Laguna Miramar

We left at 7 am for the lake...it was a bit overcast, but still somewhat muggy. I was on Chapeco, a nice white stallion. I had some trouble getting on and off due my ankle being sprained, so I'm sure it was amusing for all of our admirers to watch! Ha!! It was NOT amusing to me and I was still struggling with whether or not I liked this town that was so fascinated with my size.

The ride was about 2 hours out to the lake, through mud that was sometimes up to the horses knees. It was beautiful and we saw an amazing number of birds, butterflies, and trees. We didn't see any monkeys which was a bummer, and we didn't see any exotic birds like parrots or toucans or quetzals. They told us that they are deeper in the jungle. This was a disappointment because our guidebook said they were prolific where we were going.

The butterflies here are beautiful...there are over 350 species of butterflies, and they flutter all around.

We finally got to the lake, and it was just simply gorgeous. It is a mountain lake, ringed by mountains all around. There is no settlement allowed within 1 km of the lake, so it is just as clear and pristine as can be. At this time of year, it is a beautiful green and you can see the bottom from over 20 feet above. The water is warm and inviting. We swam for hours. The Italians showed up after having hiked up and we all swam together. They were throwing Sierra into the air and she was having a ball.

Some kids from the town were there fishing and they would put a glass bottle into the water with a bit of maza in it and little fish would swim into the bottle to get the food and then they would use the little fish to catch bigger fish. We also took the kayak out on the lake and went around looking at the jungle around it. There were some beautiful caves and stunning scenery.

The lake is ringed with big rocks that jut out from the edge of the jungle, about 1 foot under the surface of the water. You can stand on the rocks and jump off the edge where it drops off 12-20 feet below.

We really loved the lake and were glad we went. We rode the horses back late in the afternoon and by the time we got back in town, I was definitely ready to get off the horse!

Sierra spent another afternoon playing with the kids and I spent some time talking with some of the women of the village. We found out there was a lancha that would leave on Thursday, which meant we would go out via a little boat on the river instead of the camioneta, and decided to do that.

That meant we'd be in town another day or so. I was still not so impressed by Manuela.