Onward to Monteverde

It rained and rained during the night. The hotel receptionist told us that there is a cold front moving in. Usually, at this time of the year, the mornings are sunny and it rains in the afternoon. However, when there is a cold front...it rains in the morning too. As they say in Costa Rica, Pura Vida!

We had a short bus trip to Lago Arenal, where we boarded a small vessel to take us to where the horses were waiting. Notice the look on Giovanny's face. He was "all business", getting us to board as quickly as possible because he wanted to cross the lake before another group arrived.

When we debarked from the boat, the skies were grey with a light steady rain.  We hiked a few hundred yards, and found our horses tied in a grove of trees. Our guides found a horse for us, helped us mount, and gave a short demonstration on how to handle a horse. Then off we rode, through the rain and cloud forest, past grazing cattle, along the lake, and under the watchful eye of a lone toucan at the top of a tree.

We stopped for a water and pineapple break after an hour, and then mounted again for the last hour of our horseback riding tour. Giovanny forewarned us that tomorrow we'll feel the after effects of horseback riding for two hours.

We thought the horseback riding was the adventure of the day, but more adventurous than that was the bus ride to Santa Elena. For at least an hour, the roads were not paved. It was stone or plain dirt road, but Since it had rained so much lately, at places there was deep mud and hills that the tour guide joked that we might have to get out and push. At least we think he was joking.

Smiling, even though wet and on bumpy ride.

When we were past the muddy mountain roads, I snapped a photo of the road sign below as proof that, yes, there are speed limits in Costa Rica, even though they were not as plentiful as in the United States.

Surprisingly, after driving 90 minutes or more on back roads, I expected Santa Elena to be rather small, but it was buzzing with activity. We arrived in Santa Elena at lunchtime so we took the suggestion from a Twitter friend that tweeted a suggestion to me the previous day when she heard we were headed to Santa Elena. She had eaten at the restaurant, Taco Taco, the day before, and had said the food was delicious and the lady at the counter was super nice. She was right!

We had a few minutes after lunch to explore Santa Elena.  

 

Shopping on the streets of Santa Elena

Our hotel was located on the outskirts of Santa Elena so we had a short ride to the hotel after lunch.

Our arrival at the hotel was quickly followed by showers, FaceTime with family, and relaxation. Later, several members of our group kicked the soccer ball around on the courtyard of the hotel.

The other group leader and I asked our tour guide if there was a place in town where we could take the students for a night out dancing. Giovanny quickly agreed and we walked to "Los Amigos" for sodas and dancing.

The return walk was exhausting. We had not paid a lot of attention to the long hill we were going down on the way to the club, which is the same hill we had to climb up to go back to the hotel. Needless to say, we all got a good workout on the return walk.

Posted with Blogsy