We have some awesome places, not mainstream tourism locations, where horses are still more common on public roads than cars. So, please, permit us to decide the best places for your horse experience, depending on your priorities and the likely weather at the time you will be with us. Here are some choices:

BEACHES

Our preference is the Central Pacific and the southern Caribbean coastal areas, which give us beach and jungle or beach and mountain exploration. We have a great choice of hotels, from good quality moderate to downright awesome, and a wide selection of interesting restaurants. The Central Pacific areas we enjoy taking you include south of Jacó, the area around Dominical, and on the Nicoya Peninsula in Nosara or Montezuma.

Our southern Caribbean beach area is around Puerto Viejo, Cahuita, Punta Uva, and Manzanillo. The Caribbean areas are flatter, more lush tropical, and with excellent, eclectic restaurant selections. They are not, however, the 5-star full-service hotels of the north Pacific or even central Pacific. The best comparison to the Pacific hotels is to the better hotels of the Osa Peninsula (both Puerto Jimenez area and Drake Bay).

We do not have horses in the northern Pacific, near the major American-style resorts. The beaches are restricted against horses here. The surrounding countryside is either very dry in dry season or very wet in the rainy season, and almost all of the land interior from the beaches is flat land agriculture -- rice, shrimp farming, melon production. The hotels in this region include ALL of the Five Stars of Costa Rica, mega-resorts.. The famous north Pacific beaches include Tamarindo, Conchal, Flamingo, Coco, Hermosa and the whole Gulf of Papagayo (being developed as a mega-resort area, spearheaded by Four Seasons). The mixture of fine horses and big resorts doesn't work very well.

ACTIVE VOLCANOES

We love to ride at the base of Arenal volcano (the really active one, spewing lava which is visible at night -- or throwing rocks, visible during rides). While we don’t ride the (active) slopes of Arenal, we do have a most remarkable horseback experience under the cone. After dark we can enjoy the volcano from a hot springs, watching the lava, or, if the clouds prevent viewing, we can listen to the house-size rocks rolling down the slope.

CLOUD FORESTS

The famous Monteverde to Arenal horse route is unlike anyplace you’ll see in North America. The two day journey requires camping and a pack horse. The descent is steep, the river crossings wild, the misty mountains as timeless as an endless expanse of mountain jungle can evoke.

We also have access to a private cloud forest with less rigorous trails. The views from the back of a horse are so different than from foot. Your eyes are drawn always upward, where the bird sounds and the flora create a cathedral above. It is often raining, or at least misting, in both the rainforest and the cloud forest. The temperatures are chilly to comfortable.

RAIN FORESTS

Centaura has the privilege of access to a few of the remaining primary forests of Costa Rica, all on private land. The primary forest -- the classic Tarzan jungle -- is dominated by giant old trees, vines as thick as a man’s leg dropping from branches so high you can’t see their origins, a cavernous opening below the jungles enclosing canopy. Our favorite is in the Arenal volcano area. Traversing the rain forest on horse is a serious reminder of how difficult penetrating the tropical jungle had to be for the earliest horsemen.

MOUNTAINS

Mountain riding involves some difficult trails and the need for very sure-footed horses. The Peruvian stepping horse, which is a part of the breeding heritage of Centaura's horses, are famous for their ability to negotiate rough terrain.

We have numerous options on mountain trails, and leave it to us to decide, based on your other priorities, to decide which place makes the most sense for the weather and for your experience and for your desires. Want to climb to indigenous villages? Want to climb then descend to play in the ocean? Want to go up, up, up -- and then strip down to your underwear to dive into a crystalline pool filled by a waterfall?

RIDING COAST TO COAST

The great fun of setting out cross-country to reach inaccessible places is part of the pioneer heritage of man and horse.

Costa Rica is small (our coast-to-coast route is 240 miles, if you are a crow, but with all the "ups" and "downs" the riding route is closer to 500 miles), and we can cross the whole country on horseback in about 14 days. If we stay off the pavement, we need 18 days -- with camping gear and clothing for the jungle and clothing for the mountains, and bedrolls and tents, a working knowledge of building fires and eating from the bounty of the jungle, cooking with an iron tripod, sleeping in hammocks, and of course using machetes. There's lots of places to get clean water, and even a few places to stop for beer. And you'd better have a good sense of humor.

But riding to a goal will leave you with more than a good memory -- it makes for real self-sufficiency, and brings the pioneer back to life.