2009 Al Andalus: Day 8 - Montoro to Virgen de la Cabeza

SATURDAY APRIL 4 2009 - DAY 8
Fase 1 - Montoro - Cardena - 28.47 km 250-780m
Fase 2 - Cardena - Lugar nuevo - 44.15 km 231-772m
Fase 3 - Lugar Nuevo - Andujar (Virgen de la Cabeza) - 8.22 km 237-619m
TOTAL: 80.84 km

I figured that with all the extra riders and rides going on, today's final day of Al Andalus would be just as hectic as yesterday, so I arranged to ride straight to the vet gates and then the finish with ride stewards Guillermo and Eugenia.

We left the hotel at 7:30 AM, driving straight to the starting line instead of the stables. It was a foggy day, damp, and cool - everybody but me was cold. I've really enjoyed the cooler weather this year, but this is not what the Andalucians had in mind for Springtime in Andalucia!

Trailers started arriving in the small parking lot at 8 AM. By 8:30, the 2* 80 km riders were sent on their way, followed by the 24 intrepid Al Andalus horses and riders, at 9 AM, on their last day of competition! The race for overall Binomios and Equipos winners were still up for grabs - it would likely come down to the final vet checks.

And the horses would have a strenuous workout: 530 meters (1750 feet) of climbing on the first 27-kilometer loop, 541 meters (1785 feet) on the second 43 kilometer loop, and 382 meters (1260 feet) on the last 7-kilometer loop.

The third start, the 1* 40 kilometer ride was sent down the trail at 9:30 AM. Eugenia had already gone on to the first vet check, and I was waiting for a ride from Guillermo, who started all the rides. Suddenly this loose horse comes trotting out of the parking lot with halter and lead rope attached.

Three of us I saw it happen, and ran after to help catch him. I thought one of them was the owner. The two men chased the horse around a house (the highway was down there somewhere - yikes!) and I went the other way, and fortunately the horse ran around the house and came trotting back towards me. "Whoa boy!" I said, and fortunately he slowed down, and he let me walk up to him and catch him.

I thought one of those guys would come take him, but they walked off - they were not the owners. I walked the horse toward the parking lot, expecting any moment for someone to come running out to get their horse.

Guillermo came up to me and asked in Spanish, "Whose horse is that!" I shrugged, "No se!" I walked him to the parking lot to hand him off to his owner - and nobody was there! Just a parking lot full of trucks and empty, closed-up horse vans. Apparently people were coming back to pick up their vans after the first vet gate - but there was no sign of where the horse came from! He was obviously an Al Andalus horse (they should put numbers on the horses' butts!), and he had a shaved patch on his neck where he'd been treated with an IV - obviously a horse retired from the competition and probably part of an Equipos team. Now what!?

Guillermo called somebody but they didn't have any answers. So, we picked a trailer at random, opened it up, and loaded the horse in. I made sure he had somebody's hay to eat, and we closed him up and left him. Poor horse! What was that about - who could forget a horse?? He couldn't have been in a trailer and escaped - but was he just tied to a trailer and got loose when the last horse left? Who would just leave a horse tied out there unattended for a few hours? We told the police who were still lingering there at the start, though they were probably leaving soon. Poor horse! I worried about him all day.


Guillermo drove us on to the first vet gate, the fog getting thicker as we drove ever upward along the highway. It was such a climb, my ears popped. The horses would be working today!

Up top, we drove out of the fog; the sun was out and it was a beautiful morning, dew on the grass and tree leaves which left the meadows and oak forests glistening. The vet gate was beside the visitor center of the Parque Natural Sierra de Cardena y Montoro. It's a park of typically Mediterranean landscape, of forests, woodlands, and pasture with a wealth of pine trees, shrubs and bushes. It lies in the heart of the Sierra Morena mountains, and is a refuge to the wolf and the critically endangered Iberian Lynx.

Riders from the 1* and 2* events were first to arrive at the vet gate; the first Al Andalus riders were a group of Equipos riders led by Santiago Perez on Marlboro Yac, Aurelie Le Gall on Lazou, and Emma Rosell on Al-Jatib. Carlos Escavias on Yaman V led the Binomios riders. It is interesting to note that every single horse pulsed down in less than 2 1/2 minutes. Three were eliminated on lameness, and one horse "did not arrive" at the vet gate.

Horses got a 30 minute rest, snacking on hay and grain and grass in the crew area, and riders got the best sandwiches we'd had at Al Andalus! They were made fresh by a crew on the steps of the visitor center.

Then I hitched a ride with Antonio Castano to the next vet gate. It was only 43 kilometers by horseback through the park, but we drove about double that, having to backtrack past our starting point, and make our way around, through the Andujar valley, and back up into the mountains. It was smoky/smoggy much of the way, probably from controlled burns in olive orchards.

The vet gate was a lovely meadow of spring yellow flowers beside a river and below the Virgen de la Cabeza, high on a cliff in the distance - the finish. What do the Andalucians do in a place like this? (Besides siesta, which I was really leaning towards) - picnic! Many of them had a spread of food out and were enjoying the afternoon eating and waiting for their riders. But man was that meadow inviting enough for me to lay in the grass and pass out. So much so that i didn't dare even sit down!

Another Al Andalus celebrity present today was Jose Leon, winner of the Binomios in 2007 (and Steph's Equipos partner in 2008), minus his equine partner Buleria. She'd injured an ankle before the ride, and though she was fine, she wasn't able to compete this year.

Another rider watching from the sidelines today was Argentinian Miguel Pavlovsky. His mount Oriflamme Larzac was lame at the finish yesterday. He had enjoyed his ride in Al Andalus, and was sorry he missed today's scenic stage. "It's very hard for one horse to do all the days!" he observed. Joelle Sauvage and Leonard Liesens were still riding Joelle's other two horses.

Florencio Augustin and Artesana led the Binomios riders into Vet Gate 2. Twenty-two minutes behind him came overall Binomios leader Eduardo Sanchez and the ever-steady Hermes, followed a minute later by overall second place Otto Velez, and his ever-steady Pal Partenon.

Coming into today's final race, the team of Emma Rosell and Maria Capdevila still had a chance to catch the overall team leaders Inigo Del Solar and Teresa Lozano, if they made up 1 hour and 7 minutes. But Inigo and his horse Zafia were in third place at this vet gate, just 8 minutes behind Emma and Al-Jatib. And they had only 7 kilometers left on the third fase to the finish: not enough distance to make up the time. The overall Equipos winner would be determined by the soundness of the horses at the finish.

