There is a tour called ANDES CATTLE ROUNDUP. Part of the tour took place at Hacienda Yanahurco:
Day 5: Monday, 13 November
Today will be your grand opportunity to canter in some parts of the ride: crossing terrain that resembles the lunar surface, pass the Santo Domingo Lake; descend to the Vicious Valley, a canyon formed by the Cotopaxi lava flow route; and spot along the ride herds of wild horses, fox, deer and birds of the area. A hardy welcome will be given to the riders by the personnel at Yanahurco Hacienda, the largest hacienda in the Ecuadorian highland with its 72,000 acres. Its spectacular chagra traditions and farm life will enchant you from the moment you reach its premises. After Lunch, we receive the chagras that will work in the farm cattle round- up, explore the surroundings of Yanahurco by foot and admire this vast, widespread region that has preserved various endangered animal habitats. At night, enjoy a briefing of Yanahurco`s attractions and activities such as its annual cattle rodeo and its wild horse rodeo by a sparkling fireplace. Sleep in comfortable private rooms, warmed by furnaces, quits, and hot water bags for your delight. A hot water shower will surely be comforting after this wonderful and exciting day is over......
Day 6: Tuesday, 14 November
Today you will be given the chance to ride with real chagras, mustering wild fighting bulls in the most incredible mountain environment. Everyone saddles up to ride and gathers by horseback in a semi-circle in front of the "patron" (owner of the hacienda) and head of the chagras to be given the riding instructions for the day. The circle of mounted chagras and riders is a colourful sight you will surely find incredible. You will be assigned a chagra who takes care of you for the day and makes sure you will be safe at all moments. We ride up the "páramo" to the high ridges surrounding the local mountains, climbing from 3600 to 4000 m. Listen to the loud series of calls and whistles the chagras accustom to communicate amongst each other in order to indicate the position of the various bull groups - "vaca jaja!", "vaca carajo!" are samples of the echoes heard in this vast, beautiful land where everyone participates from their positions. Gradually each rider works his/her way down pushing the cattle ahead down into the valley bottom. Some of the "bravo" bulls are lassoed with two ropes and expertly driven into the corrals. You can participate in this exhilarating work or hang back and watch. These bulls are undeniably "wild" and have bred from Spanish fighting stock, so you must be an experienced rider to join in. After a long ride east towards the gateway to the jungle, passing rain forests and land of wild cattle, at mid-day you reach the spectacular Jatuncocha Lake (800 m long and 600 m wide). A rustic campsite stands next to this solitary and untouched site.
Overnight accommodations are waiting for you and your team of riders and horses. Enjoy preparing trout you have fished during the evening next to a warm campfire and eat a delightful dinner which the chagras will serve. Sleep tight in your sleeping bag under a pitch black night sky covered with twinkling stars reflected on the calm waters of the lake and hearing only the sound of silence inside a typical highland grass hut.
This could have been precisely one week before the arrival of AR11 on Nov. 20 (or maybe 21st if they went elsewhere in Ecuador first).