El Kabayo Falls (Horse Falls)   Not really a good name if you think about it….

Carol wanted my opinion of the local riding stable. I had spent a year (1978) working in the stables at Lake Minnewaska near New Paltz, New York.  I was living with my friend Sheila at the time and when I left to go to library school she had to have her couch cleaned because it smelled like horses.  And  I once had owned a horse and my niece has a horse I helped care for….but I wouldn’t call myself an expert by any means.  But when we saw the guides leading several riders off to some adventure, the first rider’s stirrups were way too short and the second rider’s were way too long… and our friend Audrey later told me that many of the horses are not so well cared for because the stable doesn’t make much money so there is no money for good care.  This, unfortunately,  doesn’t just happen in the Philippines.  Luckily at Minnewaska, we babied the horses while the hotel fell to the ground…almost literally.  But some of the El Kabayo Stable horses looked round and well fed, some looked too skinny and the whole place looked like it was melting in the sun.  I don’t think my riding days are over, but after my pony ride in China, I’m a little more cautious.  So we left the El Kabayo Stable and drove over to El Kabayo Falls named for the stable, I guess since kabayo means horse.  They were actually having mountain bike racing and we had to watch out for bikes zooming passed us.

  We parked with the crowd of cars there for the bike races and walked into the “jungle” to get to the path for the Falls.

  See, real bikers!  But it was hot and dusty and I wouldn’t have really enjoyed this ride though Randal and I did once ride some of the Great Dismal Swamp just after a hurricane and it looked more like a jungle.  With billions of mosquitoes!!!

  In case you didn’t know the way…a sign.

  Not the biggest falls in the world.  C.C.

  There was a second level of falls and this fence kept you from falling off the little path.  C.C.

  Sitting, enjoying the shade near the falls.  C.C. 

Our Mt Samat hats which I have to put away until after baseball season.  Beth Souza, a New Bedford friend saw an earlier photo and made me promise to wear my B hat only. 

  Carol sitting by the falls.

  Pretty, but small.

One of the race spectators took this for us.

This was our last adventure for the day.  Carol came back to the boat that evening and she and Rob and Cath, our newest boat neighbors and Randal and I ate pizza and watched the movie Prairie Home Companion.

Randal and I have seen it 4 times, but really like it and that was our only movie that none of the others had seen. 

One more email about our trip….our photo safari stalking very tame water buffalo.

Ruth Johnson

DoraMac