All Quiet

... until tomorrow, of course. This afternoon has been completely comprised of reading, sleeping, writing in my journal, and listening to music. (Incidentally... I write in my journal a lot. Or at least I have during this trip. I started a new one the day I arrived, just over three weeks ago, and I started out with 144 blank pages. Of those 144, 10 and a half are left to me.) 

This is to exemplify "all quiet" and happens to be from the collection of images in my final Photography 1 project

Why is everything quiet until tomorrow, you ask? Tomorrow the group is leaving at 8:30 AM to Colonia del Sacramento in the west of Uruguay. We will be in Colonia most of the day, and from there depart to a large ranch in el departamento de San Jose. And what do you think we will do there?

No, we will not lounge about in bathing suits all day, like we did in Salto last week. We will be riding horses. Riding horses! Purebred Criollos, to be exact. And we will be riding at least twice this weekend. 

I am so. Unspeakably. Excited. Obviously I'll have my camera and new lens out (thanks again, Daddy!) but more, I want to just enjoy my horsey time. The only downer, which I'm not sure even is one, is that we're not riding in any style I've previously practiced. It was very unrealistic to expect Western saddles, I now realize--that seems ridiculous now I think about it. But I'm not so sure that riding the South American way will really be my cup of tea. If I didn't know that I'd probably fall off cantering cross-country and bareback (not to mention having a really painful ride depending on how bony my mount is), I'd ask to be allowed to go bareback! 

In any case, I think I'm going to have a lot of fun. And even if I'm totally turned around by the new riding style, at least I get to be around, ride, and photograph some very pretty horses. 

Oh, and I think I'm going to look for a new journal, too. Those ten pages aren't going to last very long!