It’s Monday May 16 6:32 pm. We woke up and had to be in the lobby at 9:30 am. We had one item on the agenda for the whole day and that was horseback riding. I hadn’t done it before today but I’m sure I will do it again one day. We rode over a wide variety of landscapes. We have plenty of pictures to show for today’s adventures through the dark and ominous forests, the hot and open deserts, and the windy beautiful beaches. Horseback riding reminded a bit of the movie Avatar in the sense that the horses weren’t machines that we controlled, but animals that we had to cooperate with so we could both make the best of the experience. We had to become one with our animals, or it would have been a long and gruesome voyage.

Like anything else, it took a bit of getting used to, especially for beginners and first-timers such as myself. But once I got a hang of things, I was ready to ride like the wind. I had a nice little black stallion. Black horse, black jacket, all black everything. The toughest ground to get through was going uphill in the sand because his hooves kept sliding and sinking. The only way to make it was to sprint. Me and horse Bovice almost knocked some heads off. I had to tame the breed for a second. At our pit stop in the shade halfway through, I had the best pineapple ever. How do I know? Because I didn’t like any pineapple I’ve ever had in the past. Riding on the beach was so smooth and relaxing and beautiful that I almost didn’t want to leave. But my horse had a tendency to run when other horses ran and I wasn’t complaining.

Afterwards we had some delicious barbeque. We sat outside in company of very generous hosts and a beautiful house with 14 cats! Several people had ideas of spending the night here, but we couldn’t take advantage like that. We came back to the hotel after we finished and then went to get ice cream and we watched the sunset right on the water’s edge. Today was a great day for Facebook profile pictures as you may see from the changes made by others in the group. Now we sit in the hotel once again, waiting for the night. Party time.