BY TARA BURKE

Another thing that we really wanted to do in Costa Rica was go horse back riding. A lot of my friends tease me for being a horse girl even though before this trip I had never ridden a horse. I watched one series where I learned more about horses and whenever any topic about horses came up I’d always have something to say about it, so from then on I was horse girl, haha! So as many can attest, I was excited to actually ride a horse and to a beautiful waterfall nonetheless!

Our three horses arrived right at the front of our hostel along with our cute Costa Rican guide. Our guide didn’t speak much English so we chatted a bit in Spanish while we got on our horses. Cailin rode a horse named Mariposa, Katy’s was named Pocho and mine was named Tequila! We didn’t get any pointers on how to ride and direct the horse, so my horse knowledge came in handy. All the horses definitely knew the trail, so you didn’t have to give them much direction, but at times they’d gallop faster and both Cailin and Katy had to stop and dismount their horses to retrieve both sunglasses and iPhones that just went flying, haha! The whole trail is really amazing and takes you along the Aguila River and up and down small hills until you hit the waterfall.

Our guide tied up our horses and lead us up a hill to a clearing right in front of this epic waterfall. It had perfect rocks at the bottom that made great swimming holes. After gazing at the waterfall for a bit we headed down the rocky hill to swim! The whole scene was right out of a travel magazine. We all just kept saying to each other that this was one of the coolest things we’ve done!

When we got back to our hostel we were a little sad to say goodbye to our horses, but couldn’t believe how awesome the whole experience was. Our hostel owners also made us lunch upon our return, which was again so nice of them. After, we spent the rest of the day reading in hammocks, drinking coffee and eating cake!