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This morning was a bit of a mad rush. The previous day I had a found a highly recommended horse riding stables on tripadvisor. I had emailed asking for the 2hr ride but they did not reply until 8:20am this morning saying I could go at 9am! Jaclyn also wanted to come so I scoffed some breakfast and drank my tea in the lobby waiting for the driver to turn up.
We drove out of Cuenca for about 20mins, into the countryside, before arriving at the stables. Sebastian, the very friendly owner greeted us, and soon we were mounting our horses. I was on a piebald (black and white horse for non-horsey people) gelding called Eclipse. We left the stables and headed down country lanes before arriving at the base of a long hill. We rode up the hill and the views from the top were beautiful. As we were on a ridge we could see the valleys on both sides and the rolling hills in the distance. We traversed along the ridge, passing a small church where they hold Easter and Christmas services. As we reached the end and started to descend Sebastian spotted a beautiful deer in the woods in front of us. A male, with large antlers - so graceful. We returned back to the stables via more country roads and did a lot of trotting and some cantering. It was a lovely ride and nice to be out of the city and breathing some fresh country air. As we waited for our lift back to the city, Jaclyn and I both felt or legs stiffen and knew we would be in some pain the following day - worth it though!
Once back in the city we went for lunch in a great little restaurant that did colombian food. I had a corn tortilla with beef, chicken, beans and cheese - amazing! I chilled back at the hotel afterwards, trying to organise myself for the following day (hotels, train tickets etc). As the light started to fade I headed out around the historical centre to take some photos of the old buildings. The main square, Parque Calderon was very pretty. On one side it has the grand new cathedral and on the other side the smaller, whitewashed old cathedral, El Sagragio. I also walked to the Plaza de San Francisco where they have a big flower market.
That night I met up with the girls again for dinner. We walked to a further afield restaurant called El Maiz and I tried a traditional Cuencan soup with potatoes, avocado and cheese. It was surprisingly good! Afterwards we went to a small bar and they had an 2 for 1 offer on for mulled wine, how could I refuse... although it did feel a bit weird drinking it in July. A lovely evening spent with the girls.
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