There were plenty of horses available to choose from and lots of personnel to help with the selecting of your mount and adjusting your saddle and stirrups. The horses were obviously used to being ridden by anyone and quickly made their way to the waterfall. The trail started in the small seaside village of Quimixto, which consisted of less than 20 shacks along a main road. From there, it crossed small streams, which had strategically placed stones and planks for those who would rather not get their feet wet, and wound ever higher up through the jungle towards the waterfall. At the waterfall was a restaurant or "beer trap," as some called it. You could not sit down in a chair to rest unless you ordered something. You had to pay 5 pesos to use the toilets, as well. Some people chose to cool off in the pool at the base of the waterfall, and others were jumping in from the sides. There were some spectacular views, and the waterfall was a sight to behold; however, the trek up and back was hot and very dusty for those who were walking, about a 35-minute trip each way. In January, the temperature was tolerable—this trek would be unbearable if the temperature was higher, as there was a fairly steep gradient to negotiate. If you were totally exhausted by the time you got to the restaurant, there were horses there that you could ride back for only 50 pesos!

It seems we were their first pick up. After us, they would be picking up people for almost two hours! The horse place, meanwhile, was only 15 minutes away from our hotel. This is something we, obviously, were not made aware of. Further, their plan was to take the whole busload on the ride at once. Yuk!

Along with the mass group deal, the logistics of taking a cab and meeting the group (we had paid the tour agent, not the horse place so we couldn't go straight to the horse place and get the tour, or some bull they were telling us), made us decide not to go.

When we tried to get our money back from the tour agent, we received the same type of runaround excuse that ended in us not being able to get it back. We decided if they needed the money so bad as to have to, basically, steal it, they could have it.

I'm sure if, in the first place, we had just driven up to the horse place, they would not have turned away paying tourists. I think we just experienced the worst that can happen. We, at least, learned a lesson about avoiding the tour agents in town, asking the right questions and using the most loyal tour agent, the one in our hotel, but only if absolutely necessary.