San Jose, Costa Rica TRIP Day 5/9 (10/9TU/12)

Today we started off with breakfast! Did stuff, and slept.



While we were eating breakfast, my mom and dad were looking at some places to go on brochures. I was just about finished, and we found a place called "Vista Los Suenos". There were 2 options: horseback riding to a waterfall/river, or zip line!! Let's go horseback riding! The "Vista Los Suenos" place was about 15 minutes away. We paid for the tour ($50 per adult/$45 per child), and got a red wristband. We waited for about 10 minutes, and our tour guide came, named "Roy". He told us that the horses will take us to one of the two destinations: waterfall or river. The people that we bought wristbands (tickets) from recommended the waterfall. Waterfall, it is! We waited with him for another 10 minutes, and then came the horses. We followed our tour guide, and as we got closer, we noticed the guy on the horse was a KID! OMG! KIDS CAN WORK? I wanna work there! I just hope I get paid...

OMG NO FAIR!!!

Well, he got the horses here, and we all got onto our horses. I got the smallest one (the horse 2nd to left, the brown one), and that's all I can recognize. Mine is the dark brown, like brownies. The reason we have 5 horses with 3 tourists is because we need one more for Roy, and another guy that works here. Roy was at the front, the other guy was at the back. That still doesn't prevent the horses from being clumsy and falling off the hill and killing me *D:*. Just kidding, I was just hoping if it was obedient.
    The control room... actually, there are no rooms. But anyway, to go is to slightly hit the sides of the horses with your feet. Wait, what else would you use to kick other than your feet? Your head? Your arms? Your dog? I don't know. To slow down or stop the horse, you gently pull on the cords attached to the face. I'm actually not sure what it is to speed up, it is either make a clicking sound with your mouth, or kick it some more. I think it is make a clicking sound with your mouth. We headed off for the trail, and the road was... okay, I guess. Some of it was rocky, and we actually had to pass 3 gates. People actually live next to the trail (their house was on that trail street, and there were 2 houses), and I saw chickens and heard dogs on one of the houses. There were fences on that house, but not on the parkway. The horses walked around some more, and we discovered some more tamed but free horses, eating something. After we passed that, in came a flowing river! They probably already fed the horses, because they didn't stop to drink. Even though it was rocky, the horses got it under control.
     Passing the river came hills. Now we had to go up. We actually went very far up, down some, and up more. Finally, after a seeming endless of a trail, the horses can go no more. We have reached the waterfall, sort of. We had to go down some stairs (not concrete or anything, they just put bars between each level), and after about 5 minutes, I could see the waterfall! I changed into my swimsuit, and jumped in. Yes, you can swim in it! That's what I loved about it. We weren't at the top of the water chain, but we were next to a 10 meter waterfall.
     It was more than 6 feet at the place where the waterfall landed, but shorter at other places. It flowed down another small waterfall (less than a foot), and another short one, and some more... I just relaxed at the short waterfalls, it was like a water massage on my back with the water flowing! Roy was also in the water, and later, he gave us some fruit. Watermelon and pineapple pre-sliced, ready to be eaten.

See? The waterfall at the left is the big one, the one my dad and I am on is the small waterfall, and there are more small waterfalls down at the bottom.

I just realized that the waterfall is too clean to be natural, I think they cleaned it. After we finished our fruits, we headed back up to our horses, and started off back down. The trail was not a closed "trail" (closed circuit), so we followed our steps back. If you don't know, a closed circuit is a circuit that is... closed. There are no holes, and you can get back to your destination without going backwards. Ours was not closed, so we had to go back.
     When we reached the little flowing river, my horse immediately started drinking the water. My mom's horse also stopped for water. Roy also explained that horses compete in who's first and last: if you're first (well, 2nd, behind Roy's horse), then you are the best. It seems like my horse is the least competitive, and he lets other horses pass him. If he tries to pass other horses, their heads will go in front of him. Don't you dare bother my horse! Well, we finally arrived back at our station.
     We left the place, and went home before it starts raining. Our plan is basically like this: early in the morning do activities, go to hotel in the afternoon. We ate, drank Pina Colada, used the computer, ate dinner, and went to sleep. Oh, I also forgot to tell you: in Costa Rica, it almost always rain everyday during noon, less than 2 hours.