We pulled into Puntarenas, Costa Rica -- the actual port was called Caldera -- around 5:00 a.m. this morning. Today's call is actually pretty long -- 14 hours -- and that's mainly because very little is actually in the port city.
Our excursion today, for example, was a 2-hour bus drive away. The end destination? An aerial tram ride, walking tour and lunch in Costa Rica's tropical rain forest.
Our young tour guide, Joseph, was impressively sharp. Very well spoke, better educated, and a passion for his country that was unmatched.
Listening to his commentary as we drove, we learned about the country's deep pride and commitment to itself. They pride themselves and exporting better tasting coffee than the nearby Colombia (which is true, their coffee is fantastically-smooth), being labeled the "happiest people" in the world by a CNN study, and being ecologically-friendly in any circumstance -- they (as a majority, of course) actually volunteered to pay nearly $7/gallon of gasoline being imported from Venezuela than harm their own coastal reef in search of its own resources.
This same though extended to the aerial tram itself. The tram soars over 1,000 feet above the ground -- and if stepped back you could see the tram's structure were built in a natural valley, not one carved about the by company. Further, the peace and natural sounds of the rain forest itself aren't ruined by engines operating the trams. Instead, the tram ride is functioning completely silent. They mentioned that rather than ruin the vegetation with construction road up the mountain, in its initial building stages, the company opted to install the tram towers via helicopters -- lowering each tower down into place.
Each of the aerial gondolas seated 8 passengers (which were distributed by weight... a little weird, but understandable) along with a tour guide, seated in the bag who gave commentary on what you were seeing and pointing out any wildlife that you might normally miss.
Along our 40-minute flight, we were fortunate enough to see a wide variety of butterflies, hummingbirds, waterfalls, streams, "old growth" vegetation -- which is thicker than most rain forests, wild turkeys, alligators and tucans who liked "kissing" each other -- and all without ruining their native habitat. Unfortunately, because we're in their home, they were either too far away, too quick, or blending in too well with their surroundings for us to actually get a photo of them.
As you're sitting in the gondola, (look up, look out, look down and repeat) you're overwhelmed with green. It's everywhere, in different shapes and sizes. And for a moment, a caught myself wondering when we'd see something different -- you know, to break up the green forest we were sailing over. But I had to remind myself that this was some garden with colored flowers and bright trees placed for variety. This was the rain forest in its purest form. Idiot...
Later, Em and I were talking about how attractions like Disneyland's "Jungle Cruise" are so dominate in our minds it makes it a bit difficult to differentiate between a man-made forest attraction, and the original. Yes, we know one is real and one is built over an orange grove, but it's almost like we had to force ourselves to be impressed by the Costa Rican version. So sad.
Everyday, we like to sit back and boast to ourselves where we've been thus far. Yeah, I'm checking email from Costa Rica, sorry, service was a bit sketchy in Cartagena, and not much better in Panama. And in our fantasy bragging, we realized that even though these countries are culturally very different, their stances on social classes are actually pretty consistent.
Today, as we traveled away from Puntarenas and closer to the city of Jaco (where our rain forest adventure began), you noticed as real estate billboards stopped reading "Se Vende" and started reading "For Sale" -- basically the acknowledgement that wealthy Americans were seeking retirement homes in foreign countries.
After our aerial tram, we walked on the ground -- a different view of the same forest. Passing by colorful ginger and oregano plants, and not-so-colorful cocoa and coffee varieties, we also manages to stay away from the snake exhibits.
The last part of our excursion was an outdoor buffet lunch -- with this amazing chicken, fresh pineapple (did you know Costa Rica exports more pineapple than Hawaii does?), and chilled drinks.
Upon our return back to port, we walked the volcanic black sands of Costa Rica's beaches and perused the selection at the local flea market.
A somewhat comedic sighting on our walk up the pier to the ship -- a series of speaker rocks playing some flavorful Costa Rican music. Seeing a rock-shaped speaker, sitting on a concrete-coated pier, with wires hanging off the edge made us smile -- we were happy they tried to make us feel welcome, but laughed at the foreign placement of all these rocks.
Back on the ship, and after cooling down with those frozen towels, we returned to the main dining room for dinner:
EmmaAppetizer: CalamariSalad/Soup: Beef and vegetable stew with empanadasMain Course: Braised oxtail with pastaDessert: Apple strudelRyanAppetizer: CalamariSalad/Soup: Frozen melon trio soupMain Course: Beef stroganoffDessert: Almond toffee with chocolate chips
You'll note we both had the calamari appetizer -- we both love fried calamari. But to our surprise, this dish wasn't fried -- so on our plates were squid tentacles, plain and simple. Not bad, just different.
We pulled out of Costa Rica a little after 7:30 -- and marking the first time we were joined in port by another cruise ship. Which is a bit strange since during our Alaska trip, there were always a minimum of three ships in port at one time.
After grabbing some mochas from the bartender in the Atrium unabashedly singing Elton John's "Your Song" ("I hope you don't mind! I hope you don't mind!" ...no other lyrics, just those.), we found ourselves relaxing out on the Promenade Deck as the ship's wake washed in the background.
Photos from the Day
Video from the Day
Tomorrow: At Sea
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