Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

January 14, 2017

We arrived in port about 9:30 this morning.  I was doing my usual hour walking around the track as we made our way through a narrow channel and near the dock.  At least we thought it would be our dock. There was a space between two container ships that looked too small for our ship to fit, and we would have to move sideways into it.  Well, it was something to see, but there was indeed enough room,(not by much) and the maneuver was quite impressive!

Our tour today was to Colonial Leon and the bubbling mud pots.  Pedro was our guide.  Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American isthmus. It was also colonized by Spain and is similar in culture to the other countries in Central America. In Puntarenas, we learned that soccer, known as futbol here, is the most popular sport.  In fact there, the young players practice at noon, the hottest part of the day, so that when their opponents come, they schedule the matches at noon because they are used to it, but the opposing teams aren’t.  They win virtually all of their games and their stadium is known as the “cooking pot!”.  In Nicaragua though, baseball is the most popular, followed by boxing and futbol.

One of the colorful markets

Pedro showing us cacao

Another old church in Leon

Transportation here is mostly by brightly painted school buses, but you see plenty of motorcycles, horses and horse  carts.  Pedicabs  are also popular.

Main crops are sugar cane and peanuts.  In both Costa Rica and here, people who need it are given a house to live in as well as some animals.

70 % of the country is Catholic.

We first traveled about an hour to the colonial city of Leon where we visited the a Leon cathedral, a UNESCO world heritage site.  Construction began in 1747.  Leon is the second largest city in Nicaragua. The cathedral was built with low towers shaped to withstand earthquakes.  We explored the interior and many of us climbed up narrow stairways to the bell tower and then to the top.

After our visit we had some free time to explore the town and we walked through the markets. Most of the shoppers were local and we enjoyed the experience as always.  

We then traveled to the town of San Jacinto to see the boiling mud pots.  I did take a video but I guess it was too large to upload.  Fascinating to see the bubbling and feel the heat of the boiling fiercely beneath the surface.There were many children here who followed us around and of course wanted to sell us the mud and small pots made of the mud. The source of all the heat is the Telica volcano which looms in the background.

Telica volcano

After a wonderful dinner,we are on our way to the show.  Looking forward to Guatemala tomorrow!

January 13, 2017

We had an unexpected dinner in Toscana again last night.  This would not be anything to write about except for this…. One of the men we had dinner with had forgotten his reading glasses in his suite.  He mentioned it to the waiter who promptly brought over a hinged wooden box with reading glasses of all strengths for Bob to try on! Now that’s service!

Our tour in Puntarenas began at 8:30 AM.  We headed, with our guide Joe, to the Macaws Sanctuary, El  Manantial, which was about half an hour from the cruise dock. On the way, we learned a great deal about Costa Rica.

They plant branches that grow into trees for use to attach their wire fencing!

This is the passage that the buses and pedestrians take to go into town. Scary when two buses pass each other!

• The main source of income is tourism
• But, the main export is microchips!
• Costa Rica has not had an army since 1949 so they are able to use the money that would have been spent supporting a military for education and health care
• Their literacy rate is 97.5%, one of the highest in the world.  They have more teachers than police 
• 60% of students go on to college
• No bananas are grown on the Pacific side as they need about 7 liters of water per day, which only happens on the Caribbean side
• The country is the size of West Virginia and has a population of 4.8 million
• They have more Americans per capita living here than any country in the world.  Most remain”tourists” which means that every 6 months they must leave for 24 hours, then they can return
• Gas and cars are expensive here.  They have no source of fuel so it is all imported and costs about $7/gallon US.  Cars cost twice as much as in the US
• The beaches have black sand, all volcanic
• They produce coffee and Joe said the three best coffees in the world are from Costa Rica, Mexico and Brazil, not Colombia!
• Bull running is popular here.  They do it in a stadium and just run around to stay away from the bull.  Mostly while drinking heavily.  Yes, he knows it is crazy!

Our guide, Joe, on the left. He has 2 university degrees which cost all of $6000. He is also active with the Audubon society and loves these birds!

 

After this visit we drove through Puntarenas.  The town is quite poor now because the fishing industry has died due to the commercial fishing.  Many people still like to come for the beaches and there are clubs with large pools that local people love to come to for relaxation.  We saw many families there as it is a time of school holiday now.

This is a largely Catholic country.  Having a place in the cemetery is very expensive.  They bury people in vaults above ground, sometimes 6 stacked up. The bones can be removed after 6 years so someone else can have the space!