Day 5,Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

Well now on to day five. So this day was a day we separated as a family. Jeniffer, Jordan, and Sabrina went zip lining while my mother Jan, grandmother May, my wife Jacqueline and I took a private tour.

I had picked a private tour that was a little more accessible as my grandmother and mother can’t walk very far and I wanted them to be able to enjoy their day in Costa Rica.

We got up around 830 and all went for breakfast. We had planned a later excursion so we didn’t have to rush off the ship and fight the hordes fo people. After breakfast we got ready and headed off the boat and meet our tour for 10am.

The problem that I had not anticipated was the walk from the ship to the port. We had to go very slowly as my mother could only walk so far and it took us a good 15-20 minutes to reach where our tour guide was. We were late but he was very understanding and helped my mother and grandmother get to the bus for the tour.

The tour company we chose was Oscar Brown Tours. Here is a link to their website. http://www.oscarbrowntours.com/  They were one of the best tour companies I have dealt with. I got quick responses to my questions through email and they were understanding about our mobility issues. We did the 1-1 tour which is nice and easy for those with mobility issues and still gives you a great tour of the city.

Once on the bus we were with another group of people from the ship. They were doing tour 1 which is a little different from ours as you get a ride in the canals on a boat. I would have had no problem with that but the rest of the family were not interested.

Our guide for the day was Ryan. He was professional and was full of local knowledge. He answered all the questions that came up and really went above and beyond.

So we got on the bus and we headed out on our journey for the day. As we headed out our first stop on the side of the road was to see an iguana and a sloth.

Here is a picture of the iguana high up in the tree.

Here are some pictures of the sloth that we saw.

A funny story goes with this. So my mother and grandmother stayed in the vehicle as we went out to look at the animals. While we were walking through the field to see them I noticed the ground was full of holes but didn’t think anything of it. As we were looking at the sloth one of the other members of the tour asked what the holes in the ground were. Ryan said they were either crabs or snakes, and if they are snakes he will be running back to the vehicle and we were to follow. At this point I stop taking pictures to look at my wife and lo and behold she is tip toeing back to the van as she is scared of snakes and she was wearing flip-flops so she really didn’t want to get bit. I can say though we did not see any snakes but it was funny.

So after this stop we made our was farther down the road until we stopped at a local market. Ryan explained that you pay what you can. We made a stop here to check out the farm. We didn’t get out of the vehicle but the rest of the group did.

Here is a quick shot of our tour guide Ryan.

Here are some pictures of the farm. Now Ryan was so nice he brought us items to try as we sat in the van. I tried a fresh banana which I had done before on a previous cruise and it was great. Nothing beats a fresh banana. He also gave us fresh pineapple which was so juicy and nice that I could eat that every day. Jacqueline had papaya which she said was good but warm. She would have prefered it cold.

After this we hit the road again and headed to our main stop which was the banana plantation. We went to a plantation run but Del Monte and the largest plantation in Costa Rica which was 400 hectares large.

Here is one of the banana trees on the farm.

Here is my beautiful wife walking among the banana trees.

Here are some banana in the blue bags. As we learned the blue bags protect the bananas from pesticides, birds, and insects. Supposedly birds and insects don’t like the color blue so they leave them alone.

Here is one of the seeds that open up to become the bunch of bananas.

So this is the guide wire that is used to haul bananas to the plant. As we learned the workers will collect bunches of bananas each weighing 50-60 pounds and then take them along this wire to the plant. To get them there though the employees have to run them and must collect 400 bunches in one day. Ryan told us that Costa Ricans don’t do this job they get people from Nicaragua to do this unless they need they work. That is one job I do not want to have.

So after the banana plantation we headed off down the road and got a bit of a tour of the area as we headed to our next stop. We saw some of the schools, they banana plants that are the best place to work, and one of the docks owned by the banana companies.

So we dropped off the rest of the group at the boat for the canals and Ryan double checked if we wanted to go with them. We told him no that we didn’t. So we headed out to last stop of the day which was a little beach break. As we drove he gave us more information about the are and answered a few questions we had. He was also concerned about my mother and grandmother because they didn’t get out of the van for any of the previous stops. They told him they were fine and they enjoyed just seeing the views as we drove. They both are not big into excursions and enjoy such things as bus tours. Of course this would be put to the test in Cartagena.

We arrived at the beach stop with a little restaurant. He offered to get us a table but it was getting hot out and my mother and grandmother wanted to head back so we said we would only stay for a few minutes. At this point my wife and I headed onto the beach.

A few shots of the beach I took.

My foot in the water.

A few people playing the in water.

Gnomie made an appearance at the beach. He wanted to stay longer he was enjoying the sand so much.

