Horse riding in San Agustin

We had two options for today. One would be to go on a jeep tour to see three more sites further away and waterfalls. But we had enough of car or bus rides – and for me the second option looked so much better: horse riding.

There is another popular way to see the very small sites close by the city, and it takes between 4 and 5 hours of horse riding. Our hostel helped us with the booking and at 9 am we are at the ranch.

It’s been close to 20 years for me and 26 years for Alexis since the last time we were riding a horse, so it’s going to be a little stressful at first.

I absolutely loved today – I had lessons when I was younger, and looks like I didn’t totally forget them. I was mostly comfortable, even when the horse went into a canter. They were overall well behaved and fairly slow; they knew the road like the “back of their hooves”. What was left was enjoying the peaceful countryside and just to be outdoor on a different transport.

Alexis on the other hands, was really uncomfortable and didn’t enjoy this activity at all. That is something we will have to do separately in the future. But at least, after so many years we tried again.

We saw one lady booked a moto taxi for the day and did the same sights. Most are accessible by a dirt road that they can use. We cut through pastures at some times with the horses.
The circuit covers 4 small archeological sites from the San Agustin civilization. 

First, we did La Pelota and El Purutal – it’s the same entrance. The last one has two of the most beautiful statues because they kept the original colors.

Second was Chaquira viewpoint – an there is a carved 3 faced stone. They said it should be a meditation place because no tombs was found here. And the statue looks like a carved rock. They probably used a boulder already there. You are facing two valleys and it’s gorgeous.

Last one is El tablon,  very small statue group – but it’s on the way back to town.

We ride the horses into town and instead of bringing them back to the ranch ourselves, another member of the family has come to pick them up and will ride them all back for us. It’s a few blocks back to the hotel. We find a nice restaurant on the way.

It’s mid-afternoon when we reach the hotel and we both take a good long nap. So far our butts feel fine, we will see about tomorrow…