Friday, April 21- Going for the Gusto

This was the last full day on the ship and there was plenty to do.  I signed up for another snorkeling expedition, this one in an area called the Octopus' Garden near the islands of Tortuga and Alcatraz.  There were octopus but a huge variety of fish, including some I hadn't seen off Panama, which wasn't that far away.   I couldn’t remember them all.   I knew to avoid coral but asked what would happen if I accidentally brushed some.  Not only were they poisonous- some carried harmful bacteria.  I doubled my efforts to avoid them.

Look out, fish- I'm coming in!

Later in the morning we had another beach party.  I enjoyed both kayaking and swimming, then went back to the ship for lunch, followed by a long hike over multiple trails.    Snorkeling, swimming, hiking, kayaking in the same day- may as well take advantage of opportunities!

We took all the trails except the Killer Trail, for which I was grateful.

Signs by this river warned us that if we went swimming the local crocodiles might welcome us.

View of our ship in the distance.

Waiting for the skiff back to the ship.

On the hike I encountered more new-to-me bird species- at one point a group of macaws flew overhead, squawking.  This area was called a "dry forest", but still felt darn humid!  I came back happy, greasy, sweaty, frizzled, 15 mins.  before happy hour- and there were two men in my head fixing a leak.  (If you're a landlubber, you should know that "head" is the marine term for toilet.)  Fortunately they weren't too long.  I had a Balboa beer in the bar- always have to have the local brew. 

After dinner there was a video showing pictures taken by the crew during the trip, especially enhanced by some of the shots taken by the video crew's drone.  One song struck me in particular- it had the refrain "there's only one way to mend a broken heart.  It turned out to be
Beautiful Dawn, by the Wailin' Jennys.  ("Take me to the breaking of a beautiful dawn... take where the ocean meets the sky and the sand.. Learning to cry is the hardest part.. There's only one way to mend a broken heart").   Wow.  This trip really had been healing.  They'd also done videos on our Alaska trips and I'm cynical enough to know it was meant to make us feel warm and fuzzy and make our credit cards fly out of our wallets with a deposit on a future trip.  Mine had already flown- the $500 discount helped.  I'm thinking the Sea of Cortez in early 2019.

Ended evening on the bench in front of the bridge watching the city lights.  I was reminded of C.S. Lewis' remark in "A Grief Observed" that, after the death of his wife, he felt like a ship missing its starboard engine.  Yes, I definitely miss my starboard engine.

Saturday, April 22- Leaving the Ship

That sad day comes on every cruise when you have to vacate "your" room so someone else can move in.  We finished breakfast, got our passports back, and waited for clearance to exit the ship.

In the meantime, the view at the port was still pretty interesting.  There was a lot of background noise from the many containers with built-in air conditioning; they were stacked nearby and hooked up with power cords.  We watched a ship being simultaneously loaded on one side and unloaded on the other and realized what a complex operation it was- every time a container was unloaded, the correct driver had to be underneath it to receive the load.

I spent the rest of my day in San Jose relaxing;  I'd crammed the day before with multiple activities (and loved every one) and there would be time to explore the city over the next two days.

Hotel pool- Hilton Garden Inn La Sabana

View from my room

April 23. 2017- Exploring San Jose

I woke up crazy early (they'd kept us on Panama time on the ship, which was an hour ahead of Costa Rica time).  The breakfast buffet was wonderful, as they usually are at the Hilton..

The McDonald's alternative.  Wish I could get the bean version at home.

After a gym workout I took the bus into town.  They were very easy to use- the driver actually gave change from a tray already organized into little bunches of coins so he could just hand you the right bunch depending on what size coin you gave him.  I realized again how honest people in Costa Rica must be.  In most countries drivers don't carry cash at all, and a tray like that would be cleaned out by a thief in minutes.  

I wandered, people-watched, and decided to go to the first major museum I found.  That was  the Jade Museum.    

