Bailey's Tico & Los Torres Cabalgata!

Last Sunday May 26 saw us head over to the small town of Los Torres for their annual Cabalgata.  Always a fun event as I have said before and for horse lovers, every Cabalgata is equal to Christmas morning:-)   Cabalgatas are a chance for horse lovers to get together, drink cerveza, visit with old friends and actually go for a beautiful horse ride.  The village of Los Torres sits at the base of  beautiful Volcan Miravalles.  At a higher elevation than Guayabo, one gets beautful views of the lush valleys and off in the distance Volcan Rincon de La Vieja.  Donna and I were invited by our Costa Rican friends and neighbors to accompany them for the day -  Hubert, Milady and their daughter Genesis, along with Manuel and Leyla.  A great bunch of fun people.  So now the problem is how do we get 6 horses from San Jorge to Los Torres about 25 miles by road.  No problem - Hubert and I would ride and trail four horses over to Pueblo Nuevo then meet Leyla's brother with his truck.  They would then truck the horses to Los Torres - always a Tico solution.  Hubert and I left about 9:30 AM and rode for about  1 1/2 hours, met the truck, loaded the horses and we all arrived in Los Torres at noon in plenty of time as the Cabalgata was scheduled to start at 2 PM which is usually 3 PM or later - Tico Time!  So for a few hours we had some great tico food, drank a few cerveza and watched some of the riders perform with their beautiful paseo horses - high stepping and actually keeping time to the music.  At about 3 PM, the ride started and off we went through this beautiful Costa Rican high country.  Cool fresh breezes with some heavy cloud cover but no rain. About 75 horses and riders - some having a little more cerveza than others and some having over indulged in Bailey's Tico.  Now here is a new drink to us.  Bailey's Tico is a local drink that tastes exactly like Bailey's liquor BUT wow is it potent.  It seems like this drink is very popular in Los Torres as there were gallon jugs of this stuff everywhere.  Donna and I tried some and it was very tasty - it is made with evaporated milk, condensed milk, coco syrup AND alcohol made from Coyol palm.  You cannot buy this stuff from any liquor outlet - this is a real home grown hooch!  A couple of drinks will knock you on your butt so if you ever get a chance to try some - drink it with caution.  Lots of fun for the rest of the day with our old Costa Rican friends and new friends we met that day.  The ride was beautiful single track through the lush country side for about 2 hours with a few tricky river crossings thrown in.  We made a huge loop and ended back at Los Torres for the draw prizes and dancing and more food.  Donna won a rope and saddle blanket and I won a rope and a great leather clad  bottle for Baileys' Tico I guess :-)  After the prizes were all handed out, we loaded up and made for San Jorge -  Hubert and I had to trail the horses back after the truck ride so it made for a long day as we arrived home about 10 PM.  Tired but looking forward to the next cabalagata!  Pura Vida! 

Unloading horses from the truck

Hubert saddling up Chirripa

               

Milady & Genesis

Riders on the trail

Donna on Chalana

Trail riders's heaven!

                            Leyla on Chirripa

We enjoyed beautiful views like this during the Cabalgata!

Herb with Prieto & Donna with Chalana

Sunday Trail Ride in Paradise

Another great Sunday in paradise as we saddled up our horses for a beautiful ride through the jungle.  Accompanied by our Costa Rican friends - Milady with her daughter Genesis and her son Claudio.   The morning started out cloudy and threatening rain but the skys cleared and it turned into a great day in paradise with a gentle breeze blowing keeping the air "fresco".  We rode down the mountains this time from our ASL of 680 meters to the lower area around 520 meters (thank you James Bond Casio watch:-) The birds were singing and the horses were full of energy.  We rode for about an hour then detoured into a beautiful creek side area where we had fresh mangos and melons topped off with Donnas cookies.  Off again for couple more hours of peaceful solitude.  What a great way to spend a Sunday morning.  The sounds of the jungle and the melodic clip clop of the horses hooves - Pura Vida!

Claudio, Genesis, Milada & Donna enjoying fresh mango and melons!

Chalana looking for a taste of mango! 

