"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 10 Puerto Limon, Costa Rica January 9, 2016 Saturday Partly cloudy & 85 degrees Part #1 61 Pictures

Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2016 3:55:50 AM
Subject: FW: Report # 10 Puerto Limon, Costa Rica January 9, 2016 Saturday Partly cloudy & 85 degrees Part #1 61 Pictures

Report # 10 Puerto Limon, Costa Rica January 9, 2016 Saturday Partly cloudy & 85 degrees Part # 1 61 Pictures

The Amsterdam arrived to the Caribbean port of Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. The skies were clear with a few scattered clouds, and there was no doubt that it would be hot and steamy today.

The population of Costa Rica is around 4,253,877 (according to the 2012 census). It is not large, as it only has 19,725 square miles, but it is as diverse as a country can be. The capital is San Jose, and it is located in the interior of central Costa Rica. The main language is Spanish, although, due to a large number of citizens that attend higher education, English is widely spoken.

Due to the tourism boom from the US retirees and real estate speculators, about 2/3rds of the coast is foreign-owned. Native Costa Ricans, called Ticos, have turned ecologists, to sustain a balance between the natural resources and the tourist attractions.

The best time to visit is during the dry season……..December through April. Things to do and see here are traveling to the rain forests, or try a canopy zipline, see the volcanic craters, and view the wildlife. In and among the towering hardwood trees and palms are howler monkeys, sloths, birds, and butterflies in the mangroves.

Since Puerto Limon is situated on the east coast, some of the excursions were limited to a two hour drive away. Offered were kayaking, rafting, ziplines, canopy walks, or a trip into the mangrove canals. There was not enough time to make it to the capital, San Jose, so it was not offered. Best to do that from the Pacific side, since the road system is much better. Most of the coffee plantations are situated up high, but you can visit banana factories. Interesting to see how the fruit is grown, washed , sorted, and distributed worldwide. However, with today being a Saturday, we doubt any of the factories were operating fully.

What do you eat here? A plate of meat, beans, rice, and fried plantains called casado. The favorite drink? Try palm wine, known as the fire water of the rural farmers. Excellent coffee can be found everywhere as well.

Here's a random fact: Costa Rica tops the list in world ranking of happiest nations. And the citizens outlive their North American counterparts. Never knew that before now.

We were not alone in the port today, as the Silversea's Whisper was docked directly across from us. She is a small 5 star-rated luxury ship of 28,258 gross tons. She holds up to 429 passengers (all berths full). And believe us, since we have sailed on her sister ship, the Shadow, all of the passengers become "spoiled". It is all inclusive, but needless to say, their trips are expensive.

Since we have visited Puerto Limon at least twice on past cruises, we decided to stay in town instead of taking an excursion. Always fun to mix with the locals to see how they live. So with the ship's map in hand, we headed off the gangway, and through the souvenir building. On our way, we passed an ambulance with several medical staff folks attending someone from the Whisper. We also had a medical debark today, a single lady. But that's all we know. Sounded like her situation was serious enough to send her to the hospital, and eventually home. Short world cruise for her unfortunately.

In the terminal shop, we spotted a covered hardwood bowl for our pillow chocolates. We told the vendor we did not want to lug it around town, and we would be back later. Bet he has heard that a lot, but we did intend to buy it. Out of all of the upcoming ports, we knew that this one had quality souvenirs at good prices. Yes, we would be back.

There was a community park by the name of Parque Vargas, right across the road from the pier. Strolling through it, we found three sloths that were hidden in the towering trees. They were sleeping, as they seem to do for 23 hours a day. And they were difficult to spot, as they blended with the tree trunks. A local was drawing people with cameras to see these unusual creatures, but then begging a dollar from everyone if they took photos. He mumbled that it was a fee that he needed to pay to keep "his" sloths in the park. Somehow, we don't think so. You would be surprised how many elderly folks came up with the money.

Continuing on, we found the local fruit, veggie, and basic flea market. Because it was Saturday, the place was full of shopping families with lots of little kids. We got to see their small meat markets, where the majority of the cuts were beef or pork. The next most sold item was chicken. Don't believe we saw any fish, except in the pet store, where they had many fancy goldfish, parakeets, canaries, cockatiels, and miniature bunnies.