When I’d gotten off the bus I’d carefully looked for the bus stop in the opposite direction- except that we were on a one-way street.  Oops.  Bus stops were just marked as “Parada Autobus” with no indication of which buses stopped there.  I decided to walk back to hotel, with a little trepidation- Rough Guides, which I usually found reliable, referred to kamikaze drivers, open drains in the sidewalks and people selling merchandise such as chickens.   There were lots of street peddlers selling jewelry, toys, DVDs, clothes and lottery tickets but no chickens.  McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Subway were all over.  There was a long line at McDonald’s for “postres” (desserts-mostly ice cream). 

I walked through park on the way back; huge fair sponsored by Bomberos (the Fire Department) with bouncy house, inflatable slide, games, and fire trucks to check out. 

 After a stop at Starbucks (where I couldn't pay with my smartphone app!), I went for a short swim- the storm that had been threatening all afternoon started just about the time I decided I was tired.

April 24, 2017- Last day in San Jose

I visited the Museo de Oro and the Numismatic Museum, both of which were in the same complex.  The Gold Museum (Museo de Oro) didn't permit pictures but had a very good display explaining exactly how gold was mined and made into exquisite works in the pre-Columbian era.

Coins meant to circulate only among people with leprosy and tuberculosis, in order to avoid contamination of others.  The cutout piece indicates its purpose.

"Company store" type coins.  Laborers were paid with currency created by the employer, for use only at the employer's facilities.

As I walked back to the hotel I noticed T-shirts and caps hanging all over the fences of the Stadium; they were Justin Bieber paraphernalia for sale.  He would be performing that night.  Lukcy me- my plans called for getting out of town to the hotel near the airport since I had an early flight the next morning.  I stopped at Starbucks because I didn't want the day to end, and it was filled with young women in Justin Bieber gear.

No, I did NOT buy one to take home.

I went back to my hotel and asked for a cab to the Hampton Inn near the airport.  A staff member called for one and told me when he’d arrived- gave the plate number and told me my driver was named Jimmy.   I got outside and the first cab in line had a different plate number but the driver greeted me with “Regina?”  Well, OK.  I handed him my bags and told him I was going to the Hampton Inn near the airport.  

The first sign that something was off was when he stopped to answer a call from someone named Alejandro.  I could glean enough of the conversation to learn that Alejandro was chastising him for picking me up (meaning that my driver was NOT Jimmy) and my driver’s response was something like, “Hey, I got there first”.  He fielded another call from Alejandro and a couple more from Jimmy, pretty much repeating the same thing.  Finally we stopped- at the airport.  I asked him in Spanish, “Where is the Hampton Inn?”  He gestured vaguely inside the terminal and I assumed (I am too trusting) that the hotel was in the airport.  A few airports have hotels on the premises.  This was not one of them.  I blundered my way downstairs with all my bags and found the Arrivals area.  No indication of where the shuttles arrived so I tried to call the hotel.  My credit card didn’t work.  (My iPhone plan does not offer international options.)   Finally, an enterprising old guy with a primitive cell phone who was running around helping people like me got the hotel number, called it, and handed me the phone.  The shuttle would arrive soon.  I gratefully gave the guy the equivalent of a few dollars.  The shuttle did arrive.  I was thoroughly frazzled by the time I got into my room.  I guess something has to go wrong on every trip and as Bad Taxi Driver stories go, this was mild.  I realized that he’d dropped me off at the airport because it would be far easier to pick up another fare there (probably the reason he “stole” my trip from Jimmy) and resolved to write to the Hilton manager with a copy of my receipt in the hopes that they’d report him to the cab company.(Which they did, promptly, after I contacted them.)

The evening ended well- they had only a Denny's near the hotel but a shuttle to an area with a good variety of restaurants, where I had a nice meal of Italian food.

April 25, 2017- The Trip Home

This was delightfully uneventful.  Up at 4:20 AM for a 7 AM flight, hotel shuttle was on time, gratefully bypassed the giant TSA line in favor of the Priority Access line (Business Class has its advantages in addition to the bigger seat).

Volcano, seen shortly after takeoff from San Jose.

 I had just enough time in Atlanta to enjoy lunch in the lounge before heading to my flight home.  Everything ran on time and I was home in time for dinner.  It's a miracle when it works!