiful! There was so much vegetation that it didn't even feel like we were in Mexico anymore. Before arriving at the volcano, we stopped to see the church that had been ruined by the volcano. It was an amazing thing to see, and having to climb on and step around all of the hardened lava rock really put the destruction into perspective. Here's a picture of one of the standing structures of the church:
So after we spent some time at the church, we continued on our journey to the volcano. Like I said, Zapichu didn't like to gallop--he only trotted. I can honestly say that I hate trotting! It hurts, and my legs started to burn after rubbing against that wooden saddle for so long. Zapichu galloped twice for a little while, when one of the guides whipped him, so that was nice. Finally, we started to approach the volcano. Here are a couple pictures:
And here are some pictures of Zapichu and me:
I fed him an apple
After resting for a couple of minutes, we started to climb the volcano. If you know what it's like to run on the beach, imagine how hard it would be to climb up a beach-like slope. That's what we had to do. Every step you took forward, you were pushed a little further down. On top of that, the slope was very steep! It took us a long time to reach the top, but we finally got there. It was beautiful from the top.
exhausted
There were some spots at the top of the volcano where the rocks were so hot that you couldn't stand in one spot for too long, or you'd begin to feel the extreme heat through your shoes! Crazy. The view from the top was worth the climb. The journey back down was also worth the climb: it was like you had to ski down the slope!!! In the end though, we had tons of lava rock in our shoes and all over our clothes, staining them black. It didn't matter to me though. I thought it was all amazing.
the ankle-deep lava rock
After climbing the volcano and the first 3 hours of horseback riding, the 3 hour trip back on horseback was rough! I was really ready to get back, so I tried to get Zapichu to gallop. Guess what...he didn't. The only thing he did was trot, and that became so painful that I stopped him and made him walk every time he trotted. After the day, our whole bodies just ached! It was worth it though, every second.
