Horseback Riding/ ATVs in Las Palmas

---

Today is going to be awesome. I already know. I know because I went to Rancho Capomo last year and really enjoyed riding the horses and ATVs through the Mexican countryside. Karolina and I woke up and got ready for the dirt and grime we were expecting to get covered in. The jeans I wore on this adventure last year still have dirt embedded into them. Luckily I brought along that same pair to avoid unnecessarily depleting my jean collection. I also wore my bathing suit hoping to get some time to swim under the waterfall.

After our ritual breakfast at Paradise, we hailed a cab to the Club Collage - a run down club next to gentlemen clubs where we were expecting to be picked up by our tour guide. I'm thoroughly convinced we were ripped off by the cab, but its okay. It was less pesos to go all the way downtown than to go about 2 minutes from our resort. Hmm? Makes you wish they had meters just like Philadelphia.

As we waited we were approached by a man that got out of a squeaky clean, souped up red Ford F150. He wore a Rancho Capomo embroidered shirt, but I still was skeptical because of the cleanliness of the truck AND the cleanliness of the man's boots. Odd considering we're going to a ranch and the dust roads of the Mexican countryside make it almost impossible to stay that clean. Anyways, he took our paperwork and told us our tour guide would be along shortly.

Ten minutes later a Rancho Capomo van pulled up and asked for our papers. I explained that the cleanly man in the red F150 took our papers and he acted as if that were acceptable. *shew* Thank goodness. When he recognized the relief on my face he explained that that man was his boss and owned the ranch. O. That explains the truck. Spank'n new cars are hard to come by in this part of Mexico.

When Karolina and I got into the tour van there was only a couple in the back. Wow. We were at the last pickup location, so it appears we're going to have the ranch to ourselves.

Our guide was pretty great, but I noticed that he was reciting the exact same introduction to the Mexican countryside as I heard last year. Word for word. He explained with a charisma though that did not indicate to me that it was rehearsed. Very well done. We drove by a low security prison and continued up dirt roads until we entered the town of Las Palmas, Mexico. Las Palmas had cobblestone streets and clay homes/shops. There weren't many doors, only curtains covering the doorways. Many homes had rooftop porches where you could see a fire wood stove for cooking dinner. Families camped out on chairs outside their home with their dog sleeping close by. None were small dogs, either. The children were stopping to wave as we drove by. I waved back, of course, noticing that I couldn't see a clean patch of skin on a single child. I noticed most of the shops had yellow and blue strips on the exterior. I wasn't sure if this was some kind of chain shop, but the tour guide explained that those strips signified stores that sell Corona. Similarly, you'll see Coca-Cola logos for shops that sell coke. Let me tell you, there were a lot of hand-painted Coca-Cola signs.

Soon we were driving back into the countryside. I could see horses tied up along the roads, mango trees, guava trees, banana trees... and we soon pulled up to Rancho Capomo. To our left were the horse stables with a brick building as the centerpoint. Ahead of us was an open air restaurant with tables and a bar. Beyond the tables was a porch overlooking a stream running through the Sierra Madre jungle. I stood there looking as I heard the stream flow beneath me. This place is very tranquil. We began looking around and waved to the lady making tortillas in the kitchen outside with wood burning stove.

There were two little 2 month old puppies playing and I went closer to watch. They rolled over my shoes and as I sat on the ground one literally sat on my lap and rolled down my leg like a slide on a playground. It was so cute :-)

I cleaned up and we were fit for helmets. Horses first. Karolina had never rode a horse before. You could tell she was 75% excited and 25% nervous. She requested a beginner horse and I requested an intermediate. My horse had hair that matched mine. His name was Tamal. Karolina's horse was named Kantaro.

I swung up onto the saddle and the folks took my picture to sell later. Then we headed off. Karolina and I were left back at the ranch as the tour guide and the other couple made there way up the dirt road and onto the trail. No way Karolina, on her first time on a horse should be last. She kicked at Kantaro's tummy and pulled the reigns as I was telling her to and eventually we were on our way to catching up to the others. Kantaro began trotting as he tried to catch up and Karolina held on tight. What kind of beginner horse was this?!

I manoeuvred Tamal behind Karolina and Kantaro just as another tour guide caught up to us. We began to head down the creek through the beautiful jungle. Swinging trees like those in Tarzan lined the banks of the creek. Large stones of beautiful colors lined the bottom of the stream as crystal clear water was making its way in the opposite direction we were heading. I couldn't help but think to myself how absolutely beautiful this part of the world was. Tamal kept wanting to pass Kantaro and I had to keep holding him back. He didn't like that much and kept making argumentative sounds in protest. It was cute.

Soon we were free of the stream and heading through a clearing in the woods with a bunch of tagged cattle. These cows were huge compared to the cows I'm used to from the Pocono Mountains. They were also much more colorful. Their coats reminded me a lot of horse coats. Littered among the large cows were fluffy, skinny calves. The one's legs were so skinny it was a wonder it was able to stand up.

Soon we were climbing up one of the mountains. It wasn't much of an incline at first but soon we were zig zagging up the mountain. It was so steep. I didn't remember it being this steep last year.

