Steve and Cathy's Blog

We arrive at 6:00am as scheduled at the port of Puntarenas (which is Spanish for ‘sand point’).  Unlike much of Central America, this country has a stable, democratic government, a booming economy, a sophisticated literate population and per capita income well, well above that of their neighbors.  With the exception of needing improved infrastructure, especially highways, it is a success story and has been since the 1840s.

Our tour begins right on time and we are on the bus by 8:00 to begin today’s excursion, Skywalk in the Forest.  Peter Croyle had said this is one of his top picks for tours, so we are really pleased we signed up.  Our guide introduces himself: “My name is Christian, but please call me Chris.”  Our driver is also introduced, and his name is Jesus. One of our fellow passengers adds: “Well, we should be safe because our guide is Christian and our driver is Jesus!” (A photo of them heads up this post.  Chris is the one in the orange shirt).

Christian immediately explains that we are visiting a “cloud forest,” meaning a rain forest high up in the hills so that the peak is often enshrouded in clouds, this producing abundant moisture that allows almost anything to thrive.  We have entered the rainy season, which runs from May through November, and indeed it is very cloudy, as you can see from the pictures of the countryside in this post.

Chris is giving us many facts about his country, and I will also intersperse his comments with some facts that Peter Croyle gave us in his lecture.  It will be necessary to go into Random Fact Mode because the subjects are numerous:

• While agriculture comprises only 5.5% of Costa Rica’s GDP, 12.9% of the workforce is engaged in it.  The country exports 400 million boxes of bananas annually, and this crop ranks as the biggest of the primary five.  The other four are, in this order, pineapples, coffee, orchids and sugar cane.
• Costa Rican coffee is excellent, Chris tells us.  He is very polite to tell us that other countries such as Colombia and Brazil consider theirs the best in the world, but Costa Rican coffee ranks right up there.  93% of the production is exported and two companies buy almost all of it: Starbucks and Juan Valdez.  It is 100% organically grown.  The 7% that is left for the Costa Ricans to enjoy is very often blended with 15% sugar.  Two factors make Costa Rican coffee so good: volcanic soil and the altitude at which it is grown.
• Here are some impressive economic stats: As mentioned above 5.5% of the GDP is agriculture.  The rest of the GDP and workforce employment is:  Industry: 18.6% for both; and Services: 75.9% of GDP and 69% of employment.  They have a booming call center industry as well as financial services sector because 96% of the workforce speaks some English even through the official language is Spanish.
• Costa Rica is located between Nicaragua to the northwest and Panama to the southeast.  It takes approximately nine hours to drive from border to border.
• We pass by a big box store in Puntarenas named Maxi Pali’.  Chris tells us that this is actually Walmart, but they needed to name it Maxi Pali’ in order to attract customers.
• There are 144 rivers in Costa Rica.  Nine of them have hydroelectric dams on them.  The country produces so much hydroelectric power that it exports electric power to Panama and Nicaragua.
• The country of Costa Rica produces almost no electric power from fossil fuels.  Here is the breakdown of power sources: 75% hydroelectric, 12% geothermal, 11% wind and 1% biomass.  
• Part of our journey today is on the Pan-American Highway.  Costa Rica being the second smallest Central American nation, the Pan-American Highway mileage is only 375 miles.  The highway technically starts in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and ends in the Tiera del Fuego National Park in Argentina, but Canada has never designated any of their roads as part of it, and the United States considers the entire interstate System as belonging.   As for the Costa Rican portion, we can tell you that it is two-lane, curvy and hilly, at least the part we were on.  
• Costa Rica is comprised of seven provinces, and there are capital cities for each province.  These are administrative regions and there are no legislatures.  The seven provinces are further divided into 81 cantones (cantons), each with a mayor.  The cantones are further divided into 473 distritos (districts).
• The population of the country is 4.8 million, but there are an additional 1.2 million that are foreigners.  The heaviest concentration of immigrants is from Nicaragua.  600,000 of them are legal immigrants, and 1.1 million other illegal immigrants are estimated to be in the country.
• Our guide Chris explains in some detail (none of which I wrote down) about how people from other countries can come to Costa Rica to retire.  They are called “golden” citizens, and are eligible for retirement benefits.  Thus the country has a very popular place for ex-pats, mostly from the United States but also from Europe.
• The country has a 96% literacy rate, highest by far of any Central American nation.  School is free and compulsory through 6^th grade.  There are 53 universities, 5 of which are public with the rest being private.
• Costa Rica has no military whatsoever, and hasn’t since 1949.  International protection is provided by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, China and Japan.  The nation’s police force is trained in the U.S.  Here is a quote from Wikipedia that explains why they have no military: “In 1948, José Figueres Ferrer led an armed uprising in the wake of a disputed presidential election between Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia (who had been president between 1940 and 1944) and Otilio Ulate Blanco.  With more than 2,000 dead, the resulting 44-day Costa Rican Civil War was the bloodiest event in Costa Rica during the 20th century.  The victorious rebels formed a government junta that abolished the military altogether, and oversaw the drafting of a new constitution by a democratically elected assembly.  Having enacted these reforms, the junta transferred power to Ulate on November 8, 1949. After the coup d’état, Figueres became a national hero, winning the country’s first democratic election under the new constitution in 1953. Since then, Costa Rica has held 14 presidential elections, the latest in 2014. With uninterrupted democracy dating back to at least 1948, the country is the region’s most stable.”  When you compare that to the history of every other Central American nation, you can see why the country is where it is.
• 10% of the land in the country is national parks.  Another 17% of the land is reserves.  I am not at all sure what this land is reserved for.
• Chris passed around pictures of the country’s currency, which is extremely artistic.  Here is a picture I downloaded off the web:

