LAS CAVALCADES - MEXICO

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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 130 miles 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. For those wanting a slightly more relaxing holiday with less hours in the saddle and more time to explore the cultural delights of the area there is a Relaxed Cavalcades program. (In the Relaxed ride breakfast will be served at 8:30 hrs and dinner at 20:30 hrs, one hour later than in the regular ride. The riding hours per day will be of approximately 3 to 4 hours instead of the six to seven of the regular program.)

Trip length 7 nights/8 days Ride only price 2008 and 2009: 29 Mar, all Apr and May - £1,339, all other dates £1,489, New Year Rides £1,609 Departure dates 2008: 26 Oct; 9 & 23 Nov 09; 28 Dec - 4 Jan 2009 * 2009: 4 & 18 Jan; 1 & 15 Feb; 1,15 & 29 Mar; 12 & 26 Apr; 10 & 24 May; 25 Oct; 8 & 22 Nov, 28 Dec - 4 Jan 2010* *New Year Ride Approximate riding time per day 4-6 hours Riding ability required Must be able to walk, trot and canter comfortably. Min age 12. Group size 2-12 Meeting point (getting there) Overnight accommodation in Mexico City Transfer Included from meeting point. Flight guide London - Mexico City return £450 - £650. Single supplement none if willing to share, otherwise £235

SAMPLE ITINERARY - LAS CAVALCADES

(Saturday):
(Riders should arrive any time on Saturday in order to be ready for an early pick up on Sunday morning)

Sunday:
Riders will be picked up at the lobby of any of the three hotels suggested according to the schedules detailed for each hotel. The transfer by car to will take approximately two and a half hours. After registering and getting set in one of the magnificent bedrooms in the Finca, you will get to know your mount and try your tack inside the arena. A delicious lunch will be served in the swimming pool terrace before getting mounted for a two hours ride to "monte alto" where you will be able to know better the horse you are going to ride during the week. Come back to the Finca and enjoy the sunset with a margarita made with an old family recipe. Dinner will be served at 7:30 accompanied with delicious chilean red or white wines. A fabulous start to your horse riding holiday.

Monday:
A delicious Mexican breakfast will be served early in the morning. Afterwards riders will mount on their horses and ride for three hours across agricultural vallleys and forests with orchids until lunch time, which will be a picnic on the trail carried by one of our pack mules. After lunch riders can enjoy a short "siesta" and be ready to ride for one more hour until you reach the 9,000 feet. The village of "Los Saucos" will appear behind the trees. Here the horses will overnight and riders will be taken by car back to the Finca. The afternoon is free to relax in the swimming pool or take a walk to town. During dinner guests will be able to taste the excellent Mexican and international cuisine that comes out from the kitchen and accompany it with high quality spanish red or white wines. After dinner listen to a talk about the monarch butterflies and prepare yourself for a wondeful experience that will be awaiting for you next morning in the butterfly sanctuary.

Tuesday:
After breakfast transfer by car to Los Saucos. Ride for aproximately one hour and if it is the time of the monarchs get ready to do some walking before reaching the sanctuary. Spend some time experiencing the presence of these mysterious and wonderful butterflies in the fir tree forest. Get ready to walk back to your horses and continue the ride until lunch time. Today, lunch will also be a picnic on the trail cooked on a fireplace. After lunch continue riding for two hours through evergreen meadows and valleys, next to rivers that hold trout farms and beautiful ferns until you reach "Rancho la Compañia". This ranch is one of the oldest ranches of the area where fighting cocks are bred aswell as quarter horses. Guests can walk around its beautiful patios and gardens. Transfer back to the Finca by car where a refreshing margarita will be waiting for you in the swimming pool!

