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The horse rides – length and difficulty:
Rides in the high Andes can be for anything from one to seven days, or even up to two weeks if required. We have a heavenly campsite in a ‘vega’ (green meadow) by a little river, with flowers, birds and the occasional fox and condor to accompany you. We have cooks who will provide a delicious evening meal, around the camp fire, after a pleasant day followed perhaps by a bathe in the small nearby lake. Most of the rides can go out from this one place with no need to keep changing campsites, although for longer rides we might need to change occasionally. Also, there is a small, clean, simple hotel accessible from where the rides start out, so that visitors who prefer not to camp can sleep there.
We can tailor the rides to be long or short, more or less challenging and all variations according to your taste. Because the mountain paths are often steep and the terrain is rugged, we rarely go out of a walk. The rides are still exciting and fascinating, because of the nature of the mountains, the paths and the incredible views which cannot be accessed in any other way, unless you are a mountaineer.
A nice spot for a dip after a hot ride up on horseback
Camping at 2000 metres in a secret valley
We pitch camp in a little green valley crossed by a small river and many little streams. The valley is full of birds and flowers and is a delight in itself. Close by there is a small lake where you can bathe after a the ride. Evenings can be spent walking around to look at flowers , or relaxing with a book on our camp chairs, glancing up from time to time to see the hummingbirds gathering nearby in the evening light. They behave like flycatchers and hover near us catching the few insects that survive up there, rather than sipping from flowers as they do down below.
The camp site is so delightful, and the daily rides can so easily be tailored to individual needs – longer or shorter, more or less difficult – that this place would be suitable for a family with children. Parents need to be aware that the cordillera de Los Andes is not a country club park, and there are dangers, but our guides are experienced and careful so that the pleasure of a campsite, barbecues, lassooing and managing horses and mules and so forth, could give enormous pleasure to children. Not to mention riding out to a glacier, or crossing easy rivers on horseback. This is the perfect holiday on horseback.
It is difficult to think of a vacation which could help you relax, free you from pressures and stress, more effectively than riding in the cordillera – the mountain chain – of the central Andes. Easy access from Santiago and its international airport. A holiday which combines extreme location and activity with the relief and relaxation that comes form being well looked-after and cared for, surrounded by the most incredible beauties of nature.
El Clarillo the secret camping ground
Riding Season for the high Andes rides: Longer rides with camping are usually only possible in the 3 months from January to early March.
Riding out on horseback from Bano Morales, a spa in the Chilean Andes, there is a choice of incomparably beautiful rides for your vacation.
There are six complete days’ riding to choose from, plus, if you enjoy camping in the high mountains alongside sparkling streams, accompanied by flowers and birds, two days’ extra riding, up to the camp site and down again.
The individual rides are listed below, and you can choose any mix and match of the first five rides, plus camping. The eighth day’s riding goes in a different direction and we recommend spending the night before the trail in the local hotel.
It is impossible to say which day’s ride is more beautiful than another. All are magical, and very different from each other.
The first is a long ride, but one of the most popular, to the glacier and lake. (El Morado Glacier).
Another is breath-takingly steep, although not difficult riding (La Rubilla). foto
Another is more pastoral, a valley full of flowers and cattle and horses grazing, with rivers to cross and high mountain scenery.(Valle Engorda).
The ride to Marmolejo base involves crossing rivers and sometimes we ride on snow. (Marmolejo)
The ride up to a refugio for mountaineers at the base of Volcan San Jose is steep but beautiful. (El Plantal)
The individual rides are described posts with accompanying photographs to help you choose. Also, if any member of the group does not wish to go on all the rides, the campsite is a lovely place to spend the day and so visitors have complete freedom to do what they like with their holiday- ride every day, or only on some days if they prefer. We can do shorter rides around the campsite, but still exciting, for families with children.
Email us for more information at ridingsantiago@gmail.com
