Just 3 hours from Mexico City a premium riding holiday awaits you. Jose and Lucia have a lifetime of riding experience all over Mexico and delight in sharing their home and riding trails with you. Your accommodation throughout the week is a beautiful courtyard home. Relaxing and soaking up the luxury is even easier with the attentive staff who take great pride in the comfort of their guests. There is also an outdoor swimming pool and Jacuzzi on site so you can relax after the days ride as well as a room with a billiard table and a small gym. Over the week you ride around a large lake and through steep, forested hillsides. Each day you are returned to your base by car or boat, leaving your horses and their grooms along the route. The horses are very well looked after, trained and tacked up in full Mexican gear and very responsive. There is a chance to view the annual migration of the monarch butterflies and spend an afternoon watching 10 million butterflies in the space of a few city blocks. This is a unique experience, only available on horseback in this remote region. This is a very relaxing holiday. Breakfast is served at 8:30 hrs and dinner at 20:30 hrs, one hour later than in the regular Las Cavalcades ride. The riding hours per day will be of approximately 3 to 4 hours instead of the six to seven of the regular program.
No supplement if willing to share. Otherwise:
2012 High Season: £319/€389/$469
2012 Low Season: £319/€389/$469
SAMPLE ITINERARY - RELAXED CAVALCADES
Sunday: Riders should arrive the day before during the day or on Sunday before noon in order to be ready for an afternoon pick up at 5pm. You will be picked up at the lobby of any of the two hotels suggested according to the schedules detailed for each hotel. The transfer by car will take approximately two and a half hours. After registering and getting set in one of the magnificent bedrooms in the Finca, you will have dinner and a short briefing about what will happen during the week on your horse riding holiday.
Monday: A delicious Mexican breakfast will be served early in the morning. Afterwards get to know your mount and try the tack inside the arena. Once all riders are ready enjoy a beautiful three hours ride. The route goes through forests and agricultural valleys. After the ride, lunch will be served in the terraces of the Finca. In the afternoon you can relax and enjoy the facilities inside the property. If you prefer, have a two hour evening ride. For guests that like other kind of experiences they can try one of the multiple activities offered in town such as "salsa" dancing lessons. During dinner guests will be able to enjoy the excellent Mexican and international cuisine that comes out from the kitchen of the finca and accompany it with red or white wines.
Tuesday: Today you will ride in one of the most beautiful and biggest ranch properties in the area, "Rancho Santa Rosa". You will have the opportunity to see the numerous horse paddocks full of foals and pregnant mares and if you get lucky watch the training of jumping horses. Riders come back to the Finca just in time to have another delicious lunch served in one of the terraces of the property. In the afternoon you will be able to make a two hours evening ride or if you prefer, explore the colonial town of Valle de Bravo, relax next to the swimming pool with a margarita in hand and why not, have an invigorating and restoring massage in the privacy of your bedroom!
Wednesday: By now everybody will be fit and confident on his or her mount for another three hours ride through pine and oak forests, peaceful meadows, and clear water streams; all covered by an unforgettable variety of colorful flowers. Riders come back on time to have another delicious lunch in the Finca. The afternoon will be free so riders can enjoy the jacuzzi or have a relaxing massage.
Thursday:
After breakfast the horses will be waiting for the riders to take them to another enjoyable ride. As always lunch will be at the Finca. In the afternoon enjoy a relaxing boat trip around the lake of Valle de Bravo. From the boat you will have the opportunity to see "La Peña" a historic rock where the aztecs came to make human sacrifices.
Friday:
Todays ride includes spectacular views of the main lake and town. Lunch will be served on the terrraces of the Finca. This will be the last day to work "salsa" dancing lessons! And if you are adventurous enough why not try a tandem flight in a parapent! Since this is your last night in Valle de Bravo, a farewell dinner will be served in the nicest restaurant in town which is located in one of the oldest buildings of the area (not included in rate).
Saturday:
Today the ride is shorter, only half of the day. Riders will arrive to the finca on their horses just in time to have lunch in one of the terraces of the property. You will ride through the main street of "San Francisco Mihualtepec". This is an authentic Mexican town where you will be able to see lots of things. See how local people live in their homes. See how the housewifes enjoy taking care of the many pots with flowers in their veranda. See how the butcher works, see how the traditional "barbacoa" or "carnitas" are being cooked. These are traditional meals prepared only by men and where women do not participate cooking, they are only invited to eat. This is a "macho man" chore. See the fields with all sorts of different flowers: paradise flower, sun flower, water lili, agapanthus, gladioles, etc.
After going out of this interesting town, the biggest ranch in the area will be visited. This is "Rancho Santa Rosa" where well-kept forests, evergreen horse padocks, and magnificent contemporary Mexican style homes are all set in harmony. If you are lucky you will be able to see how the horses that are bred in this ranch are trained for show jumping. Arrive at 1:00 pm to the finca just in time for lunch. Today there will be more time to visit the town and do more shopping. Or if you prefer, enjoy the facilities in the property and have a good and restoring massage session in the comfort and privacy of your bedroom. At 7:30 pm hosts and guests will depart to town where a farewell dinner will be offered in a beautiful restaurant located in one of the oldest colonial buildings in town (not included in rate).
