Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Hiking, Foosball and Dancing
On Sunday we went hiking on our farm with the kids and two of our friends who live close by, Jessica and Luis Alonso. We left around 9 a.m. and drove to the second gate on the farm, where we left the car and started walking. We walked for about a mile on the road, and then entered the farm at the last gate, and started the descent. I've done this hike a number of times, several times on horseback, and I have to say that I prefer doing it on horseback even though the height scares me a bit. Even though the difference in altitude is less than 300 meters (1000 ft.) it seems a lot more extreme, especially on the way up.
It was an exciting hike. Don Carlos has put a lot of new cattle on the farm, and they didn't seem as tame as the other cattle he used to have. Even the cows have big horns, which is rather intimidating. It didn't bother Kevin, and he picked up a long stick and yelled some kind of cowboy yell to get them moving along. Jessica and Luis Alonso were happy to have him take charge of the cattle. Then Don Carlos' rather frisky young horse started following us. I didn't figure out for a while that he kept approaching me (which had me rather scared, because the last time we rode horses on the farm this horse acted very agressively with the other horses) because I was wearing Kevin's Australian cowboy hat, which looks somewhat like Don Carlos' cowboy hat. Hmmm... I think I was confusing the horse. Anyway, Kevin took some time to get the horse to come up to him to eat out of his hand, and to let him touch him. When we told Don Carlos later that Kevin was working on taming his horse, he could hardly believe it, as he told us this horse is rather wild, and hasn't been broken yet.
We hiked down to the little house that is still on the farm, and talked Jim out of hiking all the way down to the river. (What goes down has to come up!) Instead we walked a little way to check out a waterfall, which normally has a lot of water, but that day only a trickle of water was running. All in all, we hiked for about four hours, and by the time we walked back to the car my legs were rubbery.
We now have a new bar right near our farm, Bar Pabas, and luckily it was open when we passed by! We decided to stop for lunch, and the kids were happy to see that they have a new Foosball game. They were playing some great Spanish cowboy music, and Jim and I did our best to embarass the kids by dancing.
Jessica and Luis Alonso invited us to go to Tilaran this weekend to visit Luis Alonso's parents, and to do some fishing. I'm looking forward to it.
It was an exciting hike. Don Carlos has put a lot of new cattle on the farm, and they didn't seem as tame as the other cattle he used to have. Even the cows have big horns, which is rather intimidating. It didn't bother Kevin, and he picked up a long stick and yelled some kind of cowboy yell to get them moving along. Jessica and Luis Alonso were happy to have him take charge of the cattle. Then Don Carlos' rather frisky young horse started following us. I didn't figure out for a while that he kept approaching me (which had me rather scared, because the last time we rode horses on the farm this horse acted very agressively with the other horses) because I was wearing Kevin's Australian cowboy hat, which looks somewhat like Don Carlos' cowboy hat. Hmmm... I think I was confusing the horse. Anyway, Kevin took some time to get the horse to come up to him to eat out of his hand, and to let him touch him. When we told Don Carlos later that Kevin was working on taming his horse, he could hardly believe it, as he told us this horse is rather wild, and hasn't been broken yet.
We hiked down to the little house that is still on the farm, and talked Jim out of hiking all the way down to the river. (What goes down has to come up!) Instead we walked a little way to check out a waterfall, which normally has a lot of water, but that day only a trickle of water was running. All in all, we hiked for about four hours, and by the time we walked back to the car my legs were rubbery. 
We now have a new bar right near our farm, Bar Pabas, and luckily it was open when we passed by! We decided to stop for lunch, and the kids were happy to see that they have a new Foosball game. They were playing some great Spanish cowboy music, and Jim and I did our best to embarass the kids by dancing.
Jessica and Luis Alonso invited us to go to Tilaran this weekend to visit Luis Alonso's parents, and to do some fishing. I'm looking forward to it.Labels: Bar Pabas Monteverde Costa Rica