Aurelie Le Gall led the Al Andalus riders out onto Fase 3 at a swift canter, followed 2 minutes later by Emma Rosell. Antonio and I left the sunny meadow and drove to the finish - another many slow kilometers of winding mountain roads, up to the top, where the Virgen de la Cabeza sat on a cliff overlooking the valley below and the Meta on the flat behind it.

Construction of this church began in 1287 AD, as a small chapel that the Andujar people had built in the middle of the Sierra Morena. It reached its peak in the 16th century when it became a real sanctuary.

We had already missed the first two riders to come under the Meta line - Aurelie Le Gall finished first, two minutes ahead of Emma Rosell - they averaged 23 and 22 km/h over the final 7 kilometers, a 382 meter (1260 feet) climb! Arriving 16 minutes later was Inigo Del Solar and Zafia - enough time to keep his Equipos team in overall first place if Zafia passed the vet check.

A crowd followed him to the finish line... applause and cheers broke out before the horse even finished trotting out to the end of the lane - he was sound! The vet did his final check and gave the nod - Inigo and Teresa had won the Equipos of Al Andalus 2009! Following were big laughs and hugs and a big barrel of ice water poured over Inigo and Teresa! Emma Rosell and Maria Capdevila had finished second overall.

Florencio Augustin was the first Binomios rider to arrive followed by Christine Hubin; finishing 3rd an hour and ten minutes behind Aurelie, were Otto Velez on Pal Partenon, cantering across the line with a big grin on his face, followed a few seconds later by Eduardo Sanchez and Hermes, carrying a Spanish flag to the cheers of a crowd who had gathered to watch them come in. Eduardo and Otto had ridden together the last 7 kilometers, carefully, at 10.6 km/h.

The contingent of crew and fans and onlookers followed them in a crowd to the finish line. Both horses took only 4 minutes to pulse down. Otto's son Andres trotted out Pal Partenon - big cheers for his completion! Now the overall winner of Binomios hung on the trot-out of 16-year-old Hermes. Not a word was spoken as the vet did his preliminary exam, and there were plenty of held breaths as he trotted out. The applause started as he got to the end of the lane - Hermes was sound! When the vets gave the OK the cheers and whistles erupted - Hermes and Eduardo Sanchez - Binomios winners of 2009 Al Andalus!

In fact there were plenty of reasons to celebrate today's finale: 3 Equipos (teams) had finished all 8 days; 3rd place overall was Santiago Perez Dorao who rode two horses, Marlboro Yac and Trebol. And there were 5 Binomios (1 horse, 1 rider) riders that finished all 8 days on their horses! Joelle Suavage and Mandchour du Barthas - with their steady pace every day - finished overall 3rd, Christine Hubin was 4th on Leo de la Grilletiere, and Miguel Conradi Arias finished 5th on Halamin. Four more riders finished 7 of the days, including the big boy on the little stallion - Carlos Escavias on Yaman V, and Leonard Liesens on his borrowed Spanish horse, CC Blanco. It was a testament to the hardiness of the horses, the trails of the Al Andalus organizing committee, and the hard and dedicated work of the crews - the hardest workers of them all.

Groups of Al Andalus riders, crews, and friends partied at the finish one last time this year, enjoying the Kaliber beer and Cruzcampo sin (without) alcohol beer, posing for photos, and cheering the finishers as they came across the line and vetted through.

The day's awards were given out from the Al Andalus stage that was parked at the foot of the entrance to the Virgen de la Cabeza, in a little town square by a busy outdoor cafe. It drew quite a crowd, of locals and tourists - Al Andalus organizers tossed out Tshirts and other prizes; Andalucia tourism had a booth with posters and travel information as they did almost every day for the provinces we travelled through.

Jose Manuel Soto had lost his voice (darn! No singing tonight!) and he handed the microphone over to Javier Gutierrez to announce the day's finishers and hand out the giant bottles of olive oil. The overall prizes would be given tonight at the awards dinner.

And what a grand awards party/dinner it was. It didn't start until around 9 PM - the visiting, the beginning of the goodbyes - and it wasn't till around 10 PM or later that the food started coming. Really, it was something like a 15-course meal. I lost count after the sixth dish and third glass of Andalucian wine. Or maybe it was the other way around. The main course arrived at almost 1 AM. The awards started around 12:30 AM, but by then I couldn't concentrate on Spanish anymore so I missed much of the speeches. I just clapped and cheered.

There were many sponsors to thank, many officials to recognize, many awards to hand out. Perhaps none happier or prouder was Eduardo Sanchez - father of rider Eduardo: of his son, his family and most of all Hermes the amazing 16-year-old horse who looked like he could go down the trail another 8 days.

Despite the challenging economic times this year - for organizers putting the ride on, and for riders and crews coming here - IV Raid Kaliber Tierras de al-Andalus was a resounding success. The riders and crews come for the same reason Jose Manuel Soto and Antonio Castano go to the trouble of putting it on: it is an extraordinary multi-day horse adventure across Andalucia, equal parts fun and exhaustion, and demanding for humans and horses; it is a unique challenge of trying your horsemanship skills, a chance to teach and to learn from others, "you learn things to do, and things not to do!" said one rider. It's a rich experience of Andalucian culture and hospitality, extraordinary scenery and lessons in history, all in a rich setting of esprit de corps with riders from all around Europe (and one from Argentina this year!).

Plans are already being made for the V Raid Kaliber Tierras de al-Andalus... and keep an eye out for the new SpanAmericano team : )

Merri

P.S. Another happy conclusion: A girl came up to me as the awards/dinner was dispersing in the wee hours of the morning: it was the girl who owned the loose horse I caught. I didn't get her name, nor did I ask where he had been for him to get loose, but she thanked me graciously and I was relieved to hear the horse was eventually picked up, and he was fine!

2009 Al Andalus: Day 7 - Cordoba to Montoro

FRIDAY APRIL 3 2009 - DAY 7

Fase 1 - Cordoba - VILLAFRANCA CORDOBA - 32.74 km
Fase 2 - Villafranca Cordoba - Montoro - 33.09 km
TOTAL: 65.84 km

Things were a bit more tense, a bit more... crazy today, what with the 37 horses riding in Al-Andalus, and the dozen or so horses in the 2* national competition, and especially with everybody having to collect at the stables in the middle of the crowded old city of Cordoba, and drive in a caravan to the start a half hour out of town.

