Gringos Stupidos!

We went to the La Barqueta beach yesterday.  We were a little concerned because we'd heard the beaches on the Pacific side were not very nice and had a dangerously strong undertow.  But Thelma at church said La Barqueta was fine and gave us detailed directions how to get there (it's difficult to figure out how to get places here).

Turns out, it was lovely.  Here are a few pics:



The young 'un loves the waves!

There were a dozen or so of these little cabana shelters
on the beach -- great place to stash your stuff and
get some shade!

The sand was black -- volcanic sand. 

Our drive home afforded us our most unique moment of the trip so far.  We had to drive through a couple of tiny little villages on the road to the beach, and on the way back, as we approached one, we could tell some kind of festival was going on.  By the time we got into the center of town, we were poking along through backed-up traffic, and people and horses were lining the streets on both sides.  The truck in front of us turned left -- to park we assumed, since parked cars were everywhere -- and hubby started forward into the now open road.  That's when I saw the horses and their riders galloping right up the main road straight toward us! 

"Uh . . hon . . . Idon'tthinkwe'resupposedtobehere!!!!"

The best shot I could get of the horses
through the crawling detour traffic.

He stopped quickly, the horses swerved to avoid us, and a policia came to the window.  He rattled off some rapid Spanish and pointed to the left, the direction that truck had gone.  Hubby swiftly backed up and turned to the left . . . which got us into a detour/parking area trying to get around the races happening through the middle of town.  Nobody was moving much; we feared we might get stuck there and be obliged to hop out and join the party -- which might have been a bit embarrassing after we'd made such a spectacle of ourselves.  Oh, heavens . . . we laughed so hard!!

I'm not sure how we were supposed to know that the only road through the town ahead of us was closed due to a horse event.  Clearly, they just expected folks to be aware of this and avoid the area.  Ah, well!  Call us gringos stupidos!  I just wish I'd had my camera in hand when the horses were racing toward us . . . !!!