Monday, March 26, 2012 – Another Great Jungle, Beach and BOAT Ride

Had another great breakfast at Brigitte’s (LOVE the range-fed eggs, so yellow and delicious! I miss my chickens!), then headed out a bit later than planned (I forgot to download my videos last night, and it took longer than I expected), leaving around 9:45. Raul had changed out Hubby’s horse, as he was a bit strong-headed and Hubby hadn’t always succeeded in controlling him yesterday (at one point, the horse insisted on jumping over a log rather than going around it, which fortunately Hubby survived, but made us all a bit fearful for him). This time he had the horse Raul had had yesterday, an Appaloosa named Alaska, so we’ll see what happens today. We headed north toward the river, trotting whenever we were on the road, cantering fast whenever we were on the beach (which was a LOT of the time), arriving at the river at about 10:45. From there, Brigitte’s friend Jose took us on a canoe trip (more like a large longboat) up the river, down a canal into a banana plantation, up the river some more, where we saw lots of different kinds of birds, iguanas, fish, and all sorts of wildlife. When we came back down the river, almost at the mouth of the river he turned north again into a sort of estuary, and stopped at a house (likely his own) where we got out of the boat, and he took us to another area that was like a nursery for crocodiles. We saw at least three little sets of eyes peering out at us, and we heard a lot of thrashing around so we knew there were a lot more around. Brigitte is starting to offer night-time crocodile tours (when they are most active), so apparently young Jose is quite the croc expert. He also picked up a few more coconuts, hacked an opening into them and we had a quick milk break there. We piled back into the boat and returned to our original mooring, where Brigitte had been attending the horses. She left in the boat with the boys, leaving us with Raul again, the horses, and lunch, which we quickly devoured. More chat before we mounted again, and took some more jungle trails and canters on the beach. At one point, during the last couple of canters, Hubby had gained so much confidence on Alaska that he had him galloping at top speed, and I chased after him just to see how it felt. It was incredible!! My GPS registered 28 mph! What great horses, and what a great day! After our showers, we walked up the street to the Reggae Bar, this time they got my order right and I enjoyed a fabulous seafood pasta dinner. Once again early to bed (back to the circadian rhythms of life), another great day behind us!