horseback riding, badly

It seemed so simple. Get on a horse and ride for an hour up a hill to get to where the zipline starts. Yow! I had some vague idea that you have to hold on to a horse with your thighs. I tried, lord I tried. But my thighs were weak and my horse was bouncy. Sure, other people had horses that just plodded along, happily following some other plodding horse. Mine was annoyed that he (she?) wasn't at the front and he kept trying to push past the others to GET to the front. When we came to a more open area, he veered off the path and took off running. Well, probably just a canter or something but it felt like a full gallop to me. I bounced all over the place, desperately trying to squeeze his sides with my thighs, and hold on to the horn on the saddle, while pulling back on the reins with my other hand. He did not like me trying to stop him. I could tell he was very annoyed to have me on his back. I wish someone had a video camera because I KNOW I bounced all over the place like a rag doll and looked absolutely ridiculous! Brianna was the same - at first the two of us laughed so hard we couldn't hold on, but then it just went on forever, so the humor was over. Others went past us, in perfect horsemanship form: Jenna, Claudia, Ian, Katie, Alex. Damn them!

After the zipline, we were to ride the horses back down the hill. I opted for a ride in the trailer pulled by a tractor. While I wasn't falling off a horse any longer, I was bounced JUST as much as this trailer hopped and skipped over a very rocky dirt path that wasn't actually appropriate for a trailer. No relief until it was all over and we got back on the bus. The best part was that the bus took us into La Fortuna and we had hamburgers! Then there was a terrific rainfall, the only rain of our 8-day stay, and after that we went on to the hot springs.

rollin' on the river

white water river rafting has the longest name of a sport that goes by really fast. i love it! it's like a roller-coaster in the water. the best part is when the boat turns sideways in the rapids and a huge wave comes splashing over me. nothing like getting wet and bouncing up and down at the same time!

at one point, we got stuck on rocks (the river is low - not enough rain) and Manuel (the guide) had to get out and stand on a rock to try to pull the boat off. mind you, this was in the middle of a rapids, so water was whooshing past him. Daniel wasn't paying attention for some reason and all of a sudden he just leaned backward and fell off the boat. but it was funny, because there was only about a foot of water where he fell. he landed on a rock and he could just stand up and get back in again. if the water had been deeper, where it was supposed to be, he would have rushed away down stream.

our boat had Katie, who loved to splash people in the other boats; Santiago, who rowed to his own rhythm and no one else's; Alfred, who couldn't sit still and vocalized about his love for rafting every chance he got - except when he and Santiago started discussing what food they wish they could be eating at that moment ("shrimp, god, i want some shrimp!"); and Brianna, who was trepidatious (is that a word? I don't know if it is, but i like it anyway) about the whole thing but LOVED it as soon as we hit the first rapids.

and me, who whooped and hollered and had a huge smile plastered on my face the entire two hours!

Costa Rica!

The first three days we stayed with families in a small town (very small) about 2 hours from San Jose. The houses, for the most part, are not entirely enclosed. The walls go up and stop. The tin roof hovers over the walls about 12 inches or so. This allows for air to move through the house (that and the always open doors!). At first I had trepidation about it (the bugs!) but i got used to it and appreciated the moving air. I even got so i didn't mind the geckos that ran in and out, although i worried that the one in my bedroom would explore my bed at night.

So much to tell, but let's start with the animals and birds: howler monkeys jumping in the trees overhead as we soaked in the hot springs of the Arenal volcano; brilliantly colored birds in the trees next to our eating platform at the rainforest campground; a giant toad leaping away from me as i stepped out of my tent at the same campground; toucans and toucanettes! and a plethora of bugs that students kept finding and bringing around to show everyone. Also, in town, the dogs that are all allowed to run free - vastly different personalities from our babied and indulged house pets!

(in the picture above, that is me on the far left, in the black and white dress.)