Sunday: Sunday´s breakfast will be served at 7:00 AM. and departure from Finca Enyhe will be at 8:00 AM.
Riders will arrive to Toluca Airport at 9:00 AM and should be arriving to Mexico City at 10:30 AM. From here you must make your own way to the airport, the hotel can book you a taxi if you ask at reception.
Please note: This itinerary is given for your guidance only and it may be altered in accordance with the prevailing conditions by the organising team.
NOTES - RELAXED CAVALCADES
From November to March a visit to the Monarch butterfly sanctuary is scheduled as an afternoon activity. Riders will be taken by car to the place where the authorised guides will take them on their local horses to see the amazing views of millions of butterflies laying on the fir trees.
The weight limit for this ride is 16 st/220 lb/100 kg, please enquire if you are an experienced rider exceeding this weight.
FURTHER DETAILS
As we are specialists in our field we have extensive knowledge of all our products from details of accommodation and meals to number/size/type of horses to pace of riding ... and much more.
Should you wish to receive further details of this ride please click here.
WHAT IS INCLUDED
Arrival transfer from overnight accommodation or Airport to the Finca on Day 1, all meals from Day 1 onwards, accommodation, riding, guiding, water, sodas, beer and wine with meals and 3 alcoholic cocktails per person per day (tequila, margarita, rum, whiskey & port), guided visit to town on Wednesday, boat trip around the lake on Thursday.
WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED
Transfer from Hotel Marriott Reforma to Mexico City International Airport (for departure flight) is not included.
Flights to and from Mexico City's Benito Juarez airport, overnight hotel accommodation the night before Day 1, spa service at nearby resort, farewell dinner in local restaurant (CASH ONLY), live mariachi music during farewell dinner, laundry service in town, tips, internet and telephone calls.
Reading List We're avid readers here at Unicorn Trails and have selected several books connected to this ride. If you're interested in reading more about the area before you travel, or want to get into the cultural background, here are some suggestions that may inspire you. Click on the links for more information.
Sons of the Shaking Earth- Eric Wolf. A wonderfully readable introduction to Mexican history. The Maya (Ancient Peoples and Places) - Michael D Coe Aztecs: An Interpretation - Inga Clendinnen. A fascinating, thought-provoking and vividly dramatic look into the heart of Aztec society. Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans - Alan Riding, is an excellent guide to understanding modern Mexico and its love-hate relationship with the United States. So Far So God: A Journey to Central America- Patrick Marnham. A vivid account of a trip from California, through Mexico to the badlands of Central America. The title comes from the saying 'Poor Mexico! So far from God, so close to the United States.' Like Water For Chocolate - Laura Esquivel. This book created a huge interest in things Mexican when it was published in 1989. Set in rural Mexico at the time of the revolution, the novel manages to combine fantasy with recipes. All the Pretty Horses- Cormac McCarthy. A poetic tale of three young latter-day cowboys riding south of the border.
European novelists have long been attracted by Mexico. Graham Greene's 1930s travelogue The Lawless Roads and his great novel The Power and the Glory; Aldous Huxley's Beyond the Mexique Bay and DH Lawrence's burdensome The Plumed Serpent, which is intent on asking all the big questions about Mexican life.
Of course a mandatory copy of Lonely Plant Guide is invaluable.
What you see on our web site is exactly how much your invoice will come to and this will not change once booked. Unlike some other companies the prices on our web site are fully inclusive of often hidden extras such as: VAT, Sales Tax, state taxes, city taxes, service charges, non-optional tips, fuel surcharges which can add 20% or more to the advertised cost. Prices are available in £ sterling, Euros and US$. Once invoiced, prices are guaranteed against adverse currency fluctuations. Contact us for package prices which include flights from the UK and see each ride for exact details of all items in individual itineraries.
21, The Acorn Centre, Chestnut Avenue, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, SG18 ORA, England
Tel: +44 (0)1767 600606 Fax: +44 (0)1767 312555
Office hours 9am - 5.30pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm Saturday
Email: enquiries@unicorntrails.com http://www.unicorntrails.com
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Under no circumstances is any part of this site to be copied or used without written permission.
- Eric Wolf. A wonderfully readable introduction to Mexican history. 
- Michael D Coe 
- Inga Clendinnen. A fascinating, thought-provoking and vividly dramatic look into the heart of Aztec society. 
- Alan Riding, is an excellent guide to understanding modern Mexico and its love-hate relationship with the United States. 
- Laura Esquivel. This book created a huge interest in things Mexican when it was published in 1989. Set in rural Mexico at the time of the revolution, the novel manages to combine fantasy with recipes. 
and his great novel 
and DH Lawrence's burdensome 
is invaluable.
