Costa Rica

Greetings from Puntarenas, Costa Rica. We have a really long port stop today...7am to 7pm and we are making the most of it. But before that here is an update on the ship. We finally got the air conditioning in our cabin fixed and the toilet broke down. That´s the bad news. The good news is they felt sorry for us because we were nice and didn´t complain too much so they upgraded us and we are now in a cabin on deck 6 with a veranda. It really pays to be nice.

Now I must tell you all about our table mates. We came with another couple, so they are fine...our friends Terry and Sandy W. We all get along just fine and no problems. Everyone does their own thing. However, we are sitting with four other people for which there are no adequate words to describe. It is dinner from hell every night! And that is putting it mildly. First, there is the couple from Novato, CA, who are beyond redneck. She has tatoos all across her chest and all he talks about is beer and pickup trucks and more beer. He is a supervisor for CALTRANS and that is pretty scary in itself. He leaves the table after every course for a smoke and comes dressed in his formal dungarees (I can´t even call them jeans!) every night. He has a big pot belly and says the stupidest redneck things I have ever heard in my life. He also uses the wrong bread plate and water glass every night. I can´t even stand to hear him talk and Jerry just plain scowls at the jerk. Now for the other couple. They are artists (so they say) from Oakland. I call them the Addams Family. He stares at you with his beady eyes keeps telling us he used to be an engineer and an Air Force navigator. God help us all if that is even remotely true. He knocks his iced tea over in his lap every night but he is always wearing the same clothes so at least they are getting washed a little. His wife has her hair plastered down on her head with what I am sure is either Crazy Glue or Gorilla Glue. She paints her eyes very dark black, lines her lips with what looks like black and has false teeth. The reason I know this is because she takes them out at the dinner table at least twice during the meal to clean them. We fight with Terry and Sandy every night to see who gets to sit opposite her to see the show. I guarantee you that none of us will gain weight on this cruise because we are so nauseated by this group that we hardly eat a thing. Unfortunately, we can´t change tables because there are none to change to at that seating.

It´s like being on a hospital ship. Everyone is very old and by the looks of it, half in the grave. During the Panama Canal crossing they stopped the ship in one of the locks and took someone off in a gurney and three more walking wounded walked off, all into two waiting ambulances. This morning in Puntarenas we woke to the sound of sirens and two more were wheeled out into waiting ambulances. They are really old and sick, but they all manage to beat us youngsters to the buffet by miles! Yes, they are wearing their Nike track shoes, warm-up suits (even though it is 85 degrees), and they fly into that buffet line before the rest of us know what hit us. It´s a sight to behold.

One of the pursers recognized us from another cruise and asked us to have dinner with her. She is really sweet and we will certainly do that, probably tomorrow, which is a sea day. We had so much fun with her on the last cruise that it was such a pleasure to see her again.

The next few ports are: Huatulco, Acapulco and Cabo San Lucas in Mexico and then San Francisco, where I can´t wait to see my family.

Today Jerry and I rented a taxi driven by a Chinese Costa Rican for the day. We traveled a total of 7 and a half hours. First we went into San Jose, the capital, and walked around the pedestrian street and got a heavy dose of culture. It was great and the people are very sweet. The economy seems to be booming. Everyone was dressed very well and there were lots of new cars and everyone was buying things. There also were interesting and clever art exhibits all over town. It is a large city and we went everywhere with no problems at all. After that, we drove to Sarchi, an artisan town up in the mountains, which was also very interesing. We hung out there for a while, bought a few souveniers and then hit the road back to Puntarenas, where I am now in the Internet Cafe.

We will go back to the ship fairly soon, since we are both starving.

We hope you are all well and will try to get to you in another port stop.

All our love and kisses, P & J