Riding sure-footed horses on the cliffs over Lake General Carrera / Chelenko with my sister, the Senderos Patagonia guide, and the local gaucho guide, after 3 nights of camping out and with 2 more days to go, looking out over the amazing blues of the lake and snowy mountains and orange flowers and zero other people.

Great holiday

This region is spectacular and while plenty of laid-back tourist infrastructure there is also lots of culture and real life there too. With the Carretera Austral getting more and more paved (it will take a while), the area will continue to become less pristine, so go now!

The most special part about this particular trip, which has only been run once before, was our local gaucho guide who lives, owns and/or runs his livestock on much of the roadless land we were on during these 5 days. His horse sense was excellent, as to be expected, but notable for someone not in the tourist industry his patience and people-sense were impressive as well. The Senderos Patagonia guide, a vibrant, hardworking young person from Germany, was fun to be around and a great caretaker as well! My sister and I were very lucky that the company agreed to do this special trip just for us, as our small group of horse-people had so much fun together in this breathtaking landscape.

The tours organized by the company during the days after the horse ride were also very good, as was the hotel in Puerto Rio Tranquilo, and we enjoyed having the guide still with us to help out in the town, though it was not entirely necessary - but she was fun so that was good! The trip to the San Rafael glacier was beautiful!!!

Patagonia is huge and the areas vary greatly. It is wonderful to explore a less touristy area, such as Aysen.

1. Swoop (Sally) was particularly responsive from the beginning of my research about a riding trip with some tour company somewhere in Patagonia. That was so very valuable! She helped me figure out what trip to do and then supported me as I waffled and also in figuring out exact costs. 2. The local company was friendly and has excellent connections in the area, and it was certainly the right trip for my sister and me. There were a few concerns about figuring out the price in which I needed to be attentive to exchange rates and a bit savvy (it was already an appropriately expensive trip so the exchange rate used really mattered), and in the end my only 2 complaints were small and worked out because it was such a wonderful experience overall and things rarely go exactly according to plan: -In the 3 days in Puerto Rio Tranquilo after the ride, we did not have a vehicle to ourselves as originally promised (it was said if we had a guide they would have a vehicle). Of course, transport was not a problem but it did keep us from going exploring on our own. -The horse from Senderos for me was working an abcess in his hoof, which I could feel as soon as we started out. Unfortunately there was not much of an option as we were starting well into the mountains already and the truck had dropped the horses off. It was not too fun to ride a lame horse on the first day, though I also totally understand that these things happen and did not feel like it was cruel or anything. Thankfully, I was able to express my concern to our gaucho guide and he could see the way my horse was pointing his toe (the Senderos guide did not see it). Even more appreciated was that the gaucho had me trade horses with him on the second morning and let me ride his personal LOVELY mare and then was able to pick up another of his horses further along (also a lucky situation). Everything worked out in the end, thankfully!