Day 1: We drive out of Quito and meet the horses (50 minutes). This first day offers a very varied route including some tricky sections - where we dismount and let the horses negotiate the rocky riverbeds on their own, and also some exhilarating canters across the rolling hills (5hrs). We arrive at a working ranch and have to carefully cross the huge, rolling pastures - this farm is famous for its Spanish fighting bulls! Guests often encounter the type of bulls that we will be helping round up later in the week. The scenery is spectacular with green valleys, rolling hills and we are surrounded by jagged rocky summits and snow capped peaks. We arrive at another hacienda for tea and in time to admire the sunset, once again in magnificent surroundings. Overnight at this charming traditional adobe and thatch hacienda, a working farm situated on the edge of Cotopaxi national park. Meals today include picnic lunch and dinner. Tonight there are partitioned twin sleeping areas and shared bathrooms.
Day 2: We ride into Cotopaxi National park and cross the arid plains of the park from north to south, close to the perfectly conical shape of the snow-capped Cotopaxi Volcano (the highest active volcano in the world) (6hrs). The luna-like landscape formed by both glacial and volcanic activity is fascinating and the arid plains scattered with boulders thrown out by the volcano provide a wonderful surface for some long canters. (The volcano is currently dormant!). We often meet the herds of wild horses that roam the park, they gallop alongside us, long manes and tails flowing. Descending into Lasso Valley, we leave the horses and drive for a comfortable overnight at another hacienda, built in the 1600s. We enjoy a delicious dinner of traditional Ecuadorian fare before retiring for the night. Meals today include breakfast, lunch and dinner. The lodgings tonight provide private bathrooms.
Day 3: An incredible ride high up into the ‘paramo’ (unique Andean vegetation) (7hrs). We leave the adobe huts and patchwork fields behind and climb up into the huge expanses of wild grasslands. Enjoying views of several of the snow capped peaks of the ‘Avenue of Volcanoes’: Chimborazo (Ecuador’s highest peak), Tungurahua in the distance (actually erupting at the moment) and Cotopaxi, we cross the beautiful paramo grasslands, without a house in sight. We cross over a ridge into a valley and spot the isolated hacienda house in the distance. Very few people manage to visit this stunning place and the wonderful tranquility and huge expanse of space, almost uninhabited, is appreciated by all. The accommodations tonight consist of a cottage with 3 bedrooms (2, 4 and 4 beds) and lounge area to sleep in (2), number of people per room depends on number of riders. The bathrooms are shared. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included in this day.
Day 4: A ride across the paramo to a ‘tambo’ built out of Inca stone (4-5hrs). Amazing scenery, riding along a river bed and across the grasslands close to the jagged Quilindana summit. A good chance of seeing the mighty Andean condor and deer, the Andean fox and high altitude hummingbirds (hillstars) as well as large raptors soaring overhead. We occasionally meet a chagra with his trusty dog riding out to check the cattle but most of the cowhands are already at the roundup. The house we stay at tonight is very comfortable and once again guests can enjoy the incredible views. There is no light pollution and the Equator-line sky is packed with stars, including the southern cross. The charming house in which we stay tonight has double rooms and shared bathrooms. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included on this day.
Day 5: We ride into the hacienda where the annual cattle roundup is taking place (2 hours). An early start is needed so we can join the chagras as they head off to roundup the cattle and also the horses that run freely on the ranch and need attention. The chagras, in their brightly coloured ponchos and goat hair chaps, arrived at the hacienda several days ago some herding their spare horses in front of them. Two or three chagras normally manage the hacienda lands (over 60 000 acres) where the cattle roam freely but once a year, for the roundup, they need all the help they can get. The roundup, a vital part of the farming calendar, is steeped in tradition. Today we will normally join the chagras and help them roundup up the wild horses so their hooves can be cut and shaped and any injuries treated. We will possibly be also helping rounding up part of the cattle herd. After a busy day, we spend the night at the campsite sleeping in 2-man dome tents. A hot dinner is served and we ready ourselves for the big day tomorrow. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included during this day.
Day 6: Today is the main roundup day. Earlier on in the week, the chagras brought the cattle down off the hillsides of different sections of the hacienda, pushing them nearer and nearer to the corrals. Today over 2000 head of cattle have to be herded into the main corral, then the bulls extracted. It is often called ‘la gruesa’ – describing the thick, seething mass of cattle brought together. The hacienda owner usually ‘opens’ the roundup with a short welcoming speech and each rider has a sip of the local ‘firewater’ served in a bull’s horn. The ‘mayodomo’ or head chagra issues the orders of the day – which cattle to move and by which route. Great distances will be covered, the day will be wasted if the herd manages to break through the line of riders and regain the far reaches of the vast pastures so it is vital that each chagra knows where he is to go. Having got the main herd into the corrals, the cattle that managed to break away have to be collected. They sometimes arrive, unwillingly, on the end of two or three lassos.
Guests will be able to ride alongside the chagras or ride further back away from the cattle and admire the impressive scene (or choose not to ride and from a safe vantage point near the corrals enjoy the roundup). A second night in tents with a covered seating area around the camp fire, rustic bathroom and surrounded by an incredible array of stars and summits. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included on this day.
Day 7: Having spent the early morning at the corral watching the chagras at work with their lassos (guests are welcome to join in) we leave these skilled cowhands to their tough work and ride out across another part of the hacienda, heading north to the Antisana foothills (4-5hrs). Crossing mountain streams and rolling hills we enjoy another exhilarating ride in these wild open spaces, the massive Antisana glacier appears ahead of us. Another good chance of seeing the Andean condor and also Andean spectacled bears have been seen in this area. We arrive at Hacienda Antisana and say farewell to our horses and the chagras that have accompanied us and are driven back down to Quito for overnight in a comfortable hotel. Breakfast and lunch are included on this day.
Day 8: Breakfast. Guests then depart or continue on extensions.