Seven things I learnt on a horseback trail in Peru

Posted by Teagan Cunniffe on 7 October 2013

My Aunt, Jackie, has a friend in the right place. To be exact, on a horse ranch in Urubamba, Peru. She travelled there a few years ago and since then returned and helped establish a new trail through the desert… which basically consisted of Eddy (the owner of Perol Chico) leading a group of riders out to the dusty horizon and the two of them trying to keep it secret from the group that they had barely any idea of where they were going!

This year I got very depressed at the thought of not managing to do an international trip, like I had planned on one of my ever-changing 3 year targets. So depressed in fact, that I threw it all in an decided to just go ahead and see if I could make it happen! I had always wanted to visit Peru with Jackie and when she said she was keen, I practically soared with excitement. The decision was the easy part; finances (and that hugely expensive flight to South America) turned out to be a little more daunting. However we managed somehow on our short 6 month notice and found ourselves bundled up with uncountable fleeces in an SAA flight to Argentina, ready to face the (supposedly) bitter chill of a Peruvian winter. Perol Chico is beautiful. Surrounded by mountains with the jagged Andes peeking out from behind, afternoon light an Tuscan architecture. Not to forget mentioning the proud Peruvian Pasos, a breed known for their strength of character, endurance and unique gait. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this, it’s like a left side- right side movement of the legs instead of the traditional diagonal movement that most animals and every horse I’ve ever known to have.

Traditional tack and Misty

Ancient waterways still work and run in the streets

Perol Chico

A blind musician and the streets of Ollyantaytambo

Ollyantaytambo

Young girl sewing

Ancestral skulls in a homestead

We were assigned our horses for the ride after a brief trial to test our abilities and nature. I was given Escandalo, a horse I soon had the deepest faith in, and Jackie road the legendary Misty whom she had ridden on her first trip to Peru. The ride started soon after that and it was just exquisite… High up on plateaus, climbing further and further up the altitude scale until we found ourselves at 4300m above sea-level. In addition to riding I attempted to photograph. A heavy 70-200mm lens and 5DMII from horseback lends itself to painful wrists, misaligned compositions, out-of-focus shots, strange one-handed riding and the occasional successful image. I wouldn’t suggest lugging around as much equipment as I did, but on the other hand… when you want a certain lens and don’t have it, it feels like the world gets a shade gloomier and I’d probably take just as much if I had to do the ride again. Not only do you have the unique experience of viewing the life around you from a horse-back angle and often at the famous Paso Llano, but the visit to Cusco and crazy cover-band-filled nights (also read: five highlights in Cusco), the train trip to Machu Picchu and the culture you are immersed in are incredible. I had a travellers-moment, a moment where you could just leave everything and carry on travelling forever while I was there. Home seems so far away and alien, and the beauty of where you are really speaks to you. I hope to go back one day, and one day soon.