After breakfast Sal and I decided to go riding in the morning, before it got too hot. By the time we set out it was 11 however, and the sky was blue and the sun was blazing. We found the horse riding place and signed up for a one hour ride. We had to wait about half an hour and then they took us to the river where the horses were tied up to trees. The ride was along the town roads, onto the beach, into the jungle, up the hills to the top, lookout point and back down. It was a bit hairy at times and buggy (malaria?) and the best part was running on the beach. As usual, I was too worried about the condition of my horse to really enjoy it. Poor thing was so hot. I tried to get his legs wet in the surf and he seemed to like that.

We went back to the hotel and dried off and changed. I walked down the street where the taco guy was back in business after a few days off. I kept watching for him to re-appear. He has the best tacos, with mahi-mahi. I sat on the street and watched surfers come and go and the cars changing position. If someone gets blocked in, they just open the car and move it. Everyone leaves their doors open and the keys in.

After that I got Sal to come and swim with me. We just went to the beach at the bottom of the street (main beach) and it was fantastic! The waves were huge. I had the boogie board from the hotel and a couple of times I surfed all the way to the beach on it, laughing my head off and getting a mouth full of saltwater. We stayed in for hours. Sal saw some guy with a dijeradoo thing and went and hung with him and his pals.

Once back at the hotel we decided to try Chili Willy's for dinner. I went ahead to get a table before it closed and Sal went back to the beach tables to buy a bracelet. Once I got there I changed my mind. I didn't like it and didn't want to be rushed on my birthday. We went back to Miro Vino's instead. Miguel was there, and I met Storm; Courtney's betrothed. We had arugula salad with goat cheese and cherry tomatoes, and seafood ceviche, and tuna carpaccio, which Sal pronounced "Caravaggio." There was a religious procession going by to the church so we changed seats to sit up front overlooking the street where we could hear the singing. The bar music was pretty good too.

Wound up the evening back at the hotel where I sat on the porch reading "Life" by Keith Richards, and funnily enough, I heard the strolling band, the ones with the harp, singing "Happy Birthday" to someone on the street. I liked that. Later, I heard some drunken Mexican go by singing "Satisfaction" from the Stones.

Small world.