you need this

Okay, everyone go to the grocery store to the home cleaning supplies aisle and look for “Wypex”: it’s this blue, solid dish detergent and while I have no idea about its antibacterial qualities, the suds are fucking magic.

Why horses?

A few days ago Tessa and I participated in what can only be categorized as the most overt of tourist activities: a horseback ride.  True, a group of tall white women as we five riders were would stick out in any crowd, especially here.  One can only imagine the magnified effect of mounting an animal, one that makes us both taller, and more foreign.

 Also, riding is difficult.  Most people I know have little to no experience on a horse, including everyone I was riding with save our guide.  I hadn’t ridden in about five years, and while there was a time when I was very comfortable in a saddle, that time was not yesterday, and I was a bit afraid of losing my seat a few times.  So the question remains, why is horseback riding such a ubiquitous tourist activity?  Is it really so romantic that people just don’t realize what they’re getting into, the days of soreness not included, and touring companies happen to be well-attuned to this part of the anglo psyche?  It’s just so hoity toity that we are too embarrassed to do it in our regular lives but we feel some license in a foreign place so we excuse ourselves of our ridiculous impulses (this, I suspect, is the reason for a large part of the embarrassing or regretful impressions that foreigners make). 

All of that being said, of course we had a great time.  Sugar cane and coffee fields, vistas of shadowed valleys, a roaring waterfall, near-catastrophic galloping spurts, and a really sore ass.  Love tourism.