Day 7 – Panama Canal Cruise
Our ship docked at Puerto Caldera, the largest and most important seaport for commercial uses on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica where most goods are imported and exported.
Though there are many great places to visit in Costa Rica, not many put Caldera on that list. It is primarily a port town and you won’t find a lot of tourist amenities here. You will find many some bars, restaurants and shops though, that have been set up to cater to the cruise ships who stop here, so we arranged a tour.
We met our guide, Memo, for a 4 hour tour stopping at a monkey area and the town of Esparza.
A family that lives in the area feeds a group of capuchin white faced monkeys so they remain nearby. They are not caged at all, and they are wild. We were able to feed them bananas. One of them climbed up my leg and onto my head. He finally settled on my arm and hung out there a while munching bananas. Their hands are extremely soft.
There was one mama with a three-week old baby. She took the bananas but was quite shy and protective of her baby, never leaving the branch.
After that stop, we continued to the town of Esparza where we were able to watch a traditional folkloric show held in the garden behind the church.
Marcia and I were both part of the dancing when they did the “bull fighting” dance. All of the dances represent parts of their culture and this one told the story of harvesting the coffee beans.
The little girl was 2-1/2 years old and just learning the dances. Education is important in Costa Rica. In 1948 Costa Rica abolished their military and now channel that money into education. The dancers are actually some of the best students in the school so they are allowed to miss part of the day to go do the performances.
We walked through the grocery store to check things out before continuing our tour. Memo pointed out the flora and fauna explaining what was indigenous to Costa Rica and what has been introduced to the area – and why. I had a hard time keeping up and understanding him sometimes, but he was very knowledgeable. Taking notes didn’t always help!
These orange flowers are on the malinchea tree.
Strangler tree
This is a cashew nut.
Our guide was going to take us back to the ship after three hours – and it was supposed to be a 4 hour tour (just like on Gilligan’s Island). Tobey spoke up and asked him to take us to Punta Arenas (which was supposed to be part of the tour). He did and pointed out some of the sights. There really isn’t much there – commercial area, stores, shops, and restaurants. The cruise ship offers a free shuttle back to the ship from there, so we ended our tour and spent some time on our own.
We got a ceviche for Phil and Marcia to try and they liked it pretty well! We caught up on a few emails with the WIFI at the restaurant.
Phil and Marcia caught the next bus back to the ship and I got a postcard for Charlotte and Tobey and I went in search of the post office before heading back.
We had a small sunset as we set sail again after our brief visit to Costa Rica. It was not the best port of call, but interesting to see. I much preferred the Costa Rica we saw on our trip here three years ago!
Tonight Tobey and I went to see the hypnotist, Brenda Kaye, in the theater. I am somewhat of a skeptic, but she was entertaining.
No comments:
Post a Comment