I almost got left behind at the hotel (I think Javier and Alberto almost forgot me!), and we got a late start and had to race through traffic to get to the head of the miles-long caravan of horse trailers. My camera in my backpack tumbled once to the car floor, my computer almost did, I gripped the strap of my seatbelt tightly strapped around me.

Things calmed down momentarily once we got to the starting line. The 2* riders were warming up their horses, including Jose Antonio on Campanera, and the Al Andalus riders - who were to start a half hour later - were saddling up.

Then continued a day which I can only describe as another One of Those Days.

Before the horses started on the trail, we raced off ahead of them in the car, bouncing roughly over the uneven trail, stopping once to put out a ribbon to emphasize a turn, then almost turning to drive straight up a hill before deciding cleverly to take the road. We sped along to a dirt road that led up into the mountains, driving up a long steady climb for the horses, then after we passed through a gate, suddenly we slowed to a crawl.

Javier and Alberto were deep in conversation, maybe forgetting we were leading a horse race, because suddenly two horses come up behind us and almost ran into the back of the car. We raced on again then again slowed down. It was foggy but scenic - there were glimpses of lakes down there - but we didn't stop anywhere for photos.

This driving pattern continued - speeding then poking along - and at the next scenic spot I asked if we could stop for photos. It was a lovely spot in an open area high in an oak forest. The light was nice, and I caught about a dozen horses going by. We seemed to be in a hurry though, so we didn't linger there.

We bumped along this rough, narrow old logging road, winding down off the mountain, coming to a steep drop off of this mountain trail which Alberto had to jump out to guide Javier down after studying it for a minute. A couple of horses passes us as we eased down it.

That put us onto a wider real dirt road alongside a lake, over a long bridge over the lake, past an assistance point, then down a paved road a few kilometers until we turned onto what must have been a private dirt road with restricted access. I think only a few Al Andalus cars were allowed on it with the horses.

And from here, things turned chaotic. We finally caught up to a group of about a dozen riders, but there were 3 other cars in front of us, and Ines on her motorbike, and a jeep full of people, and all of a sudden the vehicle race became the focus and excitement of the day, lots of yelling and honking and gesturing, radio calls, phone calls, more honking, trying to overtake each other, horses almost getting bumped, riders yelling at us, what was going on!?

In the midst of this we passed one of the most beautiful places of the entire ride, a serene wide green meadow angling down to a small lake in back, just disappearing into fog, the angle of light just right... but with the group of horses cantering in front of and around us and this mysterious bedlam with the cars along this part of the road - no chance to stop here.

We finally passed out a gate onto a bigger dirt road, and whatever that chaos was all about ended, and we caught up with the dozen horses again, and we followed behind them the rest of the way to the vet gate at 32 kilometers at the village of Villafranca de Cordoba. I had lots of shots of horse butts today.

We'd arrived at the vet gate somewhere near the middle of the pack. Though the weather was pleasantly cool and overcast, the trail through the mountains, with a total increase of 251 meters (858 feet) in climbing, had probably affected the eliminations at lunch today: 8 horses were pulled, 3 of them for metabolics.

After a number of horses had already left on Fase 2, we left the vet gate, heading down the paved road on which the horses were travelling. The horses turned off onto a trail; we turned off onto a dirt road which became... a parking lot where the road ended.

Or did it? It was definitely a parking lot. Directly ahead of us was a steep 45* hill 300 meters upward, into the face of which was roughly gouged a... not road, but more like a log slide, where logged trees are slid down from the top of the hill. Ooops, wrong way, I thought; but Javier cast his eyes forward and upward. I'm thinking no way, we took a wrong turn - and up we went! My eyes were big as dinner plates in the back seat.

We hardly made it up about 100 meters with the wheels slipping - and finally they spun to a stop. Javier gunned the engine, and the wheels kept spinning, and the car started to slowly slip sideways.

I didn't think, I just leaped out of the car. Just call me chicken! Another car or two, and a buggy or two, were paused at the bottom watching us. Everybody was debating how the cars would get up this. This chicken's obvious choice was to back down and find another way!

But as I mentioned before, Andalucians do not seem to have a reverse gear, it is all forward forward, and let's take on the challenge! The video guy riding on the 4-wheeler jumped off while the smiling fearless 4-wheeler man gunned his quad up the steep hill to where we were; and when you made it that far, you had an even steeper 200 meters of hill to go. Slipping and sliding, wheels spinning, dirt and rocks shooting up in the air from the wheels, he somehow made it up. Obviously now, everybody had to come up because it was a one-way hill!

Then Alexis tried it in his buggy, the passengers having disembarked. He made it to just above Javier's car, and lost his impetus, and his wheels started to spin. He was not going to make it - he'd never get his momentum up because the buggy was too light. He started letting it roll backwards and backed onto a little side path - and there the buggy started listing towards the downhill, and I could watch no more! I turned my back and instead looked for horses on the trail in the forest. These guys are fearless I tell you!

I much preferred my own two feet, so I turned uphill and hiked up the mountain. I hadn't had a good workout in a while anyway. I was too chicken to even watch everybody try it, so once up top, I only peeked over to monitor their progress now and then (the camera man, and then Alberto hiked up too), enjoyed the view, looked out for horses, and noticed some cars gathered on the next hill over, where the horses trotted past - right off a paved road - there was another easier way! Oh, these crazy Andalucian adventurers.

Javier tried again - he must have not had the car in low low gear the first time, and while I was afraid to watch the whole thing, somehow the car made it up top. Slowly vehicles appeared on top, another buggy, another car... they were up there a good thirty minutes waiting, while I just walked on to where the horses were coming up a very steep trail, huffing and puffing hard. Some riders were on foot leading their horses and panting just as hard. It was a warm climb for them, no breeze reaching the folds of these canyons or the thick forest they emerged from.

Eventually the adventurous drivers came along, and Javier picked me up, and we continued on down the real logging road. We putted along, then suddenly we'd race along again. I had no idea where we were, where the horses were - there were none in sight, how much further we had to go till the finish. We started along a horse trail, but then turned back around and instead raced along the little highway till we got to an Assistance point. Some lady came to the car window a bit frantic saying something to Javier and Alberto about a rider getting lost somewhere. It was in Spanish, and when people speak very fast I can't follow much of it. (My most-used Spanish word was "despacio" - "slowly!")


