Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - Ride near Volcano with Don Tobias horses

Breakfast at 7:00, but the buffet line didn’t open until almost 7:15 and they promptly ran out of eggs, though we managed to get through before that. On the road at 8:20, on the horses by 9:00, crossing the road first, then climbing through farmland first, heading towards the volcano, then dipping into some true tropical forest, howler monkeys and spider monkeys, sloths and white hawks. Horses were dead-sided, so it took a bit of coersion to finally get them listening to us all, though I guess that’s pretty typical of a tourist trap like that. My horse’s name was Estrella, which means Star, which is so funny because my horse at home’s name was Star before I changed it to Apollo!! Once we pulled a dead branch off the trees and showed it to them, though, they finally started responding a bit more. Got a little canter in, but mostly walking and a little trotting. Enjoyed the scenery immensely, which is really the reason we came to Arenal anyway, it’s just one of those tourist places you just have to see when you’re in Costa Rica. Got back around noon, so we all went across the street to the steak house for lunch, since the hotel restaurant wasn’t very impressive. The steak house was pretty good though, and we had a pleasant time. Paulo had to go guide a hiking tour up around the volcano, (all three of us declined his invitation), and Hubby and I rested in the room while Bill went off for a massage. Paulo came and picked us up (a little late, but no big deal) around 5:30, and off we went to the even more tourist-y hot springs. Several man-made levels of water had been dammed, and bars had been put up all around, a fairly commercial venue (though less than most, we’ve heard). Heard lots of different languages, French, German, American English, so obviously a popular place. After about an hour in the various layers of pools, and a mango vodka fruit drink, we were joined by the hiking group for dinner. The other group was a family from Hershey, PA, middle aged parents and kids mostly college age, on an extreme adventure of white-water rafting, zip-lining and hiking. Quite a fun group, we had a fairly lively dinner conversation. Got back to the hotel by 8:30, went across the street to the steakhouse for a nightcap (brandy for Hubby, hot chocolate for me, with Bill joining us, with more lively chatter). Headed back to the hotel about an hour later, off to bed, feeling quite relaxed after the hot springs. (pix to come)