Isla de la Piedra

on saturday a couple of us, well most of us, went to stone island (isla de la piedra). the plan was that a couple of peeps were going to go horseback riding on saturday while many other people were going to go on a so called "booze cruise". being the straight edge, hardcore person that i am, i opted to go horseback riding. as the two "groups" started conversing on the days leading up the saturday, we were all starting to wonder if we were doing the same thing. both groups were taking a boat to stone island, open bar and a meal was included, etc. my horseback riding group thought that if it turned out to be the same thing, cool. if not, oh well.

after declining an invitation to go out to bora bora (a club) on friday night, i woke up on saturday very refreshed and ready to have a wonderful day. after a lovely breakfast of fruit and pineapple juice i started walking to catch a cab. it turns out that it is very hard to find some sort of transportation, other than public buses (which i have yet to figure out), on a saturday morning. finally, i grabbed the attention of a no-door pulmonia, they tend to be cheaper. i got to our meeting place earlier than everyone else. like usual. my phone then started ringing off the hook! one girl called to ask if she was at the right place, but since she was doing the "booze cruise" i wasn't really much help. then this guy called me to see if we were still doing the horseback riding, i said yes. and told him to hustle on over. then while i was talking to someone, i missed a call from someone else! after the four of us "responsible" people got our ticket we went across the street to take a ride on a truck that has seats in the bed...i forgot what they were called. i think we fit 12 people in the back though.

as we started driving, i realized we were going south, very close to where i lived. i decided to explain to my friends where i lived so they would understand how hard it was for me to get to all the hip-hopping places that they went. i pointed out a monument that indicated where i needed to turn to get to my house. soon after, the truck turned at that exact spot. then i said, once we pass a certain store, my house would be down the street. what would you know, the truck turned down that street. i then showed them my house as we passed it and told them that they had better visit me. i don't they will. *tear* at the end of the street, i showed them where the city bus driver had "kicked me off" the bus.

after arriving to the dock, we got on the boat and sailed away. we ended up going past all these rock formations and i got to take a picture of where i usually take pictures on the coast. we then stopped by a "white" rock covered with bird excrement. later we visited a little rock where sea lions liked to sun bathe. there will be a funny video floating around facebook sometime in the near future about an ill fated sea lion.

on the way to the sea lion rock, a boat going in the opposite direction passed us. it was the other international kids!!!!!!! no me digas! (you don't say!) maybe we were going to the same place after all...

we then turned around and went back to basically the same place we had left from, except this time we were at stone island. we received red strips of plastic to put around our wrists to access the open bar. from there we hopped onto a mexican limo. it was actually a huge wagon with wooden seats being pulled by a tractor.according to the boat mc, it had air conditioning, HBO, and showtime. he was funny. plus he had the sweetest hat ever. (more about the hat can be read later in this post!!!!!!)

once arriving to our destination we were immediately taken to go horseback riding. our horseback riding group included four of us "international" kids and a chinese couple. after getting on my horse it was time for the chinese lady. she started freaking out because the horse's tail was swinging back and forth, hitting her arm. she tried getting up, but wasn't really sure how to do it. so i moved my horse to the other side of her horse and held out my hand for her to grab while the horseback ringleader helped her from the other side. once she got on, she seemed ok. then a couple of horses in front of here got a little "crazy" and she kept on saying she wanted to get off. her husband (i assume) tried to comfort her and convince her to stay on, but it was to no avail. she said again that she wanted to get off, but the horse guy didn't really understand so i said in the best spanish i could muster, "ella no quiere montar" which was understood by the ringleader correctly. so he helped her off. the chinese guy then got on and off we went.

the horses walked super slow except when they didn't get along with each other, but then the guy whistled and shouted at them to stop, so they did. *sadness* i tried to encourage mine to go faster. it did, but not nearly as fast as it could have gone. the horse ride was quite pathetic actually. i felt sorry for the horses, you could tell they were old and tired because of tourists like me. i felt like such a cruel person at that moment......but life goes on!

once we got back, we went straight to kayaking. i got a double kayak. it sucked. it's hard to control a kayak when both people are noobs. as we kayaked all over the place, i saw a group of people a little further down the beach. my kayak buddy and i went over to investigate. at first we saw a naked woman, at least i hope it was a woman, getting out of the water. then i saw the rest of our international students!!!!!!

we kayaked pretty close to the beach and had a little chat with some of them. i was instantly glad i hadn't done the booze cruise. i would have been awkward.

we kayaked back. our shorts and shirts were wet so we decided to lay them out on the sun bathing chairs and i went swimming. oh how i miss swimming. i must promise myself to do it more often.

after swimming, we ate and sunbathed. i got burned. at least i'm not as white as a ghost anymore! my nickname for that day was casper. i kinda like it!
we then headed back to the mainland. the boat mc guy came around collection tips and we asked if he could take our picture. he said sure, why not! then, with some sort of new found bravery, i asked him if i could wear his hat in the picture. HE LET ME!!!!!!!!! i was so excited. i can't wait until those pics are on facebook. TAG!

we got back on our truck thingy-ma-bobbers and i asked the driver to stop close to my house. he asked if i had been on the boat tour.....since i was, he said it was ok.

after getting home, i did nothing. nothing for 8 or so hours. i had been invited to go to the beach at joe's after i got home, but since i had just gotten off of a free truck that would have taken me really close to that beach in order to get to my house instead of passing it and paying $50 pesos to get back, i declined. life's funny that way isn't it....