Whenever Jose turned his horse up the next switchback, I did the same with a light touch of the rein to Estrella's neck. I relaxed after the second switchback. Head down, alert, calm, the horse carried me to the top of the hill with grace and ease. At the top, we were treated to a breathtaking 360 degree panorama of the mountains and terrain that make up the Central Valley of Costa Rica, where most of the population lives. We watched transfixed as the sun set in the west, splashing orange, salmon ... ...

The nice thing about a Cabalgata, as Monica of Centaura explained to me, is that everyone rides together, regardless of social status or class. Whole families, young and old, ride their horses with each other. Monica has ridden in countless of these events.

We got on our horses and began the ride down the road. I was on Perla, a beautiful bay horse that is very smooth. Some people get a little crazy during the Cabalgata. Perhaps that is because many of them drink heavily while riding. Motorcyclesand ... ...

Centaura’s horses are amazing. They are well trained, responsive and riders can have their pick based on what they want to experience on their adventures. Centaura specializes in custom riding vacations and offers other adventure activities through Serendipity Adventures. This means, I’ll not only be riding on the beaches, at the base of Arenal volcano and in the countryside of San Carlos, but I’ll also be climbing a twelve story tree, going hot air ballooning and visiting a frog farm andseeing ... ...

Esteban rode Chocolate and Monica and her brother Sebastian rode along with us. The area just around the farm is really diverse, with rolling grasslands where cattle graze to fields of pineapple and sugarcane to rainforests, rivers and the grand Arenal Volcano.

The thing about riding in Costa Rica, is that you can really let loose and ride fast. The saddles that we used were McClellon saddles with a nice cushiony seat, ideal for long days in the saddle. Esteban told me about how many people in the ... ...

It look all of us a little while to get our horses to go into the water. My horse Pinata was very afraid of the waves at first, but we were able to get in after a few tries and after some of the other horses got in as well. We were able to stay on the beach through sunset, a beautiful end to our beach ride.

I felt like we were floating as we rose up over the pineapple fields and lush green environment and headed for the rainforest. Though it is the dry season, to me everything is still really green here. You can get pretty close to the tree tops as you float over the rainforest. We did! It was early morning, so we heard the sounds of the rainforest waking up; monkeys and birds called out. We saw parrots and macaws flying below us and even a sloth.

As we rose higher, the cows in the distance looked so ... ...

To ride here, is to ride among lava rocks, listen to the rumblings of the Volcano, see the smoke billowing from the top of the cone and see the lava billowing down its side, especially at night. Arenal can throw rocks the size of cars and its flow has been known to change direction.

We also visited nearby hot springs, but non-touristy ones. The heat of the springs is determined by how active the volcano is that day. On our day, the volcano apparently wasn’t really, really active, though it was a ... ...