Two weeks ago, I had a perfect day.

The weather was sunny and breezy.  I rode a horse through the Argentinian countryside with some of my best friends. I ate a homemade meal of empanadas and chicken-and-rice from an abuela (grandma) which was absolutely delightful. To cap it off, I rode home on a bus that stopped at the absolute CLEANEST bathroom I’ve ever come across in South America and then had a delicious dinner and thoughtful conversation with my roommates back in Cordoba.

This adventure (minus the clean bathroom and roommate add-ons) was sponsored and lead by my program leaders & city team with Remote Year, who called it Gaucho Day as it showed us the average life of a Gaucho, which is essentially the Argentinian version of a cowboy.  We learned about lassoing, horse shoes, and cooking and even had a little Argentinian wine.

So when the opportunity arose to go back into the hills for Gaucho Day Part Two (it was such a hit the first time so others wanted to go as well), I jumped right on board.

I asked a number of people if they were also riding again, and heard the same answer from each of them.  Because it was such a nice day, they didn’t want to go again and ‘ruin it.’

I wasn’t sure what to make of this – ruin it?  How could another day spent riding horses with your friends ruin anything?  I suppose I understand the logic: you can’t recreate the exact same experience.  But I didn’t want to recreate the same experience. – I wanted a new experience!

I knew there were different people going (plus my friend visiting from the states) and I’d wear different clothes for all the dang photo ops. I didn’t know we’d take a different route through the mountains, or that lunch would be carne and potatoes (and still those amazing empanadas! Thank God).  I didn’t know it would be slightly rainy and then super overcast for amazing clouds over the hills, or that the sky would open up midday to clear brilliant blue.  All I knew was I wanted a nice day, and set my expectations accordingly, knowing that nothing I could do on THIS day would ever impact what happened on the first day.  That experience was already in the books; I’m no time traveler.

And I had another perfect day.  Followed by cooking and eating a few dozen empanadas with my roommates.  I just really like empanadas.

 

I’ve heard the ‘going to ruin it’ notion a few times this year – specifically about cities or countries where someone had been, maybe with a significant other, and didn’t want to tarnish their memory for one reason or another.  But I disagree with this notion!  I firmly believe your thoughts create your world.  Thoughts become things.  So choose the good ones!