Costa Rica Discovered: Colonia Blanca Cabalgata

Wow! It just seems like yesterday that I participated in the 2012 Colonia Blanca Cabalgata along with my neighbor Hubert and his sun Claudio. Riding back through the jungle in black dark on slippery, muddy trails is not something you soon forget! Well, on Sunday it was a year later and time for another Colonia Blanca Cabalgata! This time I was going prepared - complete with headlamp, full rain gear, extra Johnny Walker Scotch for the trip home. This year, Donna and I were Invitados, meaning we were two of the many people from the surrounding area to receive special invitations. Also, this year we were going as a bigger group with Hubert, the original Jungle Jim, leading the way. We would be trailing 6 horses including our gelding Prieto. Donna and Rafael our farm worker would take the Land Cruiser and meet us in Colonia Blanca. So off we went with horses about 9:30 AM for the 16 kilometer ride to Colonia Blanca. Riding through the jungle up from our home is beautiful in the AM except this time of year the hard packed lava soil is as slippery as a skating rink and heading up steep hills on horses does cause a bit of panic :-) But our trusty Costa Rican ponies handled the challenge with no falls or incidents. Thank Goodness! We completed the ride in 1 1/2 hours as Hubert pushed the horses and they had no problems. Chalana, our tireless mare, loves a challenge when there are other horses around and loves to be in front which made the ride easier for me. Registration of the cabalgata started at 12:00 PM and we arrived with lots of time to spare. Over 120 riders and horses registered for the event with 9 of us from the San Jorge area. Prior to starting the ride, there is a lot of visiting and a few cerveza consumed along with some great Costa Rican food dishes including my favorite - chicharones! The actual ride started at 2:30 PM and the afternoon rains held off to give us a great ride through the back country with some great mountain views and some tricky sections. Of course along the way we were given a few drinks of the locally famous moonshine for this area - Los Torres had Baileys Tico and Colonia Blanca has Cherriche which was a pleasant cherry tasting but powerful local brew! Here are a few photos of the event and ride. Note the local police force providing original Costa Rican music a the starting area prior to the start of the race - I guess it is all part of police service in the back country! The ride back home after the cabalgata was interesting in the dark but this year I brought my headlamp to ward off the beasts of the jungle! Luckily no rain and no slips on the slippery terrain :-)