So this lady in the picture was entertaining. She was telling us how she didn’t want to get wet and she kept jumping out of the way of the waves as we watched her. As you can see by this picture the waves won and she got wet. She came out after this and laughed saying she tried her best but at least she will dry off.

After taking some photos and enjoying the beautiful water we headed back up to the restaurant and met up with my mother and grandmother. We then grabbed Ryan and headed back to the bus.

I also took the above picture and sent it back to my work to tell everyone I missed them and that I wished they were here with me. Lets just say I was told I was mean.

So we got back on the bus and headed back to the port. The traffic was a bit backed up so we had to fight our way through the traffic. As we were driving through town Ryan picked up his uncle Oscar who is the owner of the tour company. He asked how we were enjoying the tour and how Ryan was doing. We told him we really enjoyed the tour and that Ryan was fantastic. He seemed to really appreciate the feedback. We were then dropped at the entrance to the port. I gave Ryan a good tip on top of the payment for the tour and thanked him for the great day.

Another quick note about our tour group. It was quite hot that day, and the bus we were on was older. Once we were picked up by Ryan he stopped to fuel up and turned the air conditioning on. It felt nice but needed time to move through the vehicle. The other people in the group who sat in the back of the bus decided that it was better to have the windows open as they could not feel the air conditioning. Once we got to the farm and everyone got out my wife closed all the windows she could and the bus cooled down right away. When the others came back the lady sitting behind my wife asked if she wanted the window open more and my wife told her no because the air conditioner works much better when windows are closed. Lets jus say the lady didn’t open the window anymore.

Once back at the port we wandered around the stalls inside the port and picked up a few souvenirs. We got my father his usual hat and a few things for the younger kids that were at home with dad. We then had to make the long walk back to the ship. stopping frequently for my mother and grandmother.

Here is a picture I took of the them taking a break from the walk. As you can see Gnomie made and guest appearance again.

Here is my staple picture of the ship in dock. I don’t know why I do it every time but I just do. I think it turned out really nice.

By the time we got to the ship my mother could barely walk. She and my grandmother went back to the room. My wife and I headed to the room, threw on our swimsuits and went to the solarium for a little bit. We then hit up the buffet for a late lunch. We then went back to the room and checked in on my mother and grandmother. My mother was doing better and they had ordered room service so they could relax.

So the other three that morning went off to do their zip lining. They really enjoyed it and saw lots of animals. Here are a few pictures that they took.

Here is the three of them about to get ready and doing there usual selfie. Also looks like a picture of the zip line.

They got back to the ship around 4-430. Jordan went and got a burger and I believe Jeniffer and Sabrina grabbed some food also.

Jeniffer also took Jordan to see the show this night before diner. Garry Carson was performing his magic in the theatre. Jordan wasnt to sure about it at first but by the end he really enjoyed it. They both said was a good show to watch.

We were scheduled to leave at 6:30 so as usual I had my little nap and then went out on our deck to take some pictures.

So here is a picture of the ship that was beside us loading up crates. Jordan enjoyed watching them load as he and Jeniffer would guess which one would be next. The second was of the shore line as we were pulling out of port.

So after this we relaxed, ate our cheese plate, watched some tv and then got read for dinner.

Here is the menu for tonight. Some good options.

So we start with Sabrina’s Caesar salad as usual.

My wifes crab cake. If I liked crab then maybe I would have it. She really liked it.

My beef carpacio. It was delicious.

I believe Sabrina had this salad also. This was the Chicory Apple Pear Salad.

My wife had the Tomato Watermelon Gazpacho. She didn’t realise it was a cold soup, said it was ok.

Jeniffer had the Cream of Broccoli soup. She enjoyed it.

This was the Barolo Braised Beef Short Rib. I cat remember who had it but I remember that they did enjoy it.

Sabrina had the Penne Primavera. She said it was okay but she ate the whole thing.

Oven Roasted Chicken Saltimbocca. I believe Jeniffer had this and really enjoyed it.

Again I didn’t take a picture of the dessert menu. This was apple pie I believe with vanilla ice cream.

I had this which was Cherries Jubilee. I could have eaten ten of them.

My wife had a Fruit Parfait type of dessert. She did enjoy it.

After dinner we were going to grab the movie for the night which was The Intern but no one wanted to see it with me so I was going to go alone. I got to the theater and there were about 15-20 people in there but they were a little intoxicated and very loud. After a few minutes I left as I was not able to enjoy the movie. I did my usual routine, went up and saw Happy, got my Jello, then headed back to the room to relax on the deck. I made sure I had a somewhat early night as the next day was Colon Panama and it was going to be another fun excursion.

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions feel free to ask.