Wednesday, May 3 - We lay on the beach during the morning, played sand volleyball and then ate a quick lunch before hopping on the bus to the horse ranch.
We had our own horses, mine was named Splinter, and Michael's was named Rasta. Splinter certainly had a mind of his own! He knew I wasn't in control the minute I mounted him, and he took full advantage of my amateur riding abilities. He would deliberately stop on his own to munch on some grass or take his own route along the path in spite of my tugging the reigns and yelling at him. Darn stubborn horse! At least he didn't take off galloping. That would've really scared me.
We had two tour guides. The leader had braids all over his head, and the guy in the back enjoyed a little too much "gancha," which made the trip entirely entertaining! He gave Michael the entire history of those mountains that we (or I should say our horses) were climbing. He would toke every five or ten minutes and end up half-off his saddle, laughing his head off. It was SO FUNNY!
We were 600 feet above sea level when we reached the top of the mountain. It was mesmerizing! The Carribean spanned endlessly right in front of us, and the tree tops on the mountain were so green. After we descended, we crossed the highway and started trotting in the sand on the shoreline. Simply fabulous!!
We passed a crocodile marsh and spotted several of them hidden in the fenced-in muddy marsh. By the end of the 1.5 hour ride, my ankles were sore, my knees felt twisted, and my hands stunk from gripping the smelly, wet, and nasty reigns. It was worth it, though!
We bought our tour guides a beer and then jumped back in the bus to return to the resort. Seeing the desolation and poverty in the outside areas surrounding the resorts really made me sad. I didn't feel right about living so lavishly inside the resort when the rest of the Jamaican population slummed in poverty! Why don't the wealthy resort owners give back to the community? It would only seem the right thing to do! Perhaps that will become part of my mission one day...
After horse back riding, we rested shortly and then went out with practically everyone in the resort to good ol' Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. It was pretty fun and entertaining. We ate an appetizer, chatted with our new found pals, Bubba and Jess from Knoxville, and then went back to our resort where we could eat and drink for FREE!
We had dinner that night with Bubba & Jess in the Italian restaurant at the resort. That was nice. We got to know them a little bit better. How ironic for us to meet fellow honeymooners from our neck of the woods?
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