Tap-Tap

Here is another story from Venezuela. On Tuesday of the trip we were supposed to take a "jungle excursion". I put quotes around jungle excursion because that is not at all what we did! We went into the Andes Mountains (I would argue the foothills surrounding), and they didn't have any Andes Mints, I was sad about that. Anywho...we all piled into the bus and took a good hour and a half drive into the mountains. It was HOT and sticky. How the bus made it into the mountains I will never know. There were a couple of times when we thought for sure that we would have to get out and push the bus up the mountain roads. The scenery was gorgeous once we left town and got up into the mountains. GORGEOUS! We get to this outdoor "strip" that has 5 or 6 "huts" that are all connected (I don't really know how to describe them). We drove passed it and stopped at the end of the road. Everyone got out and we went over and looked at the horses. Well, you can pay to ride the horses. So, that is exactly what the students did. For $1 (I think), you can ride a horse around the track that they have set up. I think that I very well may have been the only one not to ride (why would I do that to some poor horse!). It was so much fun to watch everyone riding on the horses. You could tell who had been on a horse before and who hadn't. There were lots of funny visuals but the funniest of all is where the title of this post comes from. Lisa is one of our students and she is hysterical. She is a happy girl who loves everyone! Some of you know who I'm talking about, others have no idea and I don't know how to describe her to you. So, Lisa gets on a horse and takes off. The track goes around a kind of hill (a small hill but you can't see the backside of the track because of it). We got busy watching other people come and go. About 5 minutes later I realize that Lisa hasn't come around the track yet, which is a long time. "Where is Lisa?" about that time, you see her rounding the back turn. Her horse is the slowest thing ever!!!! Seriously, like pokey, I think my 96 year old great grandmother would have rounded the track quicker, if she was still alive. Lisa is just as content as can be. She gets closer and we see her with the whip gently tapping it. The only way that I can describe it is it looked like she was tickling the horse with the whip. When she got closer, you could also see that she was talking to the horse, like having a conversation with it. It really was the funniest thing that I have ever seen. Now, the running joke with the girls who witnessed it with me and Lisa, when we see each other, we give each other a little "tap-tap" like Lisa did with the horse.

There are pictures floating around. As soon as I get my hands on one, I will gladly post it! It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen! This experience would be one for the "Why I love my job" category.

P.S. At first, Lisa thought we were making fun of her. It was funny because it was her. It would have been funny if it had been anyone!!!! I wish you all could have been there to see it. You also may be wondering what took her so long to get around the track. She said that her horse stopped for lunch along the backside. He wanted to graze before finishing the trip. Poor horse was hungry.