A "Horses Eye View" of the jungle trail:-) 

A beautiful tranquil spot along the creek - great for picnics! 

A shower of gold on this beautiful tropical tree! 

Tons of Tucans

We are seeing a lot of keel billed tucans these days at the mountains. Every morning when we go for a walk we are seeing large flocks of these beautiful birds.  Normally they are solitary or in pairs but this must be breeding season so we are seeing them in flocks of 15 to 20.  We are hearing them croaking all day long.  The first time we heard them we thought the sound was from frogs but we soon learned it was the tucans croaking away.  These are the Fruit Loop tucans and they are plentiful in Rincon de La Vieja especially in May and June.

This time of year is a bird lovers paradise as we are also seeing a lot of hummingbirds, montezuma oropendulas, numerous beautiful small song birds and of course the clay colored robins are singing in the mornings waiting for the rains to move in to our area.  Pura Vida!

A quick trip to San Jose and some Trivia

We had to make a quick trip to San Jose (Chepe) today to pick up our new Canadian passports.  The Embassy will not courier them so we had to make a special trip in to SJ.  On the way I tried out my new James Bond watch with compass, altimeter and barometer.  We drove the old highway to SJ and the new highway back in just about the same time 4 hours or so each way including pit stops.   As we drove I took altitudes and here are the details for those interested in this stuff - at the top of the ridges on the way to SJ near San Ramon the altitude is 1095 meters (3,592 feet) ASL.  We started from our home in the mountains which is 680 meters (2,230 feet).  Near the Canadian Embassy close to  SJ central by the Sabana the altitude is 1075 meters (3,526 feet) ASL.  If you have ever been to San Jose you will know it is in the central valley and now you know why it is cool and for the most part you do not need A/C.  Sometimes a nice fireplace would be nice in the homes surrounding the capital.  Pura Vida!

New Hotels on the Way for Guanacaste!

More exciting news for Guanacaste as four new hotels are under construction in the area.  These hotels will add another 1,037 rooms to the area!  Check out this link to read about these NEW HOTELS  We are watching the construction of the Melia Papagayo from our deck in the duplex we live in (by the way this is a terrific unit on the market - easily converted into a wonderful ocean view - walk to the beach 4 bedroom 6 bathroom home - Donna has some great ideas for making this into your dream home).  Daily we are seeing three big track hoes and at least 12 large dump trucks working on site.  They mean business here with the goal to open in mid 2014.  A great addition to our area.  If you are thinking of buying - now is the time because when these new hotels open the number of people visiting our area and falling in love with Costa Rica will increase and property prices will go up! Also there are three more large developments that will be making big announcements in the next while - these rumors are causing some sellers to increase their prices already!  Check out our website for some great deals right now including a great home in Coco that could be picked up for considerably less than the $160,000 asking price.  Pura Vida! 

First Significant Rain at the Beach - May 10, 2013

Yesterday in Playa Hermosa, Playas del Coco, Playa Panama we saw the first significant rain of the 2013 rainy season.  A welcome 1.5 inches of rain fell in about an hour and a half.  A nice rain to finally end the last days of the dry season.  Later in the evening the clouds cleared and the temperature was perfect - no a/c tonight.  Fresh sea breezes were blowing and the air was fresh.  This morning on my bike ride the road was dry and air termperature was a little cooler than the past while.  The clay robins were singing announcing the arrival of the rainy season - another great day in paradise.  Guanacaste has been very dry due to the shortage of rain last rainy season so everyone is welcoming the arrival of the rains.  Hopefully we can look forward to afternoon showers till the heavier rains in late September and October.  A great time to visit Costa Rica is now as nature will begin painting the hillsides of Guancaste in beautiful textures of verde (green)!  Pura Vida! 

Tourism Costa Rica Promotional Video for 2013

Have a look at this great video developed by Tourism Costa Rica.  The video will be played in hundreds of theaters across the US and Canada in 2013.  Costa Rica Traveler magazine took the film crew on a 25 day tour staying in 18 hotels throughout the country to get the video content for this video. .  Click here for the link - Costa Rica Living!