We awoke to Bill’s clock alarm going off at 6:30am. It was pitch black in the cave. I had left the lights on in the stairwell but they were out. I flipped the lights witch The power was outThere were matches and candles in the room so we lit them to find our way upstairs. It was daylight and Jim and Nancy were already up. Nancy made coffee- luckily they had a gas stove. We drank coffee and watched the tame deer foraging in the yard outside the livingroom window.Jim has plans for making a screened in area where he can keep other wildlife like monkeys and such.After coffee we got ready for our horseback ride.Jim gave me a palomino stallion, called Zeus and Bill got a mare- he doesn’t remember her name- a pretty grey. Our guide’s name was Juan.At first we rode along the road, me behind Juan and Bill behind me. Then we turned off the road and headed down a rutted country lane, across a field and then what looked like a makeshift runway (it was). Then we started up through a coffee plantation along the roughest, narrowest, rockiest and steepest trail you could imagine.Zeus was not pleased and he and I had a disagreement about whether he was going to take the trail. After he realized I wasn’t a total pushover, he grudgingly did his duty.At the end of the trail was another road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Juan explained that the road was still under construction and that there was no way to get to it yet, except the way we did. From there you could see the whole lake far below us, but from the other side of the road you can see all the way to the Pacific Ocean on a clear day. Our day was hazy so we didn’t see it. But still it was quite a view.Our ride took 2 and a half hours. When we arrived back at Jim and Nancy’s the power had come back on and they had prepared another wonderful meal for us. It started with coffee cake, then pineapple rings in a delicious sauce, then the main course with pork medallions, scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes and bread. Again I was unable to do the food justice.After breakfast we packed our stuff and loaded the bike. I had thought we were getting off to a really late start, but it was only noon. What a full morning! Avenida Centroamericano Cop?
