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Monday, September 1, 2008

Costa Rica Day 3: A Horse is a Horse, Of Course

I got one lodge activity included in the package I signed up for so today I picked horseback riding. Of course, where else are you going to ride on a horse but its back?

Dan decided he would come with, since he hadn't done it yet this season so he went and got the horses. Not being an experienced rider, to say the least, I was unsure of myself at first and I didn't know how to control the horse since it didn't have a bit in its mouth. After a while I became more confident when I realized I wasn't going to fall off through sheer clumsiness, and when Dan took pity on me and explained that the horse didn't have a bit but would respond to the pressure of the rope on its neck and the "bridal" around its nose. That's when I noticed something might be wrong with my horse.

It would barely get above a slow walk and even on the flat spots in the trail the poor thing was just huffing and puffing. Dan and I started to get really concerned for the little guy.

So we turned back. I finally thought my horse had had enough of carrying me around and I felt like I was torturing it by riding any more so I walked it back the last mile or so. I hope it got some rest after that.

For lunch we had grilled cheese sandwiches, soup, and tomato slices. Yummy! The rest of the afternoon I spent dozing in a hammock in the cabana next to the swimming hole until dinner. I am on vacation, after all.

Amazingly no rain that night! We got to eat in the other cabana. Walking back to my cabin after dinner there were no clouds in the sky so I stopped, turned off the flashlight and looked up...

Stars! Thousands upon thousands of stars. The Milky Way stretched across the sky from horizon to horizon. I just stood and stared up for several mintues, turning this way and that, wanting to remember the sight. It might have been the most spectacular thing I saw while in Costa Rica.

Tomorrow it's off to Pirate Cove in Drake Bay.

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