Friday, March 23, 2012 - Final Ride at La Ensanada and San Jose Transfer

Once again woke up at the circadian crack of dawn, to breakfast at 7:30, in the saddle just after 9:00. Today we rode to the beach, mostly walking for the first 45 minutes or so. Stood under a tree on the beach for a while, apparently the footing was too soft for the horses to actually travel on the beach, at least according to the wrangler Albin (though it looked pretty good to me, but I had to defer). We finally headed back (w/Hubby making the joke, "I thought we were waiting for the sunset": -), and once we got to a field, we were at last allowed to canter for a short bit. Shortly thereafter we came to another big field, where all the testosterone fueled a series of horse races across the field. Frankly, I really enjoy cantering nice and gentle more than I do an all-out gallop (or at least in addition to), so I held my horse back (who fortunately was willing to let me, albeit reluctantly), and I got a few nice canters back and forth across the field before we moved on. Albin’s horse nicked his face on a strings of barbed wire going through a fence, and even though it was small, it bled like crazy (as horse heads always do), so he decided to walk his horse back and let his assistant Michael finish the tour. I’m not sure what it was, but as soon as Albin was gone and Michael took over, the atmosphere immediately relaxed. Albin seemed pretty disinterested in the tour, simply going around the farm and letting us follow him (always at his pace and always on his cell phone), whereas Michael immediately starting pointing out more wildlife, picking a branch of blossoms off of a tree to show us, taking time to let us see things, and being very aware of satisfying our needs. When we reached the stretch where they usually gallop the horses, he veered off into a field so we could gently canter, then once we got back to the road, made sure we made the turn where I fell yesterday before giving the okay for everyone to gallop if they wanted. I again held back a bit to my preferred until we got a little closer to the barn, then let my horse loose to run the last few hundred yards. It was probably the best of the four rides, especially once Michael took over, so we left the barn happy. Got back to the rooms and started packing until lunch at 12:00, anticipating a 1:00 pickup that ended up not happening until 2:30 because of road works and bad Friday traffic. Had to stop at the CienFuego Eco-ranch for the German couple we had crossed paths with earlier, (where we got a chance to say hello to my previous horse Peluche, and I even had a few hard berries that Lucero had refused to eat this morning, but that Peluche LOVED!) It was even hotter there than on the coast. Piled everything and everyone in and headed to San Jose, where, after getting stuck in rush hour traffic, we managed to arrive back at the Hotel Bougainvillea by 6:15, said our good-byes to our great host Paulo, settled into our rooms before heading back downstairs where we enjoyed a drink and dinner with our fabulous new friend Bill before parting company at about 9:00. Bill will be leaving very early in the morning, so we won’t see him again here, but I think we all felt the time would come when we’d get together again, as we really had a great connection, lots of laughter and hilarity when we’re together. Off to the luxurious bed, without even turning on the TV once! (pix to com)