Trek Day 5

Friday 3/8

Friday morning we had the option to join Jose on a ride, on his horses, up to a waterfall on his property.  We kind of felt like we had lots of riding opportunities, so chose the zip line which we have never done. 

The proprietor came and picked up Dave, Mary and me, and also Ariel as his home is just down the road from the zipline, so he took the morning to return to his family. 

Ziplining: You know, I'm really not an adrenaline junkie.  Nor a lover of heights.  It was, however, a very thrilling experience.  They had 7 lines, that circled around between 4 local peaks, so that every one started in the canopy, then zipped out over the canyon with the trees WAY below you.  Holy Crap became my mantra.  





Dave waaaay out there

Mary was coming in too slow on this line, so the guide hopped on the line to meet her.

The last one really was cool in that the final 100 meters or so was actually down in the trees as you zipped through this tunnel of foliage.


Fun, but I think Mary and I agreed we might not need to ever do that again.  haha!






Back at the ranch, we had relaxing lunch under the Rancho.











That afternoon we mounted up again to ride to the beach.  Sunset and low tide both were scheduled for about 6:30 pm, so Liz timed the ride to get there at that time when we could spend some bonus time riding on the beach that evening.


The ride there was through plantations - a really large banana plantations where the bunches were all bagged up to protect them from poaching animals. 

At the loading doc of a central warehouse were a bunch of semis - one belonging to Del Monte.  :-D

Further on we noticed what looked to be portable zip lines, really, set up between the two nearest rows of trees.  Sure enough, pretty soon a big train of banana bunches came by on rollers.  So funny - it totally reminded me of a Disney land monorail or something - just a big banana train moving through the plantation on its own business.  But that was largely because I missed the fact that the whole train was being pulled by a worker.  Later Liz said that that was what Ariel used to do - running bananas from the fields (or are they called orchards?) to the warehouse.

Onward, through Palm plantation - where they grow Palm fruit which produces palm oil.







Later we were riding along and I was startled to realize that I'd been hearing the crash of the surf for some time.  Came around the corner - and there was the beach!

The horses were funny - some were fine with the waves coming in around their feet.  Others danced and side passed up the beach to avoid it.  Though once convinced all accepted the waves fine.




What I totally didn't anticipate, however, was how utterly disorienting it is to be sitting on a horse, and having the ground slip back by you out to the ocean!  Talk about nearly instant sea sickness!  It's one thing to be standing on the ground and have the waves come in and out, but on a horse you have no grounding sensation - I really had to resort to looking up at the trees from time to time.



We spent 30 minutes or so on the beach, then rode up to a beach side restaurant for dinner, tying the horses to palm trees out front.



After dinner we went back to our hotel - we'd passed it on the way in.  This particular inn was beautiful - big wood paneled rooms and an amazing pool with a big slide down into it.  Alas, it had been another action packed day and we didn't even arrive until 8 (all week we'd been joking that we really  had to stay up at least until 8 - but with our frequently early mornings that was often a struggle!)  So Dave and I collapsed while the others went for a swim.

Next Entry: http://sunponyranch.blogspot.com/2013/05/trek-day-6-our-final-day-riding.html