We had met Franklin, our friend in the DR, on the beach a few days ago. He's got a ranch with 17 horses and wanted, of course, to take us riding. Price he quoted was $40 per person for two hours on the beach or $140 a couple for a four hour ride into the mountains. Thankfully I opted for the two hour option! He picked me up this morning about 8:00 with my new best friend, Hurricane. I've seen horseback rides on the beach in other countries where the horses barely step foot on the beach. Well not the case. We first went up the beach to La Boca, which is the mouth of the nearby river where it runs into the ocean. Beautiful! Then we came back to the condo on a little back rode and then a LONG ride on the beach. I had to finally tell Franklin enough! It had been probably 25 years since I'd been on a horse and I was feeling every bounce. But boy....was a good time. Hurricane galloped through the waves for much of the way and was very sure footed. By the time we came back I was soaked! Matt was going to meet us on the beach to take a photo, but since I had to wimp out 20 minutes early we missed our photo op. Hopefully will do this again...but it will be a while. My backside needs to recover!
The day started out rainy, but ended up clearing nicely. While I was out with Herm for my early walk I talked with Juan, who watches the property behind us. My conversations with Juan always start out with me saying something to him in Spanish that I've very carefully thought through in advance...then Juan will start rattling off something to me....all in Spanish of course.....for about five minutes. I usually understand very little. Today, I did pick up that when I asked him about the rain, Juan told me that "Deciembre mucho lluvia", which I believe he's telling me that December is a rainy month. Even with a rainy start, here's what our beach looked like:
Hermann is quite the beach dog. He usually lays next to us, but every once in a while a crab will catch his attention and then he goes into full "beagle"mode. He'll dig and dig until he can stick his entire head under the sand, then he'll get freaked out and run back to us. Hope he doesn't end up catching one of these...I'm sure it wouldn't be a good experience for him.
Today Matt and I took the motorcycle out onto the main road! Made it to Janet's, the grocery store in Cabarete. We bought ice cream! While leaving the grocery store, Matt had me walk across the street so he could get started without a passenger. He waited forever for traffic to clear.....other bikes came and went but we are SUPER careful, then he picked me up. This wasn't exactlhy the Dominican style of biike riding, but OK with us.
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