Day 17 was a repeat of the day 8 activities but in a different location. We did zip-lining in the morning followed by horseback riding in the afternoon. The zip-lining wasn't as fast and adrenaline pumping as Monteverde but on this one you were actually down in the tree's and could more readily look around and view the rainforest. Unfortunately they wouldn't let us bring our camera so we have no pics to prove we even did it. :)
The girls we met from Michigan on the catamaran were both experienced horseback riders and researched who to use in this area for a good ride. They came across a guy named Diego Solis who is an amazing tour guide in addition to being a fascinating person to boot. He earned his MBA from the national university down here and at one point was CFO of the national bank here in Costa and had 150 people reporting to him. By the time he was in his 30's he was tired of all the politics and wanting to do something he enjoyed. He ended up buying 8 horses, leasing space from a local 5000 acre ranch, and giving riding tours to 1 or 2 groups a day. We were fortunate to catch him on an afternoon when there was nobody else.
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| Before the Afternoon Ride - Tom, Tina and Diego |
It was raining like mad when they picked us up from the hotel. Fortunately during the drive 30 minutes to the north the rain let up and we had a beautiful afternoon for riding. The ride took us up into the foothills of the local mountains and then all the way down to a beautiful stretch of the beach.
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| View from Top of Foothills - Pacific Ocean in Background |
During the course of the 2 hour ride we were able to talk to him about Costa businesses, economy, politics, school systems, police system and a myriad of other subjects. He was just a fascinating person to talk with. He and his brother own a 30 acre palm tree grove which is one of the major crops on this part of the coast. Costa uses part of the palm oil the get from the plants to produce bio-diesel, but the majority is exported for use in cooking products but mainly cosmetic products.
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| Tina on the Run |
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| Tina, Tom and our Reflections |
Towards the end of our time on the beach a family walked up with a little girl who was fascinated by these huge beautiful horses. Diego took the time to have the Dad hand her to him, put her on his lap and let her experience a horse closeup for the first time.
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| Why He Gave up the Office |
Diego was also familiar enough with our point and shoot to take a great movie of Tina running her horse on the beach. How he rides along side her and still manages to get a great movie shot is beyond me.
At the end of the day this ranked up there with some of the best horseback riding experiences we've ever done together. Until next time ...
Tenga un gran día!
The video link took us to a page that could not be found :-(
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