DAY 50---PUERTO LIMON, COSTA RICA

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Our position today is docked in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.  Sunny skies again with a warm temperature of 86 degrees.  

PUERTO LIMON BACKGROUND INFO:

         Puerto Limon is a port city located on the central, east coast of Costa Rica and is the 7^th largest city in Costa Rica with a population of 61,000.  The port is just 71 miles from the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose, which is in the central part of the country.  None of our ship’s tours will be going to San Jose however.  Most of the tours are eco-tourism ones: jungle river cruise, rainforest, or wildlife related. The port is a big one for the export of Costa Rican products.

        Costa Rica is a Central American country with a population of over 5 million and is bordered by Nicaragua on the north and Panama on the south.  You may have wondered why we had on ports of call on our way down past Nicaragua.  Simple answer:  nothing to see on the east coast.  Cruise ships do stop on its west coast.  Costa Rica is the most stable country politically in Central America and has a higher standard of living.  Many older Americans have moved down here because of the cost of living and very good health care at more reasonable prices than in the States.  A lot of Americans will fly down to Costa Rica to have elective surgeries done.

        Costa Rica is a pioneer of eco-tourism with its many national parks and other protected areas.  In 2016 nearly 3 million foreign visitors came here with 1/3 of them from the US.  Tourism generated more revenue than bananas and coffee exports.  Industry and services companies make up over 90% of its Gross National Product. 

LAST NIGHT:

        This evening we were joined in the Horizon Lounge for pre-dinner cocktails and later dinner in Compass Rose by our very good friend, Marcia.

                                                    Interesting vase in Horizon Lounge

                    Marlinda, from the Philippines, was serving canapes in the Horizon Lounge

One of the hot canapes was this wagyu beef in pastry.  We also enjoyed smoked salmon as a cold canape.

                                            Wedge salad with bacon dressing and corn.

We all had roasted turkey, dressing, and potatoes as our entree.  Ok, Marcia also had her green beans!  I had this molten chocolate lava cake with ice cream for dessert.  Only ate half of it.

            Marcia had this lighter dessert.  Cointreau strawberries in a brandy snap basket.

                                                       Another great show by Ollie.

TODAY:

                                            Looking forward from deck 12 of the town.

Docked next to us today on the pier is this huge Holland America ship, Eurodam.  Passenger capacity is 2100.

                                           Here are a couple photos taken from our balcony.

        I will be going on a 4 hour tour at 12:50 after lunch.  It is the "Train, Eco Cruise & Countryside" excursion.  So I should be returning to the ship around 5pm.  The ship will be sailing again at 6pm for our next port of call at Colon, Panama, where we will be arriving tomorrow morning.

        The show tonight is a pre-dinner one at 6:15 featuring the production cast in "Broadway in Concert".  This means I will probably not have time to put today's tour photos on this post.  If not, they will be on tomorrow's post as I do not have a tour scheduled.

        After the show will be joined at dinner by Jimbo & Mary Ann Todd from Tulsa and Marcia.

MAY GOD BLESS THE UKRAINIANS TODAY AND IN THE DAYS TO COME.  WE HAVE SEVERAL CREW MEMBERS FROM THE UKRAINE ON BOARD WITH US.  WE PRAY FOR THEIR FAMILIES.