• Our lecturer Peter Croyle is a birder as well as a travel professional, and he was excited to tell us that there are 928 species of birds in Costa Rica.  In fact, the country ranks as possibly having the most biodiversity in the entire planet.
• Tourism is a huge industry for Costa Rica, bringing in $3.4 billion in 2016.  They are one of the early developers of ecotourism.  The country hosted 3 million tourists last year.

Our two-hour bus ride is through the rugged countryside and a couple of small towns, one of which is San Ramon where Chris our guide resides.  Here are some of the pictures of what we see, including large herds of Holstein and Jersey cows.  If you look closely at the picture on the right in the fourth row down, you will see fence posts in the foreground, and there are leaves growing out of the top of each fence post.  These are everywhere, and is a great illustration of just how verdant this country is.  Even the fence posts keep growing!

We arrive at the Parque de Aventura San Luis and fortunately the clouds have lifted and the rain is holding off.   This is very much an adventure park as the name implies.  We will take a nice, quiet 1.2 mile nature walk which will include spanning rain forest areas and streams on six “hanging bridges.”  But there is zip lining, rappelling, rafting and a “Tarzan swing” available for those looking for a little more action.  As we start out on our walk, young people are ziplining and screaming over our heads, but soon we are away in the quiet rainforest.

Chris will also be our guide through this park, and it becomes quickly evident how much he knows about his country’s environment.  The first place we go is to a hummingbird garden.  There are 36 species of hummingbirds in Costa Rica, and they are fascinating to watch.  Steve puts his camera on Sports mode to capture some pictures of these unique creatures.  Then he takes a couple of videos (unfortunately too large to load on this blogsite).  Chris goes into considerable detail about them.  Everybody is enthralled to watch the dozens of tiny, flitting birds feed.

Our walk continues for another hour, and we stop from time to time so that Chris can explain what we are seeing.  The foliage is dense and unbelievably diverse.  One stop we make is so that our guide can explain “walking palms,” a breed of pam tree that literally moves a few feet during its lifespan to get the best light.  Amazing stuff.

All during the hike, we are grateful that God has seen fit to allow us to do this without rain.  Because we are right inside a cloud forest three thousand feet above sea level, the air is damp and cool.  Chris tells us that we are somewhat lucky because it is the season for inclement weather.  The six suspension bridges are sometimes over eight stories above the forest floor, and are very sturdy.  They do move, but those of us on the 180-day ATW voyage have our sea legs to help us traverse them easily.

Eventually we wind our way back toward the entrance and enter a wonderful butterfly farm.  There are 13,000 species of butterfly in Costa Rica, and Chris tells us that they are divided into three basic groups based on their food preferences: Sweet, salt or blood.   Again, Steve puts his camera into sports mode, but he is almost powerless to actually capture these butterflies in flight.  Thank goodness for digital photography as only one out a hundred of the images even show a butterfly, let alone are clear enough to save.  But it’s a fun challenge.

After we emerge from the butterfly farm, it is time for lunch.  Yay!!   The park serves us all a delicious buffet of local cuisine and a very flavorful mango juice beverage.  Every morsel is delicious and the servers are very generous with the servings of chicken, pork, two kinds of rice, veggies, black beans, in large portions which we are not used to! We sit with a very nice couple from North Carolina named Bob and Maggie.  They are just on this segment and one of the topics of conversation is grandchildren.  We are all in quick agreement that we will not make a six-month trip again because we miss them too much.  They seem very nice and it is a very enjoyable time. 

But it is time to go after lunch.  Some people browse the inevitable gift shop, and then it’s time to start heading back to Puntarenas.  But on the way, of course, we absolutely must deviate from our route and pull into a huge gift shop.  I think that it is an international law of tourism: “there shall be no tours made available to any tourist anywhere in the world that does not include at least one lengthy stop at a place where tons of souvenirs shall be offered for sale.”   

Obviously local crafts, coffee and the inevitable t-shirts and magnets are for sale. Cathy buys a beautiful – and huge – coffee mug with a blue butterfly on it for herself.  We think it is one of the few items we have purchased on the trip that is for her.  Well deserved.

We arrive back at the ship around 3:00pm.  The local tourism board has treated us to a performance by some musicians and dancers, so we spend a few minutes admiring their talents.

The ship isn’t due to sail until six, so some people opt to find a cab and continue shopping.  Not surprisingly, Steve and Cathy are not among them.  We continue on to the ship, go to our stateroom, turn on the television and continue our education on the history of the Panama Canal.  

Dinner is in the Grand Dining Room … I think.  The day ends around 8:30pm as we employ Excuse 146 as to why we need to go to sleep early: there is another time change tonight.  We have to set the clocks ahead another hour.  These time changes are killers.