Jose Antonio was at this assistance point; Campanera had been pulled at lunch for lameness. He said later, "It's not my year!" He'd gone to a ride in Portugal and finished but didn't complete because the horse's heartrate didn't come down; he'd hurt his leg in a ride at El Rocio; then he'd lost part of a finger which had prevented him from training Campanera for this year's Al Andalus; he had wanted to ride in the Spanish championships in May but that wasn't going to happen either. He does have other horses that he rides in other events, but Campanera is his only endurance horse and, he said with a big smile, "Campanera is my love."


We watched a couple of horses come through and then we raced along the road again, and caught up with a few horses. We followed them along a very rocky and rough dirt track, into a terraced olive orchard, and then the horses slipped down onto a lower road, and suddenly we couldn't get there - even Javier wouldn't try the leap over the little cliff. I pointed out a road behind us, so he turned and drove between the trees to get onto it, and as we bumped along this 'road' on this terrace layer on the hillside, it became clear that nobody had actually driven on this 'road' in maybe a hundred years, and it wasn't made for cars, and finally it narrowed so much that the car wouldn't fit. Oh no!

Well, you already know that these Andalucians don't turn around (and we really couldn't have backed out anyway), so there was only one thing for Javier to do: keep going! And there was only one thing for me, the Chicken, to do: leap out!

As the driver's side (and my side!) wheels started to slip off the edge of the terrace, Alberto jumped out of the car into the bank, where had to scramble up. As if electrocuted, I bolted up off the listing seat, forced the opposite door open, shoved myself out and shot up the bank. And I walked away; I was afraid to watch. A bit later Javier had made it through, (hooray!) so we climbed back in and on we bumped, heading for the village of Montoro and the finish.

The 'road' improved to a real dirt road, but I still don't think a regular car had driven it in a hundred years, because we had some very narrow corridors to squeeeeeeeze through, and because some of the locals were so wide-eyed as if they'd never seen a car come this way before! Alberto and Javier had to both fold the outside mirrors in, and we all had to suck in our breaths as Javier inched along, both their heads out the windows to see if we could leave the paint on the car.

We managed to squeeze unscathed onto the real streets of Montoro, a nice old white city perched on the side of a hill over the Guadalquivir river. Declared a National Historic and Artistic Interest Site in 1969, it was called Epora in Roman times, and later became an important Moorish fortress before finally coming under the rule of Fernando III in 1240 AD. It still houses the church of San Bartolomé and a bridge over the Guadalquivir from the 15th century.

I caught some of the horses approaching the Meta with, in the background, the picturesque white city hanging over the river.

Paulette Maldera finished first in Equipos, followed by Jean Pierre Lerisset then Maria Capdevila. Inigo Del Solar's 5th place finish today still left him and Teresa in first place overall, with Maria and Emma's in second place behind them now by only 1 hour and 7 minutes. The girls had a chance tomorrow to capture first place if anything happened to Inigo and Zafia... or they had a chance to fall out of second place if anything happened to Emma and Al-Jatib!

Carlos Escavias and Yaman V again won Bionomios, by 6 minutes over Eduardo Sanchez and Hermes, with Otto Velez third. This left Eduardo and Hermes in the lead overall of the Binomios by 1 hour 30 minutes; if he passed today's vet check (he did), and just completed tomorrow's ride at a steady pace, he would be the overall Binomios winner. But... another 77 kilometers and 530 meters, or 1750 feet of climbing wasn't just a stroll in the park.

If Hermes faltered, it would likely be Otto Velez and Pal Partenon sneaking up from second overall to take first place. You might call Otto one of the Al Andalus 'Old-Timers.' He's ridden in every edition. He rode the same horse, Pal Partenon, last year in Binomios, finishing 6th. Otto feels that Tierras de Al-Andalus is "the best endurance event in the world." Not only for the challenge of the long distance they cover, but for the challenge of getting a horse through the entire ride. He enjoys the fellowship of the riders, which is like one big family. He believes that "to finish is to win", especially in this particular ride. He also had a great time competing with his son this year, as evidenced by the laughing racing finish they had on day 2 (Father won). Otto's 8-year-old gelding Pal Partenon is a homebred Arabian, and this horse just looked terrific every day - eager, calm, forward moving - enjoying this ride as much as his rider.

At the finish in the meadow below Montoro, the waiters were busy serving another big meal under the big tent (jamon, tapas, a big plate of stew, and ice cream). Even though all the riders had finished by now, it would still be a few more hours before I'd get a ride home to the hotel (across the river and high on the hill) from any officials, so... I decided to walk, and hitch a ride with whomever might pick me up. Maybe I'd even get to the hotel in time to do some work!

I geared up for a long hike, but not a hundred yards out of the stable area, a car with an Assistance number on it passed me. I waved after it at the same time the driver turned for a double take. It was Maximillian Portes of Maximilianojabugo.com, who was one of the sponsors of Al Andalus, with his exquisite Iberican ham!

He stopped, and I asked, "Vas a hotel?" "Si!" I climbed in, and they took me with them to our hotel. (I discovered that it would have taken a long time it I'd walked the whole way!) Maxi and his riding partner Ulla Huschke had retired from the competition after Day 6. Ulla's mare had hurt her tendon on Day 5 ("She wanted to go faster than I wanted her to go over rough ground!"), and Maxi's warmblood had vetted out on metabolics on Day 6. With yesterday's rest day he might have been able to ride today, but, seeing as the horse really wasn't an endurance horse anyway - Maxi had wanted to participate in the ride - he'd done well, but "he's had enough".

Now comfortably ensconced at the nice Mirador hotel - with another great view, overlooking the Guadalquivir river, the village on the hill, and the stable area - I had time for a shower, a cappuchino downstairs (while working!), and a few pictures and a talk with Jose Manuel Soto.

Jose said today's eliminations were "the worst ever! We lost 8 horses to lameness at the lunch vet gate, and 6 more at the finish. Some people go too fast!" He considered that perhaps since the trail was so flat, people were tempted to ride too fast. Mountains earlier in the ride would have slowed them down.

The ride meeting was at "8 PM" in the lobby downstairs. As usual, it was more of a great opportunity to visit with everybody rather than an opportunity to gather information!

