06.07.2013 - Samara, Costa Rica

Today begins with horseback riding. To be clear, I have not been on a horse in at least half my life. But, when opportunities present themselves I tend to say yes. The original group of riders split into a morning ride and an afternoon ride. Hoping to beat a bit of the heat, I opted for the 8am departure with Michelle and Sydney. Our same tour company escorted us to a roadside stop in the town of Carrillo where a stable of horses were tied to a row of trees. I was introduced to a mare named Negra who would be carrying me along the trails today. I introduced myself to two other riders joining us for the day, a mother/son duo for Berlin. We made fast friends through the day and I I learned about German music (YouTubing "die Doktoren") and secured an open invite to join them from sour bread at their bakery when I make my way to Europe next spring.

We stared our ride with an ascent through the thick of the forest to a vista point which afforded a view of the ocean in two different bays and the hills to the east. After enjoying the view we dropped back into the trees and through the creek beds and out onto Carrillo Beach. Horseback in the sunshine on a beautiful beach in Costa Rica - sometimes this trips seems surreal even to me. Especially when my slightly aggressive and highly competitive Negra decides that she needs to lead the pack and takes off in a full gallop across the sand toward the sea. I was delighted to find that simply mimicking images I've seen of other people riding horses was enough of a tutorial to manage not being killed in the process. The award for most improved rider, however, goes to Sydney who yelped with fear in the beginning and rode like a pro by the end of the day.

Back to the hotel and, you guessed it, straight into the pool with a pina colada, as you do. The coconut theme continued at lunch with coconut grilled white fish with another wonderful salad. After lunch a group of us grabbed a cab into the town of Samara where Linda, Jan, and I wandered through town browsing shops and ambled along the beach. This is clearly a tourist destination for the young, Westerner, party crowd as evidenced by the signs for the evening's reggae party on beach and the rasta swim trunks with Pura Vida embroidered on the bumm. Still, it had a charm of it's own. We picked through souvenir shops and then made our way back to the resort which housed an older, Western, laid back crowd with the resources to sleep between the front gate and the maintained beach away from the raucous and most other aspects of the community. 

The evening kicked off with a sing-along by the pool and continued with another fine meal. The chef was even kind enough to cook up the fish that was caught by Dominic and his deep sea fishing companions earlier that day. The fresh ono (wahoo) was perfectly grilled and proudly shared among the whole chorus. For his big catch, his big personality, and his big heart, the Party Animal was passed along to Dominic tonight - a deserving honor. Finished the evening pruning in the pool chatting and playing games and relaxing together. Many continued the song circle and I sat for a while on the pool steps listening to them from the water and feeling love for this amazing group of people. Spoke with Duane, Director of Appliance Depot, who I met a couple of years ago through my work for the City of Bellingham's Community Development Advisory Board. We discussed the politics of local economies and the future of job training program and social enterprising. I love Bellingham and my networks there. Happy thoughts of home while floating under the stars.