A Galloping Adventure

Author: Madeleine
Location:
Last night was out last night with our caring homestay families. We all woke up this morning to hearty breakfasts, packed bags, and out stand-in parents who were all sad to see us depart. We headed over to Ana's house at 8. After saying our goodbyes and exchanging email addresses we were off to our next location, near San Ramon. Sleeping, talking and listening to music were all popular activities on the 2 and a half hour bus ride that followed. Arriving at the scenic, tranquil Lands In Love hotel, the group was ready for a horseback riding adventure. After a delectable lunch consisting of pizza half of us walked down the road to the stables. Seven group members and two tour guides all trotted off for a ride down to the Balsa River, which happened to be an opaque murky brown color from all of the rain rushing silt into it. The horse I happened to be riding, named Cielo, happily walked through the jungle stepping over little streams, fallen trees, and other rainforest vegetation. Naturally, as we are currently in a cloud rainforest it began to rain. This however proved to be no obstacle for the horses who continued on the trail. Mid-way through we arrived at a majestic waterfall. We were even allowed to ride directly up to the base of the beautiful "catarata". We stopped at the waterfall for a brief moment and continued on resuming our relaxing trail ride. Upon our arrival at the stables we pet our horses goodbye and thanked the guides. Then, it was back to the hotel for a rest while the other half of the group went riding. After relaxing it was off to dinner at the hotel. Eating large plates of pasta put us all in a good mood for our fourth Lifeworks forum, Making Choices. We talked for about forty-five minutes contemplating how choices are made and what influences them along with other topics. The forum was especially nice on account of the delicious milkshakes that we ordered. Flavors ranged from nutella to cookie to chocolate cake. Personally, I enjoyed a coffee-nutella blend. After the forum dissolved we continued on to play multiple games of the ever-popular "mafia." Now we're all off to bed after a nice, relaxing day in the clouds.
Flickr Photos from Today
Flickr Photos from this Voyage