Temperature 86F/30C
We arrived in the morning at the pier in Puntarenas on the western (Pacific) shore of Costa Rica. Puntarenas mean Sandy Point. We were met by some women in folk costumes. The guide Jorge and his bus picked us up for a tour to the Scarlet Macaw Sanctuary via the Pan-American Highway (again). Jorge told us that Costa Rica has 4.7 million inhabitants and is the size of West Virginia. It lies 600 miles north of the equator. Rainfall is 70"/year (varies 51-300") - dry season is December to April. The sun shines in the morning and it rains in the afternoon. The temperature is 100F and the humidity is 75% on the coast. Agriculture: rice, corn, sugarcane, coffee, pineapple, mango. Salaries: minimum wage (field worker, etc.)$300/month, average $700-1,000 (teachers, nurses), $6,000 (CEO. etc.). Free education. 82% of homes have electricity in the country side.
The bus left the highway and followed a narrow gravel road passing small houses before reaching the Macaw Sanctuary. There are 36 macaws there. The macaws are protected by the government. People poach them for sale or pets. One bird can sell for $1000. We saw macaws that were living in the wild. They were free to leave but likes being there. The caged ones did not know how to fend for themselves so they could not be released back in to nature. Any babies will be released. There are also toucan birds, mountain turkey, Howler Monkeys (howls to protect his territory), Spider Monkeys, Two Toes Sloth (comes down from tree one time/week to go to the bathroom), wild boar, tapir (related to the horse and rhinoceros - endangered), Lauras (?) - green parrots - imitate sound. There are four monkeys in Costa Rica - spider, howler, squirrel, white face. The guide pointed out two sloths moving slowly up in a tree. He also showed us a mother and baby monkey high up in another tree. The different trees and flowers were described but I do not remember the names unfortunately. In the middle of the reserve there were picnic tables with fresh bananas, pineapple, papaya and a bottle of cold water for us on the tour. It was muggy and hot even though the sky was overcast - probably 80F/30C.
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| Lipstick plant |
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| Mother and child |
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| Spider Monkey |
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| Macaws |
The next phase of our tour was to take a boat on the river back to Puntarenas. The bus transported us on gravel roads through the country passing sugar cane and rice fields and fields for cows (Indian Brahma (?). We passed some poor looking dwellings and were told that they were squatters.
At the river we boarded a small boat with a canvas top. We were now looking for birds and crocodiles. They are all so enormously well camouflaged that they are difficult to see and even harder to photograph. They left quietly when got near them. We saw two crocs in the water. You do not see much of them and it looks like a log i floating by. Jalil thought he saw one a few times but it was only a log. Then we found one sleeping on the bank above the river. He did open his eyes but did not move. All along the river we saw many birds after the guide had pointed them out - kingfisher, white ibis, great blue heron. Not easy to get a picture of them.
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| Tapir |
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| Sloth |
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| Macaws |
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Sugarcane field
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When the sugar cane blossoms, the field is burned, which leaves canes to harvest. The environmentalists do not like the burning so the canes needs to be cut with sharp machetes and the worker has to wear special shirts. Sugar cane and bananas come from Asia. Coffee comes from Ethiopia. Tomatoes and potatoes come from Peru.
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| Swimming crocodile |
Mangroves have long branches for support. The difference between high and low tide is 11 feet. The tide changes every six hour.The water is brackish - in between seawater and fresh water. Mangroves are now protected as they were destroyed before. They are needed to protect the coast line.
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| Turkey |
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| Squatter home |
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| Pelicans |
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| Sloth |
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| Toucan |
The river boat brought us to Puntarenas where the bus picked us up to bring us to our ship by the pier. Before exploring the market by the pier, we decided to have Afternoon Tea as we had had no lunch. A woman joined us at the table. She complemented me on the yellow color I was wearing. She was from Australia and we talked for a while. She sounded faintly German so I asked as I always try to figure out where people come from. She was not particularly happy with my question but did explain that she was born in Berlin but had lived in different places. Her children wanted her to write her memoir and I supported that idea. "No, I know too much". Did not feel I knew her well enough to ask what she was referring to and she did not volunteer. She did explain that she was leery of the question as people in Australia often comment that she should not have an accent after all these years. She was 19 when she arrived and was now 75. That always upset her but I had asked politely so she did not mind answering me. I then explained that I was Swedish but had lived in California since I was 21. But there are so many accents there that you often ask. I want to know if I guessed right. Only one time did I encounter somebody who minded (in a warming hut skiing at Royal Gorge). He became so angry and said I was so rude by asking! It threw me and I defensively answered that I had asked that question numerous times and never met anybody who responded like that. Most people are proud of their culture. His wife later approached me and told me that he was born in Poland and had spent time in concentration camps and therefore did not want to talk about it. Understandable, but he could just have nicely said that he preferred not to talk about it and that would have been the end.
The Australian woman - Christina Belle - invited us to have dinner with her that night. Jalil was planning to watch the baseball playoffs again so I accepted to have dinner with her.
After having tea Jalil and I walked to shore to see the market by the pier. Jalil bought himself a hat.
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| Banana tree |
I had dinner at Rigoletto with Christine Belle and Jalil watched his ballgame. We had a pleasant time. Met Jalil afterwards for a Western Music Show - pretty good. After that we went to the 12th deck where a band played Carribean music and we danced. There were lots of food in fantastic shapes but we could only have fruit as we had eaten so much already. Jalil learned to eat mango with the skin. We really enjoyed ourselves. It had been quite a day.
We arrived in the morning at the pier in Puntarenas on the western (Pacific) shore of Costa Rica. Puntarenas mean Sandy Point. We were met by some women in folk costumes. The guide Jorge and his bus picked us up for a tour to the Scarlet Macaw Sanctuary via the Pan-American Highway (again). Jorge told us that Costa Rica has 4.7 million inhabitants and is the size of West Virginia. It lies 600 miles north of the equator. Rainfall is 70"/year (varies 51-300") - dry season is December to April. The sun shines in the morning and it rains in the afternoon. The temperature is 100F and the humidity is 75% on the coast. Agriculture: rice, corn, sugarcane, coffee, pineapple, mango. Salaries: minimum wage (field worker, etc.)$300/month, average $700-1,000 (teachers, nurses), $6,000 (CEO. etc.). Free education. 82% of homes have electricity in the country side. 
The bus left the highway and followed a narrow gravel road passing small houses before reaching the Macaw Sanctuary. There are 36 macaws there. The macaws are protected by the government. People poach them for sale or pets. One bird can sell for $1000. We saw macaws that were living in the wild. They were free to leave but likes being there. The caged ones did not know how to fend for themselves so they could not be released back in to nature. Any babies will be released. There are also toucan birds, mountain turkey, Howler Monkeys (howls to protect his territory), Spider Monkeys, Two Toes Sloth (comes down from tree one time/week to go to the bathroom), wild boar, tapir (related to the horse and rhinoceros - endangered), Lauras (?) - green parrots - imitate sound. There are four monkeys in Costa Rica - spider, howler, squirrel, white face. The guide pointed out two sloths moving slowly up in a tree. He also showed us a mother and baby monkey high up in another tree. The different trees and flowers were described but I do not remember the names unfortunately. In the middle of the reserve there were picnic tables with fresh bananas, pineapple, papaya and a bottle of cold water for us on the tour. It was muggy and hot even though the sky was overcast - probably 80F/30C. 
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