Christmas in Costa Rica Part II

Borinquen Mountain Resort

Day Four: 

Horseback Riding

 The next day was our big exertion to Borinquen Mountain Resort & Spa. After a two and a half hour drive from Potrero (the last hour the road was a steep, winding dirt road--it was all I could do to not toss my cookies), we arrived at Borinquen Resort which was located at the foothills of the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano. The volcano is still active, and last erupted in 1995.

But it was the views of the mountainous landscape that was so jaw-dropping to me, and probably why I enjoyed horseback riding the most out of everything we did at Borinquen. 

Picture of the barn where all the horses were kept. 

 I guess I could of asked the kids if they even wanted to go horseback riding, but I just assumed that anyone would want to ride a horse up a volcano in Costa Rica. So while we were waiting for everyone to get situated, I decided to at least asked the fam if they had ridden a horse before:

Brad had horses growing up, and Breck road horses a couple years ago while visiting Brad's hometown in Canada.

 Brittney rode a pony once when she was a kid, at some fair or carnival.

 Aubrey had just been on a horse for the first time a few months earlier during YSA activity.

 Merinda had never been on a horse but was ready for the adventure, and I rode my friend's horses growing up.

 I thought it was very nice of our trail guide to line up all the horses for the perfect picture.

 Speaking of perfect pictures...this was our driver (who had to hang out with us for the day in order to drive us back) who was the bomb at taking pictures. In fact, most of the pictures you will see this day were taken by him. I just gave him my phone and he went to town (he took so many that I ended up keeping only half of them). Being the psycho-picture taker that I am, I really appreciated him for doing that!

 And we're off! The clouds were so low at times, it would suddenly begin to rain. But it was a gentle mountain top rain that came with a cool breeze that made you think to yourself "I cannot believe how beautiful this is, and that I have such a wonderful opportunity to be here with my family!!!"

 Our trail guide trying to get Brad's horse to cooperate. Our guide was pretty chill, but I guess you would have to be if you were responsible for a bunch of horses, and a bunch of people who didn't know how to ride horses. 

Breck, with the beautiful landscape behind.

 Speaking of...behind Breck is our driver taking pictures of a young Brazilian girl and her friend, who spent the day with us. Breck enjoyed speaking Spanish with them on the drive up. The girls were only fourteen, however, they were fluent in Spanish, English, and of course their native language Portuguese. 

 Merinda was a champ her first time on a horse, and Aubrey's horse was named clown (in Spanish), which was quite appropriate since he liked to do his own thing, like going down a small cliff. Aubrey leaned way back and just hung on for dear life. My horse was about to follow her horse down the cliff until I pulled tight on the reigns and led him around the cliff instead (I felt grateful to have had some previous experience riding a horse!).

 Once again our awesome trail guide arranging horses for the perfect photo op! 

 I just couldn't get over the amazing 360 degree views!

 Heading down the mountain into the forest.

 Clown was minding himself in the forest, however, while one of the Brazillian girls was riding in front of me she got tangled up in a large branch which pulled her off her horse. Her horse then took off full speed ahead. Luckily, our driver (he's a man of many talents) gave her his horse and ran to catch hers. So it was a good thing all horses were accounted for at the drop-off point. 

The other crazy thing were these mysterious bites all over Aubrey's legs! I thought they might be sand-flea bites but that day with the horses we did notice that something was sucking our blood and leaving welts that itched and pussed for weeks afterwards.

Waterfall and Nature Hike

 After our horse riding adventure, we took some pictures in the forest,

 like next to this unique looking tree,

  and started hiking down to some waterfalls.

 The first waterfall appeared out of nowhere in the thick forest.

 My cutie kids!

 My cutie husband!

 Our cutie family!

 Other interesting sites along the trail: this blue morpho butterfly which lives in the dense forests, and flits around so quickly it's difficult to snap a picture (thus the poor quality);

 this Black Milk Snake that are mostly found in the high-altitude cloud forests of Panama and Costa Rica (fun fact...of the 162 species of snakes in Costa Rica, only 22 are poisonous); 

and last but not least, poop from Howler monkeys. We didn't see any, but Brittney and I heard them howling through the forest while walking to the beach one day (and it was scary!). 

We then walked to another waterfall.

This one was bigger, and spit out a little more water. 

Apparently I wasn't taking the picture quick enough, and Brad was getting more wet than he wanted to. 