Karolina had been instructed to lean forward as Kantaro was heading up and lean back as the horse was going down. She was following instructions exaggeratedly so. I couldn't help but smile. She did such a great job of trusting her horse on the steep slopes. It was pretty impressive. This was definitely not a beginner route and I'm very grateful Karolina was such a great sport about it. In some places we were only a foot away from the cliff edge and I even had to stop myself from looking down or I might feel nervous and I know the horse would be able to sense that. We were told at the top of the mountain that the route I went last year was blocked because of an avalanche of rocks that had come down during the rainy season last year.

We hopped off our horses and followed a foot trail to a beautiful waterfall in the clearing. I stripped down to my bathing suit and jumped into the coldish, fresh, clear water. I need one of these in my backyard!

It wasn't long before Karolina and I were heading back to our horses so that we could head out on ATVs. Heading up the mountain and back to the horses was not for the faint of heart. I consider myself in pretty good shape, but I was gasping for air as we climbed the wooden 2 x 4s that aided our ascent to the top. We got to the top and found our horses. The tour guide provided us with some bottled water. How did he know?? haha.

We hopped back onto our horses and decided I would lead and the tour guide would bring up the rear so that Karolina and Kantaro always had guidance. Not 10 minutes into our trip back, Tamal starts getting frustrated as Kantaro starts to try and pass him on these steep inclines. Eventually, we decided to let Kantaro pass because "he was young (9 years old) and wanted to lead." Tamal also wanted to lead, and was not happy about losing his pole position, but I'm sure he's over it by now.

We made it back to the ranch safely without even a scratch. That was one of the coolest of adventures.

We drank some more water and then picked up bandanas to wear on our face during our ATV adventure. Thank goodness... I wasn't exactly looking forward to a mouthful of dirt and bugs.

I chose the green ATV... just because it was my favorite color. I was asked whether I wanted to drive manual or automatic. Since my Xterra is manual and I just figured it would be more fun, I chose that.

A local girl from Las Palmas was joining us. She had a connection with the ranch and was invited to come for free. She didn't speak any English so we just waved and said, 'Hola!'

We started off by heading down the driveway of the same direction we arrived from. There were so many twists and turns and it was great for getting used to changing gears. We headed through Las Palmas pretty quickly and was then out on a main road. Mind you, there really aren't main roads in the country side of Mexico. I think we saw 3 trucks and one horse.

We made a turn off the road and up a bank and down to a stream. Loving the anticipation I sped up and splashed right through the water. The only part of me that wasn't wet from earlier at the waterfall was my shoes. They were sure wet now! We began zig zagging through the stream and the stones. I was having a great time. Soon I looked back and Karolina was not there behind me! She had stopped because the Mexican girl's ATV had stalled. Karolina and I called the tour guide for help and then I sped off to wander around the stream and rocks. I went to a dry rock area and decided to spin around. (I just wanted to, Mom.) I yanked the handle bars hard to the left and gave it some gas. It caught me off balance and my immediate instinct was to put my foot down to gain my balance. I don' know what I was thinking because that really could have been dangerous, however, it was quite the contrary. It was awesome! The ATV spun around in a 360 pivoting on my left leg. I have to tell you, I felt like I was in the X games. :-)

I let out a laugh and came around to meet up with the rest of the group. We headed up some farm roads where a rancher was out throwing a lasso around his cattle. I waved and he waved back as soon as he caught the animal. The trees and fields are so green. It's beautiful!

Karolina and I began racing each other down the road. Everytime one of us had the lead we'd ease off the gas so the other could catch up. I was just laughing away.

Karolina's ATV was having problems. The fumes coming from the exhaust were unbearable so I began keeping back. Her ATV stopped and the tour guide agreed something was wrong. He left the ATV in town to come pick up with the pickup truck later. Karolina drove the tour guide's ATV back to the ranch as he hopped on the back for a ride. I lead the way back and just kept looking back for reassurance that I was making the correct turns. We pulled up next to the horse stables all safe and sound, but BOY! we were HUNGRY!

Late lunch was being served when we arrived. Handmade tortillas, guacamole, Spanish rice, beans... everything was so good! Especially the tortillas. They were so fresh you could actually taste the corn. I learned that tortillas were originated here in the Sierra Madre Mountains. No one does it like the original, trust me. I asked for a Pacifico beer. I'm not generally a fan of Mexican beer, but rave about Pacifico. I love it. The waiter/chef/bartender saw that our plates were empty and asked if we would like anything more. We replied yes and asked for a second helping of everything if it was available! We're not going to have the opportunity to eat such authentic food much in our lives. Might as well make the most of it :-)

Soon we piled back into the van to head back to Puerto Vallarta. Once back at the resort I immediately took a shower. As I washed my face with a white hotel washcloth the washcloth turned brown with filth. Yuck! That shower lasted about a half hour as I scrubbed. I only stopped once I was sure I was clean and the dirt wasn't imbedded in my pores the way it was in the threads of my jeans.

I wrote in my travel journal (which ends up being my blog) and got ready to meet Fred for a drink before dinner. We had reservations for 5 people this evening at El Salvadors. Some of Fred's friends, John and Joann, were joining us.

After dinner, I was lame. I fell asleep right away again. I was exhausted.

---