Wednesday:
After the car transfer to "Rancho la Compañia" be ready to visit a private zoo and ride by a couple of lakes that are part of the landscape of this ranch. Continue riding until you are on the top of "La Sierra de Juan Luis" from which you will be able to begin admiring fantastic views that lay three thousand feet below and until your eyes permit you to see! Here you will feel a change in the temperature, as you will be riding next to the ridge where the hot wind from the "Tierra Caliente" warms this part of the mountain. Bromelias and orchids decorating magnificent oak trees will become part of the views on this day. Lunch is a picnic on the trail; this time set next to "El Peñon", a huge rock formation standing alone and aside this chain of mountains. After lunch continue riding to another big flat rock formation, "El Coloso", from here riders are able to see the different places they have visited on this day's ride and part of what will be covered the following day without of course missing the incredible site of "Los Tres Reyes". Ride through "El Manzano", a small agricultural vallley and finish today´s ride in "Cerro Gordo". The car will take you back to the finca where dinner will be, as always, a four course meal based on a delicious mix of mexican and international recipes.

Thursday:
Upon arrival to "Cerro Gordo", your mount will be ready and eager to start today's ride. On this day, ride through magnificent "vistas" and rock formations. You will be riding thousands of feet above "Zacazonapan"a town located in the "Tierra Caliente". Experience breathtaking views from the edge of the mountain chain. Todays lunch is served in another magnificent spot called "El Divisadero" that means a place from where you can see. Feel like "hernan cortes" must have felt while riding through the mexican countryside and high mountains, never ceasing to be amazed by what this land offers to its visitors. After lunch riders will have the opportunity to see from another incredible spot all what they have covered by horse in the past days and the route that is awaiting them for the following days! It is an incredible opportunity to really see all what a horse and rider can do in one week of riding! A breath taking descent to where the horses will be left on this day will always be remembered by our guests including outstanding vistas of the lake and of "Atezcapan", the village that lies next to the ranch where the horses will overnight. Many peacocks will salute you on your way out by truck from "Rancho Calderones" to the lake shore, where a local boat will be waiting for the group to be transferred across the lake to the main deck in Valle de Bravo. This is a perfect moment for a picture and time to relax and enjoy the trip across the lake. From the boat you will be able to see "La Peña" another rock formation where the aztecs came to make human sacrifices and which now days is sorrounded by outstanding weekend homes.

Friday:
Before meeting your mount you will cross the lake by boat. This is also a good time to meditate or enjoy this peaceful and quiet boat trip. On the other side of the lake the truck will be waiting for you to make a five-minute transfer to where the horses slept.

Today you will ride along the lake shore until you reach the dam. After crossing by the side of the dam you will continue riding for a couple of hours in what is known as " Tierra Caliente". This land is for what Mexico generally is known: no forest, no shade, just a vast open valley, all planted and plowed like in the old days. The old Mexican style of working with no tractors or machinery, just pairs of oxen, horses or donkeys plowing the land, lead by a peasant and followed by the wife or daughter who manually plant one by one the corn seed, the strawberries, the potatoes, the flower plants. But just about the time you are wondering when a tree shade will appear, the horses begin reaching the woods. Fresh wind begins to blow whilst pine and oak trees shade the path and finally a group of rocks set for a fireplace let the riders know that lunch time has arrived! After lunch continue riding for three hours in a different type of forest, where, lots of Spanish moss hang from the trees. If the river is not too high and with fast water, experience the exciting moment of crossing a big river! Arrive to San Gabriel Ixtla, a small village where the horses will overnight. This time riders will come back by car to the finca through a different road.

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:
Breakfast will be served a little later, 8:00 a.m. transfer back to Mexico City International Airport is at 9:00a.m. estimated time of arrival to the airport is around 12:00 p.m.

The weight limit for this ride is 16 st/220 lb/100 kg, please enquire if you are an experienced rider exceeding this weight.

WHAT IS INCLUDED
All meals from the pick up on Day 2, accommodation, riding, guiding, water, sodas, beer and wine with meals and 3 alcoholic cocktails per person per day (tequila, margarita, rum, whiskey & port).

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED
Flights to and from Mexico City's Benito Juarez airport, hotel accommodation on 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, any other activities.

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.

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