Horseback mountain guides: Rigo, left, & Octavio are cousins, brought up in these mountains,
These two cousins grew up riding bareback on wild horses in the mountains, sometimes stealing out at night to use a neighbour’s stock.
They also looked after goats and helped their fathers in the work of an arriero of the time. This gave them the kind of training in the mountains that is no longer available and they are in one sense representatives of a dying culture. They are almost like centaurs, part of their horses, whom they love and care for.
They are probably the best 2 arrieros in the Cajon del Maipo. Both are competent and professional as horseback mountain guides. They both love to compete and win rodeos riding with their sons on their best trained horses. They also take our visitors into the Andes on day riding tours and sometimes camping overnight, putting their expertise and knowledge of the mountains at your disposal.
(The most common theory holds that the idea of centaurs came from the first reaction of a non-riding culture to nomads who were mounted on horses. The theory suggests that such riders would appear as half-man, half-animal. It is said that the Aztecs had this misapprehension about Spanish cavalrymen. This may help to explain why, anyway in the case of the Incas in Peru, a handful of 30 or so Spanish cavalry could defeat an Inca army of 3000 men. Of course, gunpowder and steel swords and armour helped as well.).