Puntarenas, Costa Rica - March 19, 2013

After an overnight trip we arrived in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, in the morning.  Again it promised to be a hot, humid day.  It was already 84 degrees at 8:30.


In the morning we walked around town.  It's pretty shabby but very colorful.

 

They always manage to keep their churches well maintained.

The plants are amazing.

 

This is the fruit of a cashew tree, upside down.  The nut hangs on the bottom. 

Construction practices seemed a little shaky.

We saw a number of interesting birds, plus an iguana and a beautiful large squirrel with a rust-colored stomach.

We returned to the ship for lunch and then went out again for our mangrove forest eco tour.  We had done this same trip five years ago, but we decided to do it again.  We saw some different birds, so it was worthwhile.

This was one of our favorite birds.  Sorry the photo isn't very good.  He's an American pygmy kingfisher.  He's only five inches tall.

Late in the afternoon we set sail for the Panama Canal.

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua - March 18, 2013

On our first day out of Puerta Vallarta we ran into a thunderstorm.  It was quite dramatic.  We enjoyed it from the pool deck but under cover.  Otherwise it was warm but cloudy.

On our second sea day we attended a wine tasting in the restaurant.  We got to sample two whites and three reds, two of which were $78 and $98 a bottle.  Very nice.

The next morning we arrived in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.  It was 91 degrees and humid. We had been told that this is a developing country, and we found that to be true.  Tourism has not caught up to it yet.  The people were friendly and the vendors were not as aggressive as those in Puerta Vallarta.

The town is in a cove and there were lots of fishing boats.  The beach was clean.

 But the living conditions are pretty primitive.

We spent about an hour walking around the town, but when we heard what sounded like gunfire, we decided it was time to head back to the ship.

In the afternoon we set sail for Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

Puerta Vallarta, Mexico - March 15, 2013

We arrived in port early in the morning.  After breakfast we went ashore to look around.  We had heard that there wasn't much to Puerta Vallarta, and we found that to be true.  We were shocked to see a WalMart and Sam's Club nearby.

It was slightly overcast and muggy, 82 degrees.  We walked a bit to look for birds, but we didn't find much.  There was a conservation area, but we needed to pay $35 each for the boat tour, so we skipped it.  We did find a small (about 18") crocodile on our walk.

And there were several iguanas around the port.  This guy was a couple of feet long. It was slightly overcast and muggy, 82 degrees.

We went back to the ship for lunch. The health precautions had been eased, so we were able to serve ourselves in the buffet.  But we continued to be squirted with sanitizer everywhere.  Late in the afternoon we sailed for our next stop, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.

Another Adventure - March 10, 2013

This time we're escaping Oregon winter on a cruise through the Panama Canal.  Yes, I know we've done it before (twice!).  But this time it's the opposite direction.  And it's stopping in a couple of places we've never been before, plus it was super cheap.  So...  here we go.

We left Salem on the Coast Starlight, arriving in Los Angeles at 8:30 p.m. on the 11th.  We took an Amtrak bus to San Pedro, where we stayed in the San Pedro Inn.

The following day we rented a car and set out to do a little birding.  We went to Bolsa Chica, a wildlife preserve near Newport, and then to Balboa Island where we just walked and window shopped.

We boarded the Queen Elizabeth at 4:00.  The Goodyear blimp flew over us with a bon voyage message.

In the evening, after we pulled out, we sailed up to Long Beach, where the old Queen Mary is permanently located.  As it started to get dark there was a fireworks ceremony.  This was the first meeting of the two queens, and Cunard has this thing about meeting ceremonies.  After the show we headed out into open waters.


Our cabin was nice, although nothing like the one we had on the Queen Victoria.  But we did have a balcony, which we used a lot.

We had a fun group of servers.  Our senior waiter was Aleksander, from Macedonia.  He told us he had learned English from watching movies and television.  Hmm... I guess that's why he sounded like Boris Badenov on Rocky and Bullwinkle.  Our junior waiter was Dimitri, from Russia.  His English wasn't as good, but he was a real charmer.  He giggled constantly and kept us well supplied with desserts.  Our sommelier was Lloyd, from India.  We kept him busy finding interesting wines for us to try.  He did a great job, and we learned a lot.  We had a table for two, but there was another table for two right next to us with a German couple.  Their English was a bit shaky, but we enjoyed their company.

Because of an outbreak of norovirus, we were under very strict health precautions.  Every time we turned around someone was squirting our hands with sanitizer.  It was a nuisance, but necessary.  We were also unable to serve ourselves in the buffet, which was cumbersome.

We were at sea for two full days.  It was partly cloudy, and a bit foggy at times.  We spent most of our time looking for interesting things in the water.  We saw several whales and lots of schools of dolphins.  At night we could see lots of fish in the lights below our balcony.  On to Puerta Vallarta.

Finished at Last - January 23, 2012

Well, it's taken a bit longer than we had anticipated, but we've finally finished our latest house project.  It began with demolition of the master bath on December 31 and ended yesterday with the installation of the shower door.  So here are the before and afters.

Here's the old master bath.   The photos actually make it look pretty good.  It was really awful.

And here's the new bathroom.

We also had a new floor put in the laundry room.  We planned to replace the laundry tub but in the end decided not to put one in at all.  We also had a pocket door put in between the kitchen and laundry room to cut down on the noise of the washer.

Before:

After:

Freezing Fog - January 22, 2013

For several weeks now we've had cold weather, with an interesting weather phenomenon called 'freezing fog.'  It's nasty stuff, but does create a beautiful landscape. 

Chaos Again - January 8, 2012

We find ourselves in chaos again, in the midst of another (hopefully the last) house project.  This time we're updating the master bath and the laundry room.  So we now have a laundry tub in the library, a door in the guest room, and another door and the washer and dryer in the living room.

The shower has been done, and tomorrow the countertops and floors will be done.  Then it's just a few final details before it all gets put back together, probably by Friday.

Then I get to paint!