World Cruise Day 10/152 - Puntarenas, Costa Rica - so much potential, but still, Pura Vida!

Cruise day: 10/152
Ports days: 4
Sea days: 6
Countries: 4
Continents: 1
Ports: 4

This morning we awoke and found ourselves already docked in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  Arlona awoke to feel much better - perhaps 80%.  She ate a light breakfast and that went well.  For the rest of the day, it is going to be rest, and then when she's tired of doing that, rest some more.

We did take our tour today.  Our tour was the included tour for this port - Puntarenas Panorama. The last time we were in Costa Rica, we were on the Caribbean side and took an eco-tour. It was beautiful, fascinating, and wonderful.  

This tour consisted of a 20-minute bus ride to the second oldest city in Costa Rica - Esparza.  

Along the way, we did learn that "Pura Vida" is the national slogan of Costa Rica. It is used in many ways, but essentially, for Ticos (Central American slang for Costa Ricans, the term "Pura Vida" is an expression of happiness, optimism, and living life to the fullest. It is a greeting, a farewell, an affirmation - basically, it means just about anything, but is relentlessly optimistic.  

We also learned that Costa Rica is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet with about 5% of the world's flora and fauna making their home is a place about the size of West Virginia. Unfortunately, the tour didn't allow us to see any of it. We sat in a town square and watched young girls perform four traditional dances.  

There were just a few minutes to browse a single, overcrowded table of souvenirs made by local artists, and then we rode back to the ship.  In addition, the busses, while clean and modern, had absolutely zero legroom.  Arlona's knees were wedged into the seatback in front of her.  I had to contort my legs, crossing them and trying to tuck them so my knees would marginally fit.  It's almost like they added two rows too many seats in the bus. While our guide was knowledgeable and entertaining, we saw very little of the area and were uncomfortable on the bus.  We would definitely not recommend this excursion to future visitors.  

After a quick lunch on the ship, Arlona opted to lie down for what ultimately turned out to be a three-hour nap.  I popped up on deck for a photo.  

My gaze was immediately drawn upward as there were tons of birds in the air and on the water.  I'm a sucker for a good bird photo, so that's how I spent the next few minutes. For those that don't care - sorry, but it is my blog...

:-)

An occasional Caspian tern would fly by.

The pelicans were having a meeting.

Of course, several would leave the meeting and go exploring, or hold their own small group session.

I love watching when they glide, fractions of an inch above the water. Check out the right wing.

But the stars of the show were the Magnificent Frigatebirds.  The sky was littered with them.

Here's a good look at a male.

If you look closely, you can see that this one snagged lunch.  It flew past some unimpressed pelicans resting on a buoy.

Finally, I got these nice perspective shots as one was heading right at me.

With Arlona napping, I grabbed my Kindle did a little reading.  She woke up about 5 PM, right about our sail away time.  We watched then cast off the ropes as we headed out to sea en route to Cabo San Lucas - just under 1,700 nm away.  We have four sea days before arriving in Cabo on Friday.

We enjoyed the sunset and had a nice dinner with friends before calling it an early evening.  Arlona is reported that she's up to 85% so the trend is good.