Monday February 28th, 2011
After a much needed good nights sleep (did I mention I was exhausted the day before) we were ready to face the day and excited to get in some adventure and exploring. We had scoped out the abundance of activities they offered. There was certainly no lack of things to do from waterfalls that were a short hike away to an eight hour trek up and down the actual Volcano. Today, we opted to go horseback riding through the mountains. But first things first. Let's get some breakfast and try some Costa Rican coffee!! The breakfast was very basic but good. There was one exceptional exception!! You know how when you go to a breakfast buffet there is often a omelet bar where one of the cooks stands cooking custom omelets for you? Well, the Hacienda had an omelet bar but more importantly they had a tortilla "bar" Every single morning a woman stood with a grinder of sorts making little dough balls, pressed them out with her own two hands, and cooked them up in a skillet right before your eyes. Boy do I miss her.
The coffee was different but after a day or so the flavor and consistency grew on me. By the end of the trip we were buying some to bring home. One thing really surprised me. Coffee is one of the country's main crops and exports. You would think that people would be sitting at coffee shops drinking coffee all day long. Wrong. I found that if you didn't drink your coffee before 9 a.m., you most likely would not see any coffee until the next morning.
After breakfast we set out for our horseback riding. My husband spent a few years working in a stable and I spent a few childhood weeks at horseback camp. So we both knew what we were getting in to. The stable worker was very concerned about heading into the mountains and having to ride for 3 hours. He wanted to know where we grew up (and I'm still trying to figure out what that had to do with horse riding qualifications). He explained that if you go up, you can't quit, you have to come back down. We assured and reassured and assured him again that we would be fine. I suspect most people only want to ride for an hour or maybe two at the most. Finally, we were introduced to Genaro's stubborn horse, Narizona, and my feisty girl, Hymeala and off into the mountains we rode! We left the horses at one point in order to hike down a canyon to see crystal clear river fed by the Oropendula Waterfall. A gorgeous site and although the water was pretty frigid, how could we pass up the opportunity for a swim! Eventually we hiked back up from the river to continue our entrancing horse ride through the mountains.
Upon arrival back at the Hacienda and having lunch we opted to head down to the Rio Negro thermal hot pools. We got on a bus, with a group of other people and headed that way. Genaro is always saying he speaks Spanish like a two year old. But I don't believe him. I think he sounds pretty fluent. He understands them. They understand him. It's great. In fact, I definitely recommend knowing some because while you can always find someone who speak English, we were able to learn a lot more about the places we traveled from the locals who didn't speak any English. However, on this particular day I'm not so sure the bus driver understood us. We're on this bus and the bus driver kept agreeing with us that he was taking us to Rio Negro He did not, however, drive there. He drove to "the spa." Simbiosis: Volcanic Mud Spring and Spa. I suppose we could have stayed on the bus and insisted on being taken to Rio Negro but we were rather curious and everyone else was doing it.
So we followed the herd into Simiosis. I wasn't necessary expecting anything but having been to Calastoga on a few occasions and having a hot mud bath at a spa on one of those occasions, I had a picture in my mind of what this place was going to be like. A VERY inaccurate picture, I might add. I guess it's only logical that a mud bath in Northern California is very different than in Central America. A man who had a very Greek personality (although we didn't confirm he was Greek) was standing behind the bar. It was late afternoon/early evening and I thought we had just walked into happy hour but we were quickly rushed into the hot saunas and-told- ordered by the Greek man, to stay in there for ten minutes. Here we met a very vivacious Italian couple. I liked that they spoke English and I could participate in the conversation. They very much liked the name 'Genaro Oliveri' and laughed.I hadn't ever really thought about it before but I suspect having the name Genaro in Italy is similar to having the name John or Mike in the US. After the sauna we were herded to the mud. But it was not a mud bath. It was bubbling hot lava/mud that was being pulled up directly from the source by a 5 gallon bucket and a rope. People stood around the bucket with paint brushes painting a coat all over. I hesitantly joined in. After rinsing off, we finally got to get a delicious fruity drink and sit in the thermal hot tub. One would be more accurate to call it the thermal 'luke-warm' tub. Here we ran into Betty and Laura who had an entirely different experience at Simiosis. They'd just had massages. Laura raved and raved. She tried her best to convince us that we could not leave Rincon de la Vieja without an hour of heavenly massage from these amazing women at "the spa." Maybe next time...
