Ladies is Gauchos too (Bolivian mule riding for some, Italian Stallion riding for others)

If you find yourself in Salta, which you should, it's great - stay at the Patios de Lerma Hotel. It's gorgeous, there's a rooftop patio with two jaccuzzi hot tubs (which are like baths, you can adjust the temperature with a faucet, except housekeeping draws it for you and brings you bathrobes and slippers) and the people who work here are so nice and friendly and gluten-free knowledgeable. Also it's on the best street in town that has all the best restaurants. Also if you are here, you should do the salta horseback riding tour, it's beautiful and so much fun. We went with a real live gaucho (I was so jealous of his outfit, but I got a SERIOUS cowboy hat. He took us up the windiest road I've ever been on (obviously) for 15k, just one turn followed by a turn in the opposite direction the entire time. So nauseating. Jordan slept through it. The farm we went to used to be an old monestary and the chapel is intact but a family keeps it as their weekend and summer home, renting it out and a bunch of people live there year round working on the land. The horses were so nice and beautiful, and there were five dogs that followed us everywhere. This blog could actually have been called Rachel with a series of barnyard animals if I hadn't already used that title for my Amsterdam blog. Anyways we went up into the mountains, not really on much of a trail, with an overhanging canopy of trees and amazing views of valleys full of chirping parrots. The dogs ran ahead the whole way. At first I was incredibly depressed because my horse would not obey any of my commands and was going incredibly slowly and it caused me to doubt my assertion, self-worth, and strength of personality but luckily Jordan agreed to switch horses with me and my confidence was regained when I realized my horse was just a Bolivian mule in that he was contrary and stubborn. We had a bar b q of pretty much an entire cow, and it was theeee best meat I have ever had, coming from a presque-vegetarian. For some reason we took the horses running after our gigantic lunch and multiple glasses of wine, it was pretty terrifying but a lot of fun, even though i almost got decapitated by a tree branch and ended up sporting it as a hair accessory. Now neither of us can walk and are so exhausted we aren't going to make our 11 00 dinner (because thats when dinner starts here, and we're always too tired to make it to the show, but if you are more lively after intense day-long excursions of exhausting physical exertion, go to the vieja estacion for the show, the restaurant is so cool. and if you're dining a little earlier so you can pass out on the most comfortable beds ever, go to la lenita and get the "mashed potatos" which is actually mashed potatoes wrapped in melted mozzarella cheese and fried and is the most delicious thing ever r so jordan told me as i made him describe every bite and get the house wine and steak, sins egg para me) going to do the aforementioned passing out now, pictures and really funny video of me screaming while galloping into the sunset to follow.