A fairly relaxing day today. Wake up call at 6:00 AM, followed by breakfast and a landing on Isabella where we hopped into the backs of two trucks and were whisked up to the highlands of the Sierra Negra volcano. After disembarking from the trucks I was introduced to Mona the Magnificent and Aaron met Miguel the well-endowed, and on these faithful steeds we set off for the volcano crater rim. When the horses were walking it wasn’t much of a problem, and galloping was a lot of fun, but when they decided that trotting was in order my butt took a beating as I bounced along in the saddle. Mona had a gentle soul, so these out of control ass-bashing sessions were fairly limited. JB managed to be the only one to get bucked off of the horse, although Skip did take a dive while getting out of the saddle and the sounds of Paul’s laughter as he got bumped along are probably still echoing across the island.
The volcanic landscape along the crater rim was impressive, but I’ll wait for the photos rather than attempt to use my limited skills to describe it. After returning from the volcano and horseback riding we took the trucks back into the town (a fishing village) for a trip to the bakery and body surfing on the beach. Skip will probably describe his eight loaves of bread (total price $1) as one of the highlights of the trip. Once back on the boat Paul, Aaron and I perched on the bow watching for manta rays and turtles (and whales, although they chose not to show up) while simultaneously crashing along through the waves — one wave that sent water over the bow and soaked all of us put the crew into hysterics, but it was a great ride nevertheless. As I’m writing this several folks are seasick (including Aaron) but the captain is promising smooth sailing once we get around the southern tip of the island so all should soon be well.