We drove to Maipo, which is in the mountains near Santiago and on our ride over Fran told us some history and facts about Santiago!

Once at the horse ranch we met our group we would be riding with, and Dad knew two of the people there! He met Sam and…(mom’s name) at the Sheraton 2 days ago. They are a mother and daughter traveling together and their from Mexico. They’re both so warm and adventurous!

While we were waiting for our horses to get saddled, we met this adorable puppy!!!

At the ranch our cowboy, a real cowboy Obi, only spoke Spanish. And…very fast Spanish! As we were standing there listening to his directions, I am hearing NOTHING, it is way to fast, so I turn to Dad and say, “uh, I hope he isn’t saying anything important!” (Laughing face). I am supposed to be his translator and I had no idea what was gong on!

Sam and her mom helped translate, he was telling us to let him know if our stirrups were too long or too short and then he would fix it.

Finally, we were off riding! It was a beautiful trail up a small mountain to a view point. The ride wasn’t too long and since it was steep you couldn’t ride the horses too quickly. The ride was also hilarious because Dad’s horse, La Mancha, would eat all the time and hold up the line or take Dad slightly off course.

After a little while my horsee, La Colorada started eating too! I hope these horses are fed well?

Also, my horse, La Colorada kept wanting to be first, so even at small passage ways, La Colorada was walking around other horses so she was first!

Sam and I had both wanted to gallop and we were told that at the end, after the hill, we were allowed to gallop back to the ranch. So finallllyyy long awaited, we were almost back and then we both directed our horses to gallop and BOOM. We were galloping through the mountains of Maipo! It was exhilarating Obi! I knew La Colorada had it in her!

After this we had a delicious local lunch and we were back together with our guides, Fran and Sebastian and also with these two Dutch guys who were with us on the drive to Maipo this morning.

We ate at Agora Pebre, or this famous Chile hot sauce. By this point in my trip, I love spicey food and I was excited! However, Chile DOES NOT LIKE SPICEY- at least…not like Colombia does. So this place had the most spiciest hot sauce they have in Chile…and it was hot…but not too hot, but still delicious! Dad ate this corn dish that was DELICIOUS, it has yummy corn and is filled with meat and stuff. I had shredded beef in some sauce with rice, also delicious!

Here are some sites from the cute town square we had lunch in:

But most importantly, we played a traditional Chilean game, Empoque!

Now, Fran told us that there was a PRIZE for the winner. And as um…you and anyone who knows me is aware, I can get a tad competition with seemingly pointless games.

So, the game is, you have to get the top on the stick, and Fran kept suprising us with smaller and smaller Empoque’s!

AND I SUCKED OBI. I couldn’t get them…until the last one, which Fran said is more of a joke because it’s impossible…but OMG…

OBI I GOT THE IMPOSSIBLE ONE, LOOK Dad captured my face!

Since one of the Dutch guys had gotten 2/3, they said we were tied…and then we both had one more shot…and I lost. 😭 It’s okay IT’S JUST A GAME.

After this we drove to the Concha Y Toro Vineyard for a tour! This vineyard WAS HUGE, I have only been to a few vineyards in my life, and this was the biggest!

We tried three wines, a Savingnon Blanc (LOVED), Carmenere (pretty good), and Cabernet Sauvignon (a little too dry for me…and when Dad drank this one, he almost coughed it out!). The vineyard was beautiful and we were given wine glasses to take home!

After our wonderful day with iLoveChile tours, we were back at our apartment and met up with JASON! My brother Josh’s best friend since…I think they were 6 years old? Josh arrives tomorrow and Jason arrived today! It was so great seeing Jason, I haven’t seen him in years! He just got back from learning how to BAKE IN FRANCE.

But don’t worry Obi, we had our priorities straight…Jason had researched and we went to a restaurant that was playing the Eagles playoff game! The restaurant had DELICIOUS nachos and a pretty good quesadilla. It was good food which helped us swallow the Eagles losing.