I saw Heike; her horse Lenny was now at the clinic in Cordoba, and was a little better. The vets thought he had a fracture, but Heike didn't think so - he still acts as if he's tied up, though his bloodwork still doesn't indicate that. She's been in touch with her vets in Germany, who have been talking to these vets; she's going to transport him to Germany on Sunday, and will tranquilize him or give him pain-killers, enough to get him home.

Tonight's ride meeting was noisy as ever... There were 3 rides tomorrow, a 1* and a 2* national rides, and the final day of Al Andalus; everybody would leave at 7:30 AM from the stables to the start, 10 km away. The rides would have staggered starts. And the final day would be a tough one: 77 kilometers, and a total gain in altitude of 543 meters (1800 feet), the last 7 kilometers having a 382 meter (1260 feet) climb to the foot of the Santuario de la Virgen de la Cabeza on a cliff - a dramatic ending to the final day of 2009 Tierras de Al-Andalus.

2009 Al Andalus: Descanso En Cordoba!

Thursday April 2 2009

Perhaps one of the best words you can learn in Spanish (besides Siesta), is Descanso - Rest. As in DESCANSO IN CORDOBA!!

After 6 straight days and 377 kilometers, Tierras de Al-Andalus was taking a day off, in the city of Cordoba. Really, nobody was going to 'rest' much, because there were still horses to take care of, and there was an old city waiting to be discovered. But just to be able to really open the suitcase and spread out for a whole day and a half, sleep in a bit, and just sit and breathe for a few minutes was, if nothing else, a mental break.

I slept in till some ungodly hour like 9 AM, then I got up and followed somebody's dirt tracks down the elegant marble steps to breakfast where I joined the Belgians (living in Spain), Joelle, Bernard and Melanie.

Joelle is quite amazed at the trails the organization found. Some people think it's rocky, but it's not rocky compared to where Joelle comes from. "Alicante (Spain) is rocky, Florac is rocky, and France where I lived and had a riding school is rocky. I'm used to stones - all my horses have padded, or siliconed feet, so we were prepared." Joelle observed there are less paved roads on this ride than in other European rides. She was also amazed at how well the ride has gone. "Of course there will be problems" in a ride like this, she said, though the only major things we could think of were the two times when there wasn't enough water provided for the horses, at a vet gate and a finish line.

After breakfast I, by golly, was not going to work; I was going to take advantage of this Descanso Day, and do some exploring. I grabbed my camera and walked across the Roman bridge into the old city.

The Romans built "Corduba" in 169 BC because of its strategic importance on the Gaudalquivir River. It became a main shipping port for transporting local olive oil and wine back to Rome.

The Moors conquered Cordoba in 711 or 716 AD and began building the Great Mosque, or "Mezquita," in 785 AD, over the ruins of the Romans' Basilica of San Vicente. It was inspired by the Mosque of Damascus, but still retained a strong Hispano-Roman influence, seen in the materials used, the direction in which the nave was set, and the superposed arches and alternation of red brick and beige stone in the bonding of the arches, modeled after the Episcopal palace. It eventually became one of the largest mosques in all of Islam. The Moors also built the Calahorra Fort that guards the Roman Bridge across the Guadalquivir from the Mezquita. Cordoba became one of the largest cities in the world in the 10th century.

The Christians under King Ferdinand III reconquered Cordoba in 1236, and instead of tearing down the beautiful Mosque, they converted it into a cathedral, adapting and adding to some of the architecture that was already there. The Christians also built the Alcazar (Fortress) de los Reyes Cristianos in the 14th century, incorporating parts of the Moorish Alcazar that was already there.

After wandering around the relatively quiet streets a while, I found my way to the stables, where people were busy with their horses: shoeing - at least three shoers were busy on horses, hosing legs, icing feet, brushing, wrapping legs, grazing on the sparse grass, walking horses, lunging horses, trotting out horses to check soundness, and turnouts.

The German girls were standing outside with Heike Blumel's horse "Lenny" - he was uncomfortable and could barely move. They had been waiting on the vets to show up, whose "In 5 minutes" was Al Andalus time, more like a half hour or more. Lenny looked uncomfortable, but his eyes weren't glazed over, so I wasn't too worried about him.

When the vets finally arrived, they examined him, and tried to figure out what it was. Visually, it looked like a tie-up, but that didn't fit. The blood they took confirmed it wasn't a tie-up. Heike had ridden him 5 straight days at a very conservative and sensible pace between 11.5 and 12.5 km/h. Lenny vetted out lame at the finish of Day 5, and so had the day off yesterday. Overnight he'd pooped and peed normally, ate up his food and drank a whole bucket of water overnight. Today he was stocked up, and swollen in one of his stifles.

By the time they decided to put Lenny on an IV, it took 6 people to move him - practically lifting him - the 20 yards to and then into his stall because he just couldn't move his hind end and barely his front. They had to let him rest halfway because his hind end about collapsed. Poor Heike was in tears by the time they got him in his stall... last I saw they were preparing an IV for him. It was the beginning of a long day... and more... for her.

I ran into Fernando Uriarte, visiting from northern Spain (he gave Steph a horse to ride last year in Al Andalus), and with him, we picked up Binomios rider David Gacino and his crew Alberto and walked into the old town, heading for the Alcazar. The participants in Al Andalus were given a free pass into the Alcazar today.

After we walked around the fortress and gardens, and admired some of the old mosaics that had once been in the center of the old city - now hanging on the walls of a museum inside, the boys then went back to the stables, and Fernando and I continued wandering around the city.

We stopped for tapas in a bar where I had yet another version of salmorejo and more of the Iberican jamon that was so delicious. Leaving the bar we walked across the street into the Cathedral plaza, and ran into Alexis and Ines and Jose Manuel Soto. We were going to go into the Cathedral, and bought tickets, but then changed our minds and decided to walk to the old Jewish quarter for more tapas.

Mariki, mother and crew of rider Claudia Lorenzo, joined us - Claudia has dropped out of the competition because her mare vetted out lame on Day 3, and had developed a problem that didn't allow her to continue any more. It was Claudia's first time at Al Andalus and they enjoyed the 3 days she did ride, so Mariki hopes they can return next year with a more conditioned horse.

Mariki and I continued walking and talking together - all of it conducted in Spanish, and finally Alexis interrupted - "Merri! Your Spanish has greatly improved!" It really had! It did take a lot of effort, and at the end of some days I was just exhausted from it, but it made things a lot more fun. You miss so much when you don't understand another language (though boy, I still have a long way to go).

