A Post Card From Old Town Road

I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road / I’m gonna ride ‘til I can’t no more

Lil Nas X

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Let me preface this by saying I’ve ridden a horse exactly once in my life before now and I was maybe 14 at the time. Maybe the one I rode was a small horse, ‘cuz I swear, the horses I saw in Tunisia looked like they were on steroids; they were way bigger than should ever be humanly (horsely?) possible. Not to mention that one of our leaders, Wafa, decided to begin our conversation in the stable with: “You want to hear a story? A horse ate my friend’s lips once!” Not the most encouraging thing to hear before riding on a 10-foot horse (only a slight exaggeration).

The five of us (Hana, Wafa, Alaa, Arthur, and I) were invited by one of the kid’s families to their horse ranch to go for a ride. Of course, I was like, “If a 10 year old can do this, I must be able to!” And then I saw the giants and just about changed my mind—I was not about to be the next person with her lips bitten off by a horse.

So of course I was picked to get on the horse first.

I was strongly assured that Kamel never did anything and was the calmest horse. He did look a little more normal-sized than the others and he seemed to like me, so carpe diem I guess.

It was worth it. If you haven’t taken a horse ride up a mountain during the sunset in Tunisia, I highly recommend it. Very specific circumstances, I know, but I know a guy.

Of course, going up was the easy part. Coming down is another story. Kamel was my hero, though—while everyone else was slipping and sliding, he was as steady as ever. I had forgotten how fun it was to go horseback riding, to be so tall, to feel the breeze.

The night was made even better because the song Old Town Road has become an anthem of sorts for our group, our feel-good, sing-along song that all the kids always want to dance to. I will say, I hated the song before coming here, but now I know every word to the rap. What can ya do? That night, we definitely had the horses in the back.

If that wasn’t enough, the family got us all necklaces with our names in Arabic and a box of traditional Tunisian sweets. The people here are truly the best.