Beast Rider

In the last few years, i have had the privilege of riding several large beasts on various trips that I have gone on. As my pictures show, they have become progressively larger over time. Husband insists that the next animal I ride will be a whale, but somehow I doubt that. I'm no Keisha Castle-Hughes, which is good for a variety of reasons. The thought cracks me up, though. (I was going to try and use "bestiality" in the title of this, but it really grossed me out too much. I am curious how many hits CUSS will get as a result of this post though. People are freaks.)Ranch outside of Buenos Aires, Argentina (Jan. 2004) - In January 2004, Dr. P had a month off from her surgery residency and decided to visit her family in BA. I thought she might be lonely, so I generously offered to join her down there for a week. Husband and Stupid McFuck also tagged along. One day, we went to a traditional ranch outside of the city. We were able to ride horses, engage in traditional dances with gauchos, and watch gaucho games, plus eat lots of parilla, which is BBQ. This was only my second time on a horse, and the gauchos cruelly put me on the largest one in the herd. I thought my legs were going to rip out of their sockets as I straddled the damn thing. Still, glad that I did it.Niveau de la Mer, Israel (August 2005) - Niveau de la Mer is a spot in the Judean desert that is very far below sea level. Our tour bus stopped there to look at the sign on our way to Masada, the ancient desert fortress. Our tour guide told us that a Bedouin with a camel would be there, and that he would offer us a camel ride for free. The trick is that you have to pay him to let you off. Armed with this knowledge, I set about my short but successful first camel ride.Jaipur, India (March 2007) - Our tour group to India rode elephants up the mountainside to Amber Fort outside of Jaipur. This was not one of the more stressless large beast rides I took, as our elephant driver hustled the elephant up the hill so he could get our tip faster, then get down and get the next fare. Rachel was not enjoying it at all, and clung to the seat so hard that her arms hurt the next day. When we got to the top, the guy who helps people de-bark took our picture. At that point, the driver started yelling at us for more money and then as we were gettting off, the photo guy yelled at us for more money, so that was unpleasant. The elephant was very nice, though. She should have stomped them all.