We wandered the narrow labyrinthine streets through the medieval quarter in "La Juderia" (The Jewry), once the home of the Jewish community. We stumbled upon a lovely plaza where we sat outside and had the typical Andalucian lunch: tapas, wine, and more people. Three more friends of Jose joined us, then another 3 friends showed up, then I saw Emilio the photographer across the square and I waved him over. We kept pulling more chairs around our two tables till we had so many chairs we had to get up to reach the tapas on the tables.

Fernando and I concocted next year's "Spanamericano Team" for Al-Andalus, Fernando and me riding as an Equipos team on Arenal (Steph's mount last year) and another of his horses, "and Steph as photographer!"

And speaking of trying to concentrate hard on understanding Spanish - at times here at lunch there were 8 Spanish conversations going on simultaneously, and 8 cell phones ringing at various times, so I could no longer understand anything. (Or maybe it was the white wine.)

After we'd consumed enough food and drink and company, Mariki, Fernando, Alexis, Ines and I strolled back to the Cathedral to use our tickets. We wandered the dark corridors and arches of the Basilica-Mosque-Cathedral with its Islamic inscriptions and Christian adornments and combined architecture.

When we left, I had to split off to go do SOME work at the hotel, as it was about 4:00, and the vetting in was at 5 - which i was going to skip this time - and the Al Andalus meeting/party was at "8PM" in the Alcazar.

I stated this in Spanish, and Ines started laughing and hugged me - "Oh my god Merri, you are speaking spanish!" (Alexis corrected one verb tense - dang those tenses!) OK now I am really motivated to learn more for next year!

I did get a small amount of work done, then got ready for the "8 PM" meeting back in the old city, which was, I figured, a 10-minute walk across the bridge. Silly me, I was ready and in the lobby at a quarter to 8, thinking people would be heading over, (I was thinking in American time), and sure - there were people down there, but nobody dressed to go to a party/meeting. Some were on the internet, some were visiting, and most were in their stable clothes.

I faded back upstairs and then came down at a more reasonable time, after 8 PM, and caught Gabriel and Jose Maria (?) starting to walk over to the meeting. I went with them, and others we caught on the way; and we waited outside the Alcazar talking with everybody till after 9 PM.


Heike Blumel was there after spending most of the day with her horse Lenny; he was a little better, but still didn't want to move. They didn't know if they would be able to transport him tomorrow or not, so their plans were on hold for tomorrow - either drive to tomorrow's finish at Montoro, or to a vet clinic, or stay here, if he still could not load onto a trailer. He was still peeing OK, his blood work wasn't too off, and it still didn't indicate he was tied up; but they still weren't sure what it was. Lenny still had a lot of fluid everywhere that was causing pain in his legs; one of the vets thought it was muscle pain; one thought it might be a fracture in his stifle. They'd given him 9 liters of fluid and some pain killers and anti-inflammatories, and would check on his condition again tonight.

Leonard and Carol were there, looking like two different people because I'd only seen them the last 7 days in their riding and crewing clothes and vests. Leo said "This is my last clean shirt left!" They had a severe weight limit on their Ryan air flight to Alicante so he couldn't bring much except what to ride in.

Finally we were let into the Alcazar around 9 PM, and we had the meeting, once again, in a room with too few chairs. Fernando and I grabbed seats close to the front. It was the usual ride meeting: chaotic, loud, most of it in Spanish, and the rest you couldn't hear. This time they did use a microphone (for the first time!) and tried to interpret most things to French and English; Juan Landa spoke in Spanish and French, Alexis in English. But the microphone didn't really help after all... people just talked louder to drown it out. Even Fernando shook his head and said "Incray-ible!"

The ride meetings were always on the verge of mayhem... but you just adapt. The Germans always cornered Javier afterwards to find out the details of the start and the crewing in his labored English; I always asked him when the start was and when we'd leave the hotel in the morning.

In addition to the 65 kilometer Al Andalus ride tomorrow, there would be a 120 km 2** ride, with international FEI rules that would start a half hour before Al Andalus. We'd all leave by caravan from the stables to the starting line, about a half hour drive out of town.

A speech was given by the mayor, or second mayor of the town (it was too noisy for me to concentrate on Spanish!); then the awards were exuberantly given out, big, bottles of Extra Virgin Aceite de Oliva.

Now here's an example of how the strategy of just riding steadily every day, and to your own horse's ability, pans out: moving up to second place overall now in Equipos was the team of Emma Rosell on Al-Jatib and Maria Capdevila on Pinyo. Taking turns riding every other day, Emma and Maria had placed 2nd (17.6 km/h), 4th (15.9 km/h), 5th (15.8 km/h),11th (16.7 km/h), and 9th (15.6 km/h).

I talked to Maria's mom Nuria, who was their crew and biggest fan. Like many other people here, Al Andalus was a dream of theirs. Nuria's 14-year-old daughter Maria had wanted to ride in the first edition of Al Andalus in 2006, but at 11 years old, she was too young. She'd started riding dressage when she was 3, but dressage is a lot more expensive than endurance (which isn't cheap either), so Nuria asked her, "You want to try endurance?" (Hoping she'd say yes.). Maria did, and they eventually set their sights on Al Andalus. They had to get special permission from the Catalon and Spanish federations so Maria could ride here for the first time when she was 12. It was also Emma's third year to ride Al Andalus. It was their horses' debut in Al Andalus; Emma rides a gorgeous 10-year-old stallion, who is "getting stronger every day." He gets nervous at the starts, but he settles down once he gets going. He carries himself beautifully, collected and smooth.

And why do they keep coming back? Nuria loves the people, the countryside, the food, the experience. After all the fun I've seen Maria having with the other young riders, it's obvious the friendships are as fun for her as is the riding.

After the meeting we adjourned outside to a courtyard of the fortress, and everybody appeared to be like me: STARVED. Nobody is ever sure if it will be a sit-down meal or tapas... or just beer and wine. It seemed tonight we'd just have plentiful drinks.

Finally the waiters started coming, and they put one plate down on each table. Fingers SWARMED over the food (yes, mine were in there) and it disappeared immediately. I don't even know what it was, it went straight down the hatch.

