Trip to Colombia- part 2

Recreational fun in El Salado

On our third day in Colombia, we went to a recreational spot, which I wish I could describe how relaxing and beautiful it was.  They are like ranches but geared to a very nature oriented experience.  There was a nice pool with a huge kiosk area for escaping from the sun, but there was also a natural pond (actually a few of them) in which you could fish, and what you caught they would clean and give to you for dinner!  You can see a small portion of the pond above.

This is the view of the pool from inside the kiosk... by the way it was like 95 degrees that day!  Whoa baby was I loving the heat and the sun.

The pool was DELICIOUSLY warm... just enough to cool you off, but not ice cold to jar the senses when you jumped in.   As you can see on the sides are swim up tables at which you could sip on a coctail, beer or soda. Soo nice in October!!!

Here we are with Carlos Sebastian experiencing a swimming pool for the first time in his life!  Can I tell you this baby is a natural fishy... he made a "not too happy about this wet stuff" look for the first maybe 10 seconds in the water, then he realized he loved it, and was as happy as can be the whole time I had him in the water.

This is my absolute favorite picture of our entire trip... I love me my chubby cheeks!

So, after a jaunt in the pool, we fished a little... and by "we" I mean my husband and his nephew... I was so all about being in the pool that day! 

Then a little later we went horseback riding, which was wonderful! The view was gorgeous, and you will have to take my word for it, because the stupid ass horse that I was given was more stubborn that I am!  The horse decided he was going where he wanted, as fast as he wanted, and occassionally humored me by slowing down enough for me to hold on to my camera and shirt... the camera was clipped to my tank top which was falling off with the weight of the camera while the horse galloped away to his hearts content.

Against my better judgement, I did not bring jeans to wear while we rode the horses, so I had two massive bruises on my leg that evening... one on my calf where the stirrups were pinching my leg against the saddle when we galloped, and one on my inner thigh near my knees .. again from the stupid saddle.  But all in all it was a good time.  I would recommend it to anyone heading to Ibague, ps... DON'T FORGET TO BRING JEANS AND SNEAKERS IF GOING HORSEBACK RIDING!!!!

As the day drew to an end, I got this beautiful sunset on camera... I love sunsets, there is just something so beautiful about nature when you see it at this time of day.

So after a long day of experiencing nature, we headed home, exhausted, hungry and bruised (oh, that was just me!)  It was great...


Rancho Valle Escondido

On the fifth day in Ibague, we took a trip to Valle Escondido, translated means Hidden Valley, this is a beautiful mountainous area outside of Ibague.  There are ranch type places were you can rent a cabin and hangout all day, again enjoying the wonders of nature and then spend the night in the mountains enjoying the silence of being away from it all, all the while enjoying natures symphony.

In case you hadn't noticed, I love nature!  I love to enjoy the wonders and beauty that God created and that man has not yet entirely ruined.

This place is gorgeous, it has a main house/kiosk where you can buy drinks and food, then there is a pond and other kiosks where you can kick back and relax.  There is horseback riding too!  So what did I want to do after semi-healing my bruised leg??? Hey... why don't we go horseback riding again!!  Yeah, I know.. I never learn.  Ahhh, but as you can see above, I wore my JEANS and SNEAKERS this time, and I emerged unscathed from the riding!

Here is a lovely picture of my um... rear as seen by my husband...

The horse ride was about 30 minutes up the mountain to a huge granite mine/deposit, the view was amazing... again, take my word for it as I did not have the camera this time.  But unbelieveable gorgeous was the view as we ascended the mountain.

This is the granite mine.  It was enourmous! The entire side of that mountain was being mined for hunks of granite to be used in homes and what not. 

Here I am again... this time my horse was much nicer, although I think he may have had a few drinks before we left because he kept swerving over to the edge of the unpaved road... which when you looked down, was an abysmal drop that would have killed us both!  Stupid horse!  But we had a blast... I laughed the whole time, and on the way back down from the mine, we got caught in a torential down pour! Oh yeah... never a dull moment on our trips!  The best part was, I think the horses wanted to get wet less than we did, because the booked it back to the stables as fast as they could on the dirt road.  I laughed so hard, when I got off my horse... my entire body was soaking wet... EXCEPT my tush! 

Soaked to the bone, we ordered some sancocho, colombian stew, and drank a huge bowl with some white rice.  This warmed us up... didn't do much for drying us off... but at least it took the chill off.  We hung out some, hoping that the rain would stop but nope... it didn't.  So we called it a day.  We went back home, and I went right into the shower and bathed in hot water to warm me up.

Again, if you are ever in Ibague... I highly recommend this trip  sans the rainstorm!

;o)