Ride Through the Jungle

Day three at the finca was horse riding day, and I had some butterflies in my stomach when I woke up.  We were going for a sunset ride to a lookout point where we could see the lake and both volcanoes.  Our host said it was the easiest and shortest ride and we thought that was the best idea for us.  

Mornings on the finca are magic because a wonderful breeze cools you and there is plenty of shade to be found under the porch where you can swing on a hammock.   

We sat on the porch for hours watching incredible birds, the clouds over the volcano, and the cows in the fields.  We read to each other (our book is getting pretty good!) By day three, we had learned our way around the village a little better and found Margarita’s house where the best lunch (and the cheapest!) on the island is found.  We joined all the truck drivers and working men who know the insider to secret to Margarita’s for an amazing lunch.  This is a picture of my beautiful fusion pasta.  It had a great Nicaraguan kick to it:

At last the hour came.  I was pretty sure I would die from falling off my horse on our adventure.  I said my goodbyes to Sam and told him I enjoyed our marriage, but as it turns out I’ve lived to type about it.  At first, I was terrified, but I know that horses can sense fear so I calmed myself down as much as I could using techniques I learned working in rehab.   

A self portrait of my knee and my horse, Tequila

The road was no better than the one to the finca and it was more mountainous than any riding I’d ever done.  Here is a sound I don’t like: your horse’s hooves slipping on rocks.  But if my dad told me one thing in my childhood it was this: nobody likes a whiner.   And the truth is I loved the horse ride.  You may know that my sister is a wonderful rider, but you may have forgotten that when she first started riding I took lessons with her for a summer until I fell off five times in a row learning to canter and decided I was done.  As we started going up and down those hills, I suddenly remembered all kinds of things that our instructor drilled into my little brain: heels down, sit up straight, grip with your legs.  While I didn’t light up the sky with my riding abilities, it turns out all those instructions really work and it helped me to feel more comfortable.  I even liked going a little bit fast!  Once I got over worrying about whether or not my horse was going to fall down, I started looking at the jungle.   

Sadly, this is one of the better photographs of my ride

We saw monkeys and coffee farms, we whacked away at bushes just like in the movies and basically owned it.  The view from the hill of the lake and volcanoes at sunset was gorgeous and my pictures of it do not do it justice.  

Really any pictures at all of this ride are pitiful because to stay on the horse I had to just pull out the camera and take pictures without any aim or intention whatsoever.  I just knew I had to document something or it didn’t happen.  

Sam riding Marijuana

Sam did this ride middle eastern style and I think his fashion alone told his horse who was boss.  He stayed on like a champion, but love is perhaps too strong a word for his feelings about the ride.  We were three for three on the fantastic dinner front, and we slept soundly.

I lived