Roy picked us up at 8:15 and we were off to the Springs Resort and Club Rio. If the road was flat and paved you could be there in 5 minutes....the road is not paved and very hilly. Took about 20 minutes but we did see lots of cows along the way.
When we arrived we were told the bus to take us down to club Rio would leave in 10 minutes. Again, extreme hills but now in a rickety old bus with bad breaks! We checked in and Oscar, our guide, walked us over to the stables to meet our horses.
I was riding Tequila
Now I am petrified of being on a horse. I tried it in Mexico but, the control freak in me can't stand being on something that could run crazy on me.
The trail was quite lovely (although hilly). The guide actually took Lisa's camera so, once we're home, we can add pictures from the trail. The ride lasted about an hour and went into the hills to get a view of the volcano and down into the woods along the river. It also included the horses going into the river. Tequila decided she didn't want to go in the same way as the other horses and took the hard route. Loco decided to dive down into the water with Lisa and Hanna Montana stopped for a water break with Jen. All in all though Tequila handled it all like a pro. I just held on tight and hoped for the best. Jen hadn't been in a horse since she was 10 and said she almost didn't go (wasn't her thing) but loved it and is glad she went.
Once we got back they let us in the pen to meet Nino, the 6 week old pony.
After, we walked over to check out a couple of the hot springs and a waterfall. 
Our wildlife sanctuary tour started at 11. Santiago (or Carlos as Muma likes to call him) walked us through. These are mainly exotic animals people were keeping as pets, which is illegal here.
Started with the crocs
This guy appears to be having a happy dream.
From here we moved onto what Lisa has been waiting for...SLOTHS!!!
We moved along to the spider monkeys. The first ones we met were Mike Tyson and Lena.
Then some others
The cappuccino monkeys
The one armed cappuccino monkey (is it possible we'll see a Fugitive part 2 where the one armed monkey did it)?
The Ocelots (or what Lisa and I call, the giraffe cats)
Grey and Silver foxes
On the walk back Santiago made Lisa's wishes come true and pointed out a sloth in the wild!
Here's Lisa doing her happy dance
After seeing all the animals we walked back and had lunch. We had gelato with our meal but were told you have to eat it out of a bag like the locals do.
While we were having lunch the waiter pointed out some white faced monkeys hanging out in the woods next to the restaurant.
It rained on and off through the morning but it would pour for a minute then clear up.
After lunch we were off for our final activity: tubing. Now what I signed on for was more of a lazy river guided tour where they'd point out some plants and animals as you casually floated along. This seemed to be the others understanding as well. So we sign in and next thing I know Robertos strapping a helmet on my head and giving me a life jacket for some extreme tubing!
There was probably 30 people on this. They drive you on one of the rickety buses to the top, give a quick safety lesson and we were off. It was definitely fun. On the first run down, we were all separated. Everyone kept getting stuck in rocks so the guides were helping people out a lot. Apparently Jen, at a stop point, thought it was the end so got out of her tube. When she went to get back in she flipped out.
On the bus ride back up for the second run we were making fun of her and. Roberto said one of us should fall out of our tubes to give the guides some work to do. Lisa kindly volunteered me for this.
So starring the second run, Jen said we should all stay together (you can hold each others tubes to connect they told us). First of all, Muma, Lisa and I were holding on but we lost Jen right away. Then karma happened. Muma and Lisa got stuck on a rock. I was still holding on so I tried to pull them (noting I am now facing backwards over a little fall). I went flying over backwards out of my tube. Thankfully I was able to get feet first and head down river on my back. There were no guides around so I went for a ways. People were going by asking if I always ok;told them I was fine and kept going. Eventually Roberto caught up to me and got me back in my tube. He decided that was a good time to tell me he was just kidding about wanting one of us to fall out. Thanks Roberto!
But wait, I'm not done. Other people had fallen out along the way as well. Coming in at the end you hit one final rapid that pushes you to shore. A woman, who had fallen out of her tube mid-run (and panicked) had now fallen out as she was trying to get out of her tube at the shoreline so she was just laying in the water. Now here I come barelling in yelling for her to get out of the way because I can't stop and I went right over her. I am guessing she will never go tubing again (and note, she was also wearing lacey wedge shoes....unprepared).
So once the adventure was over we headed over to relax in the hot springs for a bit. Then we took the bus up to the main building and hopped in the pool.
Oddly, in the 85 degree weather, we started getting cold, so we went over to the hottest of the hot springs:104 degrees. So warm. We hung a couple hours in the springs (tried a few different ones out) and then showered and headed to the bar for some pre dinner drinks. I have now found my favorite drink: watermelon juice and vodka. Jen joked at breakfast that the juices they had would be perfect with vodka; she was right.
After drinks we went to Tres Casadas for dinner. We were given a perfect outdoor table and enjoyed our dinner under the stars.
We then went and asked for our ride back to our hotel (we were now way past Jens bed time!). On the ride back, the driver asked where we were from. I said Boston and he said "oh Boston...New Kids on the Block". Who knew NKOTB is what we're known for....not the Sox....marathon....Bunker Hill...no no, it's the New Kids.
So we made it back to the hotel and here's our animals for the day:
Muma and Lisa have an armadillo
Jen and I have a bunny
No comments:
Post a Comment