Please Note: The opinions expressed in these reviews are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Unicorn Trails Ltd.
These reviews are "directly from the horses mouth" and unedited. Unicorn Trails may make additional comments for clarification clearly identified in red.
Review received from AS of Brighton on 02/02/2011
Ride Review
Unicorn Trails sales staff
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David Smith
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Riding tour leader
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Eduardo and Tatjana were very friendly and worked very hard to organise everything and to look after us. I appreciate that it was an enourmous logistical task to get 19 riders and around 15 mules with all equipment and luggage across the extremely difficult terrain, and the most important thing is that we all managed to get back safely, nobody got hurt, no horse got lame. There was however a problem with time management - we were often left waiting for hours when it was not clear why. The start in the morning was never at 8.30, but usually between 10 and 12, which meant that we had to ride through the midday heat and that we arrived late at camp. In the last few day on the Argentinian side, the mules with our tents and food etc arrived hours after we got to the camp side, and we were waiting in the cold while it was getting dark. I think it would have been the task of the guides to make sure we start early and the mules get on their way early as well.
Horses and Tack
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The horses were amazing - tackling rocky terrain and steep slopes without flinching, going up and down mountains for hours and so on. It was a great experience to know that you can just rely on them to get you through the really scary parts of the ride.
Meals
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Accommodation
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Miscellaneous
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Dinners were very late most evenings because of late departures in the morning, and late arrival at campside of the mules (see above) on the Argentinian side (see above)
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It was very helpful that I was able to talk to David Smith beforehand. Otherwise I would not have been aware just how challenging certain aspects of the ride would be. In particular, he told me that it is not something for people with fear of heights, which I can fully confirm. None of our group had any real problems with that, although most of us were scared at times! There is no return once you are on the journey, you have to get through to the other side.
I'm not sure what you could do. I tried to tell Eduardo my view of the time management problems (and others did as well), but he responded by saying he is putting safety first - which is only part of the story, I think.
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Difficult not so much in terms of advanced level of riding -most of it was in walk, only the occasional trot and canter, because of the terrain. But it required good nerves and most of all good balance in very challenging up and down terrain, so as not to unbalance the horses.
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I found unicorn staff very helpful and it has has a great selection of rides on offer.
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This was an experience beyond my imagination due to the incredible landscapes and being out there far away from civilization, relying on the horses, and because of the historical context. Eduardo was very knowledgable about San Martin's campaign, and having done the ride, one really appreciates his enourmous achievement and also feels connected to Argentina and the history of this part of the world. Therefore, despite the problems mentioned above, it was a hugely impressive and beautiful ride which will stay with me for a long time.
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