After a few more minutes, one more plate came and the food was attacked as if by jungle ants in the jungle - there one second, gone the next. Really, these were some hungry endurance people (me included). I was so starved I migrated to another table to try to cadge more food (like other people) - no, it was gone!

Finally the tapas began to come with more regularly and more variety - and the desperation wore off, and people (like me) stopped desperately grabbing for food and slowed down to enjoy the drinks and food and conversations without interruptions. I was getting pretty good at talking with people - though my Spanish and powers of concentration had faded by this point in the night... or maybe it was the beer.

There were rumors of Jose Manuel Soto singing somewhere "at 9 PM" - to those with a private invitation shown to me by Fernando - but we'd seen Jose here as late as 10 PM. I could have tried to sneak in, but I didn't know where it was, didn't know how long it would last (or when it would start), I was exhausted (so much for the "descanso in Cordoba"), and there's always the ordeal of having to wait around for a ride back at whatever time of the morning, or trying to find a taxi at 3, 4, 5, or 6 in the morning... so I walked back to the hotel with some friends, and fell into bed around 12:30, ready for the last two days of Al-Andalus.

2009 Al Andalus: Day 6 - Ecija to Cordoba

WEDNESDAY APRIL 1 2009 - DAY 6
Fase 1 - Ecija - Las Pinedas - 26.09 km
Fase 2 - Las Pinedas - Cordoba - 31.67 km
TOTAL: 57.76 km

All day I kept thinking, one more day, then a rest day! I'm sure I wasn't the only one thinking that, because there were more than a few bleary eyes at the breakfast tables this morning.

It was a controlled start again, around 11 AM, the 29 horses escorted out of the city on paved streets by Javier and Alberto's car (with whom I was riding) and the police. It was somewhat darkly overcast this morning, and it had rained the last few nights. The officials were concerned about the mud on course, so nobody would be driving over it but the fearless man driving the four-wheeler with his passenger, Abraham the video camera man, and two jeeps with Jose Manuel Soto at the wheel of one. All of the 'outdoor' passengers were bundled up in rain gear - against the possible rain, and against the definite mud. Ines would ride her motorbike, but only on the first Fase. "The second Fase - no way!" Later I'd see why she said that!

The Organization set up the first Assistance point at 11 kilometers beside an olive orchard - no crews allowed because the road was too narrow - with a water truck. We stopped there, and as I took photos, Alberto, Javier, Antonio (driving Paula da Silva around) and the truck driver filled water buckets for the horses, hosed the horses down as they paused, handed pitchers of water to the riders to pour on horses, handed the riders bottled water to drink. Two veterinarians were also there to keep an eye on the horses.

The mud caked up on the bottoms of my sandals just from standing at the edge of a field - I wondered how it must be for the horses, with the mud sticking to their shoes.

Truly, my Spanish had improved over last year, and the Spanish people do like to help you learn. The hardest part for me (besides just REMEMBERING Spanish words) is comprehending verb tenses. Today in the car Javier gave me some verb tense lessons.

Who would have thunk it, but Javier Gutierrez is a pre-law professor at the Universidad de Jaen, and a Judge in real life, but, "this is the real planet," he says. "In my other life, I'm serious. But this is what I love: the people, this ride, this adventure." He's slowly lost his voice over the last few days so that when he speaks at the ride meetings, nobody even notices until he's halfway through with his speech. Doesn't matter anyway, because everybody's too exuberant to listen!

After all the horses had passed through and the buckets and tubs were emptied and put back in the water truck, we drove on to the second assistance point where all the crews were waiting for their riders. We stopped there just briefly before continuing on to the vet gate in a lovely meadow next to an olive orchard. It was still cool, and partly sunny, just the right light being cast on the day. A very pleasant place to pass a half hour of your vet check if you were human or horse. Several horses - those Equipos horses not in today's ride - were out in temporary tape pens. Some days those horses were hauled straight to the finish stables, and other days, they followed the ride all day, so it was nice for them to get out and graze or be handwalked during the lunch stops.

I picked up a sandwich and a couple of cold drinks, and this time I put them on the windshield right in front of Javier's view, so nobody could miss them this time. (And I had my lunch in the car when we left!)

Santiago Perez and Marlboro Yac were the first out onto Fase 2, just a few seconds ahead of Sara Hobbs and Gamera. Two horses were eliminated from lameness here at the vet gate, Daniel Maldera and Nathalie Michel. Natalie had gone back to riding Petra De Sommant, the horse she'd ridden the first 3 days, but she couldn't go on to Fase 2.


Sometimes Javier drove fast, but now we poked along as we headed towards Cordoba, Javier telling Alberto stories all the way, taking, instead of the more obvious paved roads), dirt roads between orchards that kept disintegrating and getting muddier... It looked like we were the only ones going this way - the horses had long since headed off in a different direction. I thought if we got stuck it would be a long time before anybody would even find us, because these orchard roads were certainly on no map ever made. We did finally make it out onto the highway to Cordoba, with thick mud caking our tires. Alberto put a DVD of Jose Manuel Soto in the player, cranked it up, and he and Javier sang and flamenco clapped along in stereo.


As we got closer to Cordoba, we turned off the main paved road onto a dirt road again, which again quickly turned to a slick mess that the horses would be coming along. We stopped at a "5 km" sign (5 km left to the finish) that had fallen over, and Javier got out and tried to shove it back in the mud. It didn't stay, so I got out, fetched a big rock to hammer it in, and just that quick, my sandals had 2 inches of mud stuck to the bottom of them. Surely the horses were having much the same problem. As we drove on, I kept thinking we were bound to get stuck.

We did make it to a deep muddy river crossing for the horses. It wasn't particularly picturesque, but it would be an event, this crossing. The water was really of unknown depth, the horses had been travelling through the thick sticky mud much of the day; and coming out of the water on this side, it was very muddy, which would become very slick mud. I was nervous about it - especially for the horses that would come later, once the track was really wet from the first horses' feet. In fact my heart was pounding because I could picture all those animals in Africa trying to get out of a river but it's so muddy they keep slipping and falling and get exhausted and die. OK, so that's a little dramatic, but my heart still pounded thinking about slipping and falling horses, although nobody seemed concerned about it but me.

More people came for the spectacle, including Jose Antonio, last year's Al-Andalus Binomios winner, who will ride Campanera tomorrow in a 2-star ride (over the same course as the Al Andalus trail). I asked him how Campanera was, and he just lit up.
"Campanera is the best in the world right now!" His eyes still sparkle as he speaks of his beloved mare.

