Monkeys!

1.15
Today we awoke to the second straight morning of rainbows, so close you felt you could almost chase the childhood pot of gold and actually come quite close to finding it. Yet coffee was far more important in my mind (como siempre!).

Our day yesterday was totally blissful. We started out on horseback with a guide nicknamed Wonder, and Giovanni, the friendly hotel manager who had been chatting us up since our arrival. ( apparently, the workers were trying to guess my age... Wonder said 12, though Giovanni said at least 15....) We rode through beautiful countryside and were accompanied by our rainbow up until the start of the ziplines, 6 in total, which my dear mother handled like a pro, and I consumed a great deal of bugs what for screaming the entire way. incredibly fun.

we hopped back on our trusty steeds (these horses are legit. sturdy does not even begin to describe them) and made our way to the hot springs. So close to the volcano, hot springs abound, but someone had taken the trouble of strategically placing rocks to make the most delightful little sanctuary of hot water and sunlight peeking through the trees.

another hour's ride. At this point, the glamour of horseback (and my dreams of being a cowgirl) have all but faded along with any feeling I once posessed in my posterior. We dismount and trek on foot, stopping to admire a group of white-faced monkeys, who, according to our guide, were searching for something to throw at us. Our journey at last brings us to a tumbling waterfall, the mist refreshing to both body and spirit.

The horses are quite cheery to be headed home, and this cheers me too, until Don Gerardo points out the bones of where a horse was eaten by a jaguar. somehow "oh, they won't bother people" doesnt seem a good enough defense.

1.16
We had originally considered another horseback ride for today, but, as even sitting on a chair was painful for me, decided to give that set of muscles a rest as we tired out a different set!

Seeing monkeys will never get old! Also, a coati (think raccoon with an anteater's nose and a monkey's tail) and a family of tapirs, which are adorable oversized rodents ( think, if a tapir took steriods, it would look like the rodents of unusual size from the forest in Princess Bride).

Im choosing not to look up how many km are in a mile ( my apologies to all the math teachers whose lessons i seem to have blocked from memory). We had four hours until our ride came to pick us up, but decided to hike to a waterfall 5 km (a very rocky and mountainous 5) away anyway. "2 hours each way" must be the estimate they give to the average hiker, and as i thrust my chin up in defiance, we are certainly not average. it is a skill i have never learned , that of admitting defeat gracefully, and so we pushed on at an incredible pace, playing a little game with time which earned us 30 minutes in the most picturesque waterfall imaginable. the pool of cyrstal clear water was all the sweeter to dive into after working to hard to reach it. The more delicate ears of this blog must forgive me, for my mother, in her unflagging energy and spirit, can only be described as kick ass.

we were 15 minutes late, but the original driver had been bitten by a scorpion, and the second had a flat tire on the way to come get us. Since the change to my astrological sign, I dont know whether to read this as a good sign or bad . =P