Another distracted day from coffee farming.  A real cowboy showed us his horses.  This used to be cowboy country.  Maybe it still is.    We descended into a neighboring valley to visit the cowboy and his horses on his ranch between two rivers.  It was hot, very hot. We saw lots of horses and rode a couple.  Nice horses.  All stallions all quarter horses, the cowboy horse.  Then we talked about them and drank maranon juice - the juice of the cashew nut fruit - very refreshing.

I think our host is the real deal.  There are lots of people, mostly men, around here who wear the clothes.   He wore the hat and checked shirt, blue jeans and a giant buckle  Some cowboys here have cows - he has cows (lots of them).  

This gentleman cowboy seemed authentic.  He had his fancy horses and his regular working horses that he is more willing to ride out into deadly snake territory.  Mostly though, he has the face and legs that indicate he has spent many thousands of hours in the saddle.  He knows horses.   He had some lovely horses.  

A nice Palomino took my fancy.  Unfortunately probably too old to geld.  The search continues.  As we drank mar anon juice, I made a note to self about potential cocktail combinations with this delicious extraction from the cashew fruit and pondered the bigger problem of macho culture and impact on horses.  Here there is a culture of studs.  Not so much focus on the mares.   I think this is a problem.