 Aubrey,

 Brittney,

 and Breck,

  all wanting to cool off with a little spray from the falls.

Another great picture with the whole family.

Zip-Lining

 Our next adventure for the day was zip-lining, which was new for all of us except for Brittney who had done it once before.

 It didn't take long for our guides to throw us in our harnesses and give us our gloves.

 Intently listening to all the instructions before putting our lives on line (literally)!

 Feeling a little more confident on our way to the first practice line (I think we were just all relieved to hear that there was a practice line!).

 Breck was the first to go...

and the first to survive the practice line! 

 The next line was a little higher and longer.

 And so on and so forth!

It was my turn next ...

  Getting some last minuet instruction.

Needing a little practice at stopping.

I was then ready for the big guns!

Merinda was a little apprehensive at first,

but then acted like it was all child's play.

Coming in fast and hard. 

She was pretty much an expert after the practice line.

Then it was Brad's turn.

Stopping slow and smooth.

No sweat for someone who was once in the army!

Brittney was all smiles and already feeling like an expert since this was her second time zip-lining.

Coming in like a pro.

Last but not least was Aubrey.

Cautiously coming to a full stop.

No one had any issues at all, expect for me, who felt a little light-headed after letting my fear of heights get to me, but luckily the adrenaline kept me going!

Beautiful views of the waterfalls from the zip-lines above. 

I was so relieved when the guides hooked us all in while waiting on the platforms.

Breck being cool, even while zip-lining.

Smiling at our driver who was taking pictures from below.

Since Brittney was already an expert, she decided to get a different perspective on things...up-side-down!

I think she would have enjoyed it more had the guide not rocked her legs back and forth.

For the final line, most of us decided to follow Brittney's lead and ride the cable up-side-down.

Breck went first (of course),

and then seeing that he survived I decided to try it myself,

and by the look on my face, I guess I liked it.

Merinda then did her own version of up-side-down.

Brad also gave it a try.

And Aubrey just doesn't give into peer-pressure.

After everything, Brittney could not be outdone!

Lunch at Boriquen Resort Restaurant

 After such a fun-filled morning, we sure worked up an appetite.

 The restaurant at Borinquen Resort was formal yet relaxing. 

 Waiting for the first courses which included hors d' oeuvres, soup, and salad.

 Our entrees (Brittney actually ate her packed lunch, so we all shared her entree). 

 Brad and I ordered the fajitas,

 and Breck ordered the special, some kind of meat gravy over rice with a side of vegetables.

But the real winner was the dessert--Ice cream filled cake with Dulce de Letche topping. It was sooo good!

Boriquen Mud Bath & Hot Springs

 The final activity of the day was a therapeutic mud bath with hot volcanic mud, and a soak in the geothermal hot spring pools. 

 Walking down the hill to the hot springs.

  The pools were located under the green lush forest canopy.

 Steam shooting up from hot spots underground.

 Breck was the first to try out the mud bath (of course) .

 The volcanic mud was actually very hot, but cooled quickly once it touched your skin.

 The mud was also smooth and slimy which made it easy to rub all over your body (which was the whole point).

 We all quite liked the camouflage-mud look on Breck.

 But the mud dried quickly.

 Brad helping Breck out.

 We all then decided to give it a try.

 Brittney keeping it real,

 and Aubrey feeling the warmth and softness on her face (of course...it's Aubrey).

 Taking a mud bath is serious business!

 Brittney leaving her handprints on Brad's back.

 Brad sporting his black mud bra and football paint, and me with my black mud boots and goatee. 

 Right next to the mud bath were showers so you could thoroughly rinse off before getting in the geothermal pools.

 Breck thought it was okay to get in the pools since the water was cloudy anyway, but apparently that's the color of hot springs when they are located on the side of a volcano.

Anyway, Brittney sent him back to shower. It took him awhile to rinse all the layers of dried silky smooth mud off his body.

Ahhh, this is the life!

Even Brad's eyes were getting a little heavy.

 The three pools were each a different temperature, however, all the temperatures were just too hot for me.

The resort also had regular swimming pools that were geothermal, but wisely enough, they were completely separate from the mud bath hot springs.

We absolutely loved our day at Boriquen Mountain Resort, and want to give a shout out to our friend's Rick and Alisa for their wonderful recommendation!!!

Back at Potrero Bay

That evening, we finally made it back to our condo at Potrero Bay, and had fun recapping the amazing events of the day while playing a happy game of Farkle (well....almost happy).