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Sunday - Dec. 26 (Boxing Day) - Today we started off with a nice 1 1/2 hour pedal to Trinidad where we went to a beautiful historical museum. Cuba was actually discovered very early by Columbus and then about 300 years later the city of Trinidad was established in 1811. Alot of slaves worked here. We saw depictions showing how the slaves were transported in the boat shackled on the floor. There also was a photograph of an overseer whipping a slave. The museum is in a beautful old mansion. We climbed to the top of it and had a beautiful view of the City. We then went horsebackriding which I have not done in 28 years and swear I will never do again. The stirrups were way to short and very painful on my ankles. My butt was flying all over and I was sore as hell. Gretchen was also very uncomfortable on her horse. We got to a place where we had a light lunch and then walked 3 km to an exquisitely beautiful waterfall. We passed by a nice little farmhouse with a hammock and a herb garden. I bathed "au naturel" in the waterfall. Emily, Gretchen, and Val(the rider from France living in New Orleans) hung out for half an hour right under the falls. It was a little to cold for me so I just swam till 10 m away from it. After we put our clothes back on and the blood returned to our bodies we were nicely cooled for the entire walk back. There was not one drop of sweat on us. Apparently the Cuban guide unbe- knownst to us offered Gretchen a helping hand and would not let go of it for 3/4 of an hour, even when she said it was no longer necessary. Apparently she was somewhat stressed and kept tapping Bob on the shoulder, but he did not realize why she was tapping him. So I guess that's why Gretchen was so quiet on the way back. She could have pulled a "New York" and put the guy in his place, but she did not want to do that. Frankly, I want to say that Emily and Gretchen were just too much darn fun, and too nice to really qualify as New Yorkers. (Being a native New Yorker myself the first 21 years of my life). There's a rumor they may leave the high stress NYC fast life for the mellow rainy life here in the Pacific Northwest, but that's another story. When I got back on the horse for the way out, Val (Bless her soul!) gave me some really good instructions. She said, take my feet out of the stirrups, lean back, and hold the horse with your abductors. It worked! Even when the horse galloped and I felt alot better. Sore abductors betes ankles full of stirrup gouges. In the evening we had a nice shrimp dinner, walked around and discovered a beautiful Cuban band consisting of a marimbela, a 3 tone mbira type bass, originally from Africa, a guitar, mandolin, bongos, and bells (claves). We danced on a cobblestone hill (none of us were wearing heels). Val met 3 Cuban guys. Each one of them ready to marry her and have a child. All 3 sat at the table with her. She declined their offers, but danced with all of them. I discovered Gretchen is an amazing "sexy" dancer. We went home in the truck at 10:15 PM and I had a nice talk with Val. We were back by 11:15 PM and I had a hot shower and was up the following day at 6 AM for an early start for tomorrows 911 meter climb. It was no emergency but we did climb 911 meters the next day.