After a much needed good nights sleep (did I mention I was exhausted the day before) we were ready to face the day and excited to get in some adventure and exploring. We had scoped out the abundance of activities they offered. There was certainly no lack of things to do from waterfalls that were a short hike away to an eight hour trek up and down the actual Volcano. Today, we opted to go horseback riding through the mountains. But first things first. Let's get some breakfast and try some Costa Rican coffee!! The breakfast was very basic but good. There was one exceptional exception!! You know how when you go to a breakfast buffet there is often a omelet bar where one of the cooks stands cooking custom omelets for you? Well, the Hacienda had an omelet bar but more importantly they had a tortilla "bar" Every single morning a woman stood with a grinder of sorts making little dough balls, pressed them out with her own two hands, and cooked them up in a skillet right before your eyes. Boy do I miss her.
The coffee was different but after a day or so the flavor and consistency grew on me. By the end of the trip we were buying some to bring home. One thing really surprised me. Coffee is one of the country's main crops and exports. You would think that people would be sitting at coffee shops drinking coffee all day long. Wrong. I found that if you didn't drink your coffee before 9 a.m., you most likely would not see any coffee until the next morning.
After breakfast we set out for our horseback riding. My husband spent a few years working in a stable and I spent a few childhood weeks at horseback camp. So we both knew what we were getting in to. The stable worker was very concerned about heading into the mountains and having to ride for 3 hours. He wanted to know where we grew up (and I'm still trying to figure out what that had to do with horse riding qualifications). He explained that if you go up, you can't quit, you have to come back down. We assured and reassured and assured him again that we would be fine. I suspect most people only want to ride for an hour or maybe two at the most. Finally, we were introduced to Genaro's stubborn horse, Narizona, and my feisty girl, Hymeala and off into the mountains we rode! We left the horses at one point in order to hike down a canyon to see crystal clear river fed by the Oropendula Waterfall. A gorgeous site and although the water was pretty frigid, how could we pass up the opportunity for a swim! Eventually we hiked back up from the river to continue our entrancing horse ride through the mountains.
Upon arrival back at the Hacienda and having lunch we opted to head down to the Rio Negro thermal hot pools. We got on a bus, with a group of other people and headed that way. Genaro is always saying he speaks Spanish like a two year old. But I don't believe him. I think he sounds pretty fluent. He understands them. They understand him. It's great. In fact, I definitely recommend knowing some because while you can always find someone who speak English, we were able to learn a lot more about the places we traveled from the locals who didn't speak any English. However, on this particular day I'm not so sure the bus driver understood us. We're on this bus and the bus driver kept agreeing with us that he was taking us to Rio Negro He did not, however, drive there. He drove to "the spa." Simbiosis: Volcanic Mud Spring and Spa. I suppose we could have stayed on the bus and insisted on being taken to Rio Negro but we were rather curious and everyone else was doing it.
So we followed the herd into Simiosis. I wasn't necessary expecting anything but having been to Calastoga on a few occasions and having a hot mud bath at a spa on one of those occasions, I had a picture in my mind of what this place was going to be like. A VERY inaccurate picture, I might add. I guess it's only logical that a mud bath in Northern California is very different than in Central America. A man who had a very Greek personality (although we didn't confirm he was Greek) was standing behind the bar. It was late afternoon/early evening and I thought we had just walked into happy hour but we were quickly rushed into the hot saunas and