A small crowd, including Dr Castejon, and one of the video crews, had now gathered at the river crossing; wine came out - an impromptu Andalusian picnic. And then a murmur passed through the crowd: the first vehicle had been spotted: the first crossing of the river!

It was the quad with the fearless driver carrying Abraham the video man... everybody crowded around the river bank for the spectacle. The driver stood up from his seat, forged into the river while Abraham held his camera way up over his head with one hand and tried to hang on with the other. The water swirling up well over the fenders of the quad... but the driver, mad grin on his face, gunned it right along and popped up out on our bank, wheels spinning and sliding, with Abraham grinning just as big, laughing to cheers of the onlookers

Next came two horses (I gritted my teeth and my heart thumped), but really, they had no problems other than a minor slip or two. I stopped worrying quite so much.


Next came Jose Manuel Soto and his passenger. He stopped on the far bank, taking in the - gulp - deep muddy river, while this side cheered and crowded close - a group of Andalucians gathering to watch an adventure: a race, a wreck, a bullfight, a horse race, a challenge... always the Andalucians are thinking, "Will he make it or won't he? I don't know, but I'm going to watch and enjoy and cheer!"

I could see from here that Jose's eyes were wide; and then he crossed himself, put the pedal down, gunned it straight at the water and plunged in. There were cheers from the onlookers as the jeep labored through the water. Jose's eyes were getting wider, his mouth forming a big O, as in, O Ssssshhhhhhiii*********** ! The buggy sloshed across the river and it reached the mud track on our side, but it started to slip sideways. Jose's mouth became a bigger O and his eyes grew ever wider as the buggy's wheels spun and the whole thing started tipping sideways while Jose steered against the skid (his passenger grinned all the way) - both of them gripping on and leaning left as the buggy leaned right upon losing the left wheels from the ground briefly... and the O turned into an O YEAH! and a fist pumping in victory in the air as the buggy righted itself and they made it up and out!


Big Andalucian cheer! Time for a glass of Andalucian wine to top that off!

One by one the horses came, none of them refusing to go in the muddy river, some of them considering it carefully before going in, but always moving forward, feeling their way. The water went above their knees but not quite to their chest, and they waded across, only a few of them slipping as they came out our side.

One more jeep came through, driving Emilio the photographer. Emilio had his feet up way over the dash, just avoiding the water, and while his driver was smiling, Emilio looked a bit pale, especially when coming out of the river on our side, the jeep almost fell over on its side... but they made it too. I was quite happy I was not on the trail today! I'd have gotten out of my jeep or quad on the other side of the river and hiked 55 kilometers back to Ecija. Just call me chicken!

Five kilometers to go after the river crossing, and the horses came into Cordoba (a World Heritage Site since 1984) escorted by police, directed by police at every crossing, right into the middle of the city, under the Meta arch alongside the old town fortress walls. There was traffic anyway in Cordoba, but the horses really slowed it down. It must be a big thing to convince the city to let Al Andalus do this!

The horses went under an arch inside the fortress walls to the vet check and stables. The horses were trotted out right under an old watch tower; the beer was flowing in the stand set up right beside the Al Andalus truck.

I'd missed the finish, but I knew who won Binomios when I got there: Salvador and Shakyra of Team Andalucia - they gave me the thumbs up and Not-John gave me a hug. That had moved Salvador into third place over all behind Eduardo and Hermes (who were still first overall with an hour lead over Otto Velez and Pal Partenon). Sarah Hobbs outlasted Santiago Perez to win Equipos. Fourteen-year-old Teresa Lozano finished 8th in Equipos, but it was still good enough to keep her and her uncle Inigo del Solar in first place overall by 1 hour. Daniel Maldera's unfortunate lameness vet out at lunch dropped him and Paulette Maldera from 2nd to 11th place overall with the time penalty.

After all the horses had arrived, I grabbed a ride to the hotel with Jose Manuel Soto, Ines, and Paula da Silva. And what another terrific hotel: the 4* Hesperia Cordoba, right above
the wide Guadalquivir river, with a view overlooking the old city and El Puento Roman, the old Roman bridge over the river. All this - and we'd be here for TWO NIGHTS!

Paula and I threw our stuff in our rooms and immediately went downstairs for a CAPPUCHINO which I hadn't had since... I couldn't remember when. (You can't count the "cappuchino" I had the morning in Montoro). Paula had me in tears laughing so hard, as she told stories and we drank our cappuchinos.

Yes, this was indeed a lovely pristine 4**** hotel for probably some exclusive clients, but I was part of an endurance ride, and I tracked the day's thick mud EVERYWHERE - into the lobby, in the elevator, into the room I didn't stay in, (they gave me and Maaite a smoking room, so after leaving mud in the room, I went right back downstairs to ask for another room), back down the hall, the stairs, the lobby, into our new room, into the cafe. (But it wasn't just me - in the morning I followed someone else's endurance mud tracks down to breakfast... they definitely weren't my tracks, as I hadn't been down there yet!).

I took an hour long shower while washing a bunch of clothes, and hung them all over the chairs and open windows to dry (once a backpacking, practical traveller and endurance rider, always a backpacking, practical traveller and endurance rider : ) .

Paula and I decided to go out to eat later as there was no Al-Andalus dinner tonight. We walked down the street trying to decide which restaurant to stop in. We looked at one menu posted outside the door then walked on, then passed another restaurant. It looked interesting inside but there was no menu outside. I noticed a menu on the table of a couple sitting inside. "There's one. Ask them to turn it around," I joked, since we were out of their sight around the corner.

I was kidding, but Paula stepped to the window and peered in at this couple, and when they looked at her, she motioned to the menu - 'turn it around.'

The lady became wide-eyed at this dark figure outside her window staring in and gesturing at her, but the man turned it around. I was petrified, between nearly falling down laughing and waiting for the lady to scream, and as Paula tried to read the menu - I couldn't see straight anymore I was laughing so hard - the man smiled and got up and brought us the menu outside. I could barely get out a thank you! We decided to come in and eat there. Once inside, I handed the man back their menu but the lady decided it was best to pretend we just weren't there.

After a decent dinner (salmoreja, cauliflower, calamari, and a cold beer) and a good time, we went back to the hotel, and I worked till 1 AM. The late hour didn't matter, because I could sleep in next morning!