The streets and shops were getting even more crowded, so we decided to continue on to the Catholic cathedral by the name of Sagrado Corazon de Jesus. It has been recently completed, replacing a very old church that was destroyed during an earthquake, we heard later. All that remains of the old church was the bell tower. The new spacious church is ultra-modern in design, and seats a few thousand parishioners. Since Christmas was a few weeks ago, there were still forms of trees decorated with flashing lights on the sides of the altar. Even around town, decorated trees stood in the squares, with no hurry to end the season too soon.

Visiting several shops, we found that the best souvenirs were back at the pier. So we headed back, hoping to perhaps find a decent restaurant or hotel to stop for a drink…..soda or beer, anything cold. It was blistering hot outside, and we had built up a mean thirst. Most all of the likely spots were full of cruise passengers, taking advantage of the free internet. No seats anywhere.

So we kept our promise to the vendor, and purchased the beautiful covered hardwood bowl in the terminal shop on the way back to the ship. To sweeten the deal, he had dropped the price $10, so it was a good deal. Once back onboard, we went directly back to our cabin where we had presents awaiting us. The first was a bottle of champagne, chilling in a bucket of ice, with two fluted glasses next to it…….compliments of Captain Jonathon and Hotel Director, Henk. Couldn't let that go to waste, so we popped the cork, and indulged. Someone had to do it, right? The next gift was a full-size photo of us with Henk M, Gerald B, Captain Jonathon, and Gene, our Cruise Director at our embarkation. And the last was an invitation to the Captain's Dinner in the Pinnacle Grill on March 23^rd. Only we had a problem with the date, because we won't be here on the ship, but on the safari in Sri Lanka. We'll have to re-schedule immediately. Hopefully they have us together with friends Barb, Ed, Jan, and Don with Peter, the purser. And hopefully, they will want to change the date too. If not we can either make another date, or decline, and receive the complimentary gift anyway. It has always been such a nice affair, that we would hate to miss it.

The dining room was closed for lunch today, so we wandered up to the Lido for our sandwich fix. We are so pleased with the return of the custom sandwich maker, that we thanked Henk and Christel for going back to the old service. We have heard nothing but positive remarks about returning the service.

We had intended to go back to town for a second walk about, but all aboard time was 3:30pm, and it was already that. We grabbed the camera, and headed to the sail away party on the aft pool deck, and got there in time to watch the Whisper have her lines dropped, and slip out of the harbor. Despite the heat outside, it was crowded with guests enjoying the canapes, drinks, and calypso-style Caribbean music on the speakers. Judging from the passengers back here today, it appears that the age has gotten a tad bit younger than us. A good thing, perhaps keeping the music selection in the 21^st century.

As it turned out, we were ½ hour late leaving, because a few tours were running late. That confirmed that the Captain will wait for HAL shore excursions if they are late. Seems odd to us not to see Irene and Leslie, the managers normally on the Grand Voyage, standing in the parking lot, nervously waiting for the "missing in action". There was a different group waiting, as Leslie and Irene are on the Prinsendam, we heard.

After we were well away from the port, we stayed to watch the sun dip behind heavy gray clouds, and disappear. We did get a decent sunset, but not spectacular. The good thing was that it cooled down, once the sun was gone. According to Jonathon, tomorrow will be a hot one as we transit the Panama Canal.

At dinnertime, we shared stories of the day with our new tablemates. We all did different things, so it was fun to see things through each other's eyes. Bonnie and Paul had done a trip to the canopy on their own, and were quite pleased. And they saved lots of money also. It was a good day for all.

We took notice of a group of fellows, eating at a table for eight at the window. Too young to be passengers, Barb asked if they were entertainers. Barb is NOT shy. As soon as they spoke, we knew they were singers, especially with the British accent. They described their show, and we seem to remember them from previous trips. They will be onboard to Tahiti, lucky guys, so we will definitely check out their performances.

The clocks had to be set ahead one hour tonight, darn. Seems that Costa Rica is on Central time, but Panama is on Eastern. So it is well past 1am, and way past our bedtime!

Bill & Mary Ann

Welcome to Puerto Limon