DAY 10---PUNTARENAS, COSTA RICA

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BACKGROUND INFO:

        Puntarenas means “sandy point” in Spanish. Although Christopher Columbus discovered Costa Rica in 1502, it was Ponce de Leon in 1519 who laid claim to it. It was not developed until 1840 when coffee production in the island highlands reached exportable volumes. Initially the coffee beans were transported to the port on oxcarts but later a railroad was built from here to San Jose. Costa Rica gained its independence from Spain in 1821. 

        Puntarenas is the cruise ship port for tourists wanting to visit the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose. It is a two hour bus ride from the port to San Jose. Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s I flew into San Jose from Miami as a check pilot on the Boeing 727.

        Costa Rica is a rugged, rainforested Central America country with coastlines on the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. To its north is Nicaragua and south is Panama and has a population of just over five million. It is know for its stable democracy and for its highly educated work force, most of whom speak English. Once its economy relied heavily on agriculture (primarily coffee), but it has diversified now and includes sectors such as finance, corporate services for foreign companies, pharmaceuticals, and ecotourism. Medical care is much less than in the States and excellent so I know many who have gone down there for operations, ie, facelifts and boob enhancements. Many Americans have moved down to Costa Rica after retiring due to its affordable housing, reduced cost of living, climate, and high quality of health care.

LAST NIGHT:

                              This is Orunai who brings our canapes during cocktails.

                                                          Our entree tonight was salmon.

     Terry Bishop's show was amazing.  Far better than any other entertainer we have had so far.

                                                                  A few serious songs

                     Several humorous songs that he wrote.  Very fun evening with Terry.

TODAY:

Our position today (yellow arrow in red circle) is at the dock in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  It is a 90 minute bus ride to the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose.  Most of today's tours involve long bus rides to and from the venues.

                                             This map shows the entire route of this segment.

                                          Long walk on the pier to get into Puntarenas.

        This morning I decided not to go on my scheduled excursion.  90 minutes bus rides each way to visit a beer factory, when I don't care that much for beer anyway, just did not appeal to me.  So instead I walked into Puntarenas (long walk on pier) to find a pharmacy.  Here you do not need a prescription to get what you want.  Rebecca has stuffy nose and breathing issues at night in Durango do to the very dry air.  Nasonex nose spray is what is the best for her.  In the States it costs $125 for a small spray bottle.  I got it here today for less than half that.

        I also got a couple Z-packs (antibiotics) for $10 each.  We like to keep a couple on hand as doctors are reluctant to prescribe them.  We had some Z-packs from our 2017 world cruise but they were out of date obviously.  Actually drug prices are much less than what I paid today in Asian ports but we are now not going there on this world cruise.  We will be going there on next year's world cruise.

        Another good reason for not going on my tour today is this salmon in pastry for lunch in La Veranda.  It is one of our favorite entrees on Regent.  I actually make one similar at home that is better however.  So I asked Nino, the Restaurant Manager, if the chef could make us this for our dinner entree tonight in Compass Rose.  Of course, we rarely hear the word "no" on Regent.  The chef will be preparing it for us again tonight.

             I thought it funny that the salt and pepper shakers are made by a car company.

        So from 7pm to 9pm tonight there will be a grand deck BBQ dinner served on the pool deck.  It is quite a lot of work for them to set up and then tear down afterwards.  They will start setting it all up at 2pm.  I will have photos of it tomorrow on my blog.  It is very nice but we just do not eat outside in the heat although it will cool off some this evening.  It is 88F and humid outside this afternoon.  I always take photos of it but we always dine inside in Compass Rose.

        As I have previously mentioned, we are excited that Regent will be televising the NFL football playoff games.  This is a first!!!  So at 3:30pm we will watch the Raiders/Bengals game before going down to dinner.  Then we will return to our suite to see the rest of the Bills/Patriots game after dinner. Of course the game we REALLY want to see is the Cowboys/49ers game at 3:30pm tomorrow.