Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

            Sunday, 10 Dec 2023 – We were scheduled to dock at Puerto Limon at 8:00 AM.  Costa Rica is a rugged, rain forested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific.  The English translation of Costa Rica is “rich coast.”  Christopher Columbus expected to find vast mineral wealth when he named the region.  Puerto Limon is the 7th largest city in Costa Rica, with a population over 94,000.  It is the country’s most ethnically diverse city with a mixture of the Latino flavor of the rest of Costa Rica, Afro-Caribbean, and Asian populations.

We had booked an early excursion for this port, so before retiring, we had ordered an early breakfast from room service.  Our excursion was a Panoramic Bust Tour.  Both our tour guide and driver were named Christian!  During the tour, we learned everything anyone ever wanted to know about bananas.  We were told how the fruit is grown, packaged and shipped worldwide!  Banana plants take 9 years to mature, and a flower (one per plant) takes 9 months to mature, and every 9 months thereafter.  Nothing is wasted.  The best bananas are exported, the “seconds” are sold locally, and the rest are sold for baby food or fed to the hogs.  During the tour, we only made one stop for souvenirs and restrooms.

After returning to the ship, we went to the Terrace Café for tea, but couldn’t resist eating a full meal.  We sat next to Betsy Lee, who was a naval officer for 8 years; then later retired from the Department of Defense.  After Sally had a short nap, we went swimming for a little while, but the water was very rough; so, we soon moved to the hot tub.  There we met, Ivan, an 84-year-old retired neurologist.  His wife is from Buenos Airies.  He met her while vacationing in Buenos Aries when he was 22 years old.  They had only known each other for 2 weeks, but he would be leaving Buenos Aries, so it was then or never!  They own homes in New York and Buenos Aires and split their time between the two places.  Then we met James and Tracy Ann from Sidney Australia.  He is a retired Civil Engineer who owned an engineering insurance company and she is a retired college English professor.

We danced in the Horizons; the first time in a few days; then we enjoyed our usual dinner in the Terrace Café.  Before retiring, we moved our clocks and watches ahead by one hour, which put us at Eastern Standard Time.