Our port today was Puerto Caldera, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It is actually a cargo port, constructed to replace the original port of Punta Arenas in the 1980's when they needed to accommodate larger vessels. The town and port of Punta Arenas had been used to ship coffee out of the midlands of Costa Rica since the mid 1800's, and is about 12 miles from Caldera.
We signed up for a shore excursion to go on a mangrove river cruise. We left the ship at 7:30, which was pretty painless since we turned our clocks back an hr last night. We will have a number of 25 hr days ahead of us! We were put into a large bus and drove for about an hour to a small farm. I must say I'd forgotten how awful the roads are in this part of the world. We had a great massage, going over all the washboard roads and bumping thru pot holes. The guide said the roads are much better than last year.
We got on a pontoon boat that held about 40 people. It wasn't full, so was fairly comfortable. There was an awning, so it was shaded too. We started out down the river that looked very dirty. Turns out it's the most polluted river in Costa Rica. Crocodiles must like the pollution, because we saw a number of them. They were in the mud or sunning on a tree branch, anywhere from about 12" to 7' long! We also saw many snowy egrets, just like on the golf course in Discovery Bay. The blue herons were actually blue! There were many other water birds and a few black hawks. The best were the Red Headed Macaws, flying thru the trees. I think we saw 4 of them. And the Wood Storks, bright white with black heads. They were bathing in the shallow water, splashing around. As soon as we drew near, they spread their wings to dry off. The wing spans much have been several feet, really beautiful birds. We were back at the ship in time for lunch!
After lunch, we grabbed a taxi into Punta Arenas. We thought we would go to the center to town rather than the beach. Wrong choice. It's Sunday, everything was closed tight. So the taxi driver dropped us at the beach and set up a time and place to be picked up again. That worked out really well. There was a walkway along the beach with a number of outdoor restaurants and booths with handicrafts. I'm always a sucker for shopping, and picked up a few things to take home. Mel was eyeing the pork rinds in carts along the road. I overheard someone say something about yucca. I LOVE yucca, and hadn't had it in years. The gal at the booth I was shopping at said that cart was very clean, and good food. I took a chance. Vigaron, I believe it's called. She made a cone out of a leaf and filled it w/shredded cabbage. Then she put in pieces of yucca, then cut up pork rind, topping it all with a yummy vinegar and veggie salsa. It was excellent. Hope my stomach still agrees in the morning! Back to the ship by 4.
I must say with all the cruising we have done, I have never been in a pool onboard! I guess we're always busy going to lectures, or the water is too cold or something. But today I discovered my new favorite place on the ship, the Sea View pool at the aft of the ship. The water was even warmer than our pool at home. And there were only 4 other people in it. I swam about 20 laps, it felt wonderful. Granted it took me about 5 min since the pool is only 20 feet long. LOL Really a nice place. Hope I'll be able to use it again.
We had a BBQ on the Lido Deck, but then decided to join our table mates in the dining room also. They have turned out to be a great part of the cruise. We have interesting discussions every night, and get along very well. They get off in LA, we'll miss them. Of course we also went to the dining room because I had seen chilled raspberry soup on the menu. Yum!
Another sea day tomorrow, wonder what the day will bring?
It has been very frustrating trying to deal with the ship's internet service and my blog, especially when it comes to pictures. I am going to try to do a PhotoShow after each segment of the World Cruise, so you can see all the places and things I've been talking about. The first segment ends on Jan 19 in Los Angeles. Now you have something to look forward to!
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