Trip to Costa Rica (briefly)
~ and ~
Transit through the Panama Canal
On March 11, 2019, Pippi Longstocking is enjoying the view of Costa Rica from the plane
en route there from the USA. She’s a bit worried about the high humidity and
how it will affect her hair…
Everywhere you look, both
inside and outside, of the Marriott
Hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica, you see items both beautiful and historic.
The hotel has acquired artifacts, and kept the attributes, of traditional
“hacienda” style. The site is a former coffee plantation.
March 11 evening- Just a few
hours to take a night drive in San Jose,
Costa Rica last night. Lovely dinner at hotel Grano de Oro (although I did have
to request that a waiter refrain from cleaning a nearby table with windex while
I was eating! Bad news for my taste and nose, I indicated, by turning in my
chair, holding my nose, and waving!)(discrete, don’t you think?). Then a look
at the Art Museum facade, which is beautiful in the evening and reputedly a
great collection.
March 12 - Pippi
Longstocking and I traveled with driver Alex over the mountains and past the
sugarcane plantations, with truck traffic galore on the winding roads to Sarchi, a village known for its decorative
arts and particularly the traditional decorated oxcarts. Guess who wants an
ox cart of her own (but it won’t fit in her traveling pouch...). Too bad,
Pippi!
On the way to catch the
Windstar cruise in Puerto Caldera, a stop in the village of Grecio. Of course every village has a big Catholic
Church! The foliage in Costa Rica is amazing!
Who would have thought that,
at age 72, I’d be on a long drive through Costa Rica with a man I don’t know?
But it turns out that Alex, who was recommended to me by the nice guy at the
tour desk in the San Jose Marriott, is lovely and delighted to show family
pictures on his iPhone of his wife (married 37 years)’, 3 grown daughters, and
various grandchildren. This is not as “have faith in humanity” as hitchhiking
solo from Mombasa to Nairobi in 1974, but somewhat in the stream of things. I
never want to be a tourist, you see — I always want to be a TRAVELER!
Of course, Alex took me to the wrong port — not his fault — so we got an extra hour together. However this was not nearly as “bad” as when I flew into Lake Victoria airport in Zimbabwe, instead of Lake Victoria airport in Zambia. And of course I took an expensive taxi (so called) to the border exit. Upside of that airport confusion: I got a multi-entry visa after a long wait in a small Zimbabwean cement-block custom hall; downside was having to pull my luggage 200 meters into Zambia. And go through another customs hall. And taxi ride. Ah well, part of the traveler experience!
Of course, Alex took me to the wrong port — not his fault — so we got an extra hour together. However this was not nearly as “bad” as when I flew into Lake Victoria airport in Zimbabwe, instead of Lake Victoria airport in Zambia. And of course I took an expensive taxi (so called) to the border exit. Upside of that airport confusion: I got a multi-entry visa after a long wait in a small Zimbabwean cement-block custom hall; downside was having to pull my luggage 200 meters into Zambia. And go through another customs hall. And taxi ride. Ah well, part of the traveler experience!
 |
| The Windstar |
QUEPOS, Costa Rica ~ formerly a banana exporting town, this is
the base of such tourism activities as float trips through mangrove swamps,
trails to waterfalls, zip lining through the rainforest and lots of wildlife
spotting opportunities. I’d like to tell a fib and boast of doing one of these
activities, but truth be told, at 95F and enormous humidity and no forgiving
breezes, I had a quick tour of the lovely marina and nearby typical town ...
and then headed back to the shop to hear a great ensemble devoted to preserving
the country’s music traditions and dances. The marimba is the official musical
instrument of Costa Rica!
March 14 ~ Golfo Dulce is one of Costa Rica’s most
biodiverse areas, with both jungle and sea brimming with life. Today we
anchored near Puerto Jiminez (“Port Jim”), a village of 3000 people that’s very
much off the beaten path. The warm sea area off the Osa Peninsula has been
called “the most biologically intense area on earth” by National Geographic. A
feature of our small boat excursion was 50-60 dolphins nearby, putting on an
amazing show, with manta rays also leaping high out of the water. (Not a great
wildlife photo = use your imagination...)
March 15-High winds in
the Pacific made a stop at Panama’s Isla Parida ill-advised, but the sunset was
still glorious!
March 16 ~ Today we are at
the entrance to the Panama Canal. Balboa
is the second largest city in Panama and was founded by the USA during the
construction of the Canal; it’s named after the Spanish conquistador who is
credited with discovering the Pacific Ocean. Originally marsh and ranch land,
the Balboa district was drained, filled, and leveled by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers during Canal construction. Panama’s official currency is the
“Panamanian Balboa” and trades at 1 PAB per USD…but actually, everyone just
uses U.S. dollars. (Aerial view of Balboa courtesy of Panama’s
history museum.)
The isthmus of Panama,
during the pre Colombian period, fulfilled an unrivaled function as the bridge
of passage between and to other populated zones to the north and south of the
continent. The first Paleo-Indian groups arrived between the years 12,000 to
8000 BC. At the time of contact with Europeans, sixty primordial cultures
already existed in the isthmus. At the history museum, a fantastic exhibit
which shows the formation of the earth’s land masses gives an understanding of
recent geological events in the Americas.
It’s easy to spend a few
hours in Balboa’s history museum
that features an immense amount of information about the Canal. Lots and lots
of original antique maps ️ and a great audio guide if your Spanish is
lackluster (as is mine). But at its conclusion, the Canal cut off more than
7000 miles from the ocean voyage between New York City and San Francisco. A
milestone in the history of commerce!
Balboa’s El Casco Antiguo area, declared a World
Heritage Site by UNESCO, was built in 1673. Its center is Plaza de la
Independencia, which is bordered by the Catedral, the Museo del Canal, and
other beautiful buildings including the Central Hotel (with a nice cafe
offering Diet Coke )
In Casco Antiguo,
Balboa, a visit to the church of San
Jose, with its famous gold altar, and a room with an astounding huge
nativity scene.
A visit to the Miraflores
Locks, where we saw a container ship en route to the Atlantic. It takes a ship
around 8 hours for the full transit. The locks are hydraulic, operated with
water pressure from Lake Gatun.
March 18 - at last, Panama
Canal transit day! The required pilot boarded at 5:30 am and by 6:30 we were
leaving the Pacific on a misty morning, assisted by tugs as we went under the
Bridge of the Americas — our masts cleared by a mere five feet! Each ship is
attached to steel cables and pulled carefully through the narrow canals by
locomotive “mules” on tracks at either side. First through the set of locks
(Miraflores) near Balboa/Panama City, then the locks a short distance beyond at
Pedro Miguel, then through the Culebra Cut and onto Lake Gatun, to enter the
last set of locks (Agua Clara/Gatun) and onward to dock at Colon on the
Caribbean/Atlantic side of the Canal. Transit 8 hours for the 48 miles. Our
Windstar 140-passenger ship paid a toll of $3500 plus 550 to assure a daytime
transit... booked a year in advance, typically.
We docked at Colon on the Caribbean side of the Canal
The next day I took an eco tour on Lake Gatun. The protected area of rainforest not only
replenishes the fresh water used in the workings of the canal, but also harbors
birds, monkeys, crocodiles, iguana, fish, termites and other insects that live
symbiotically with the trees, and butterflies.
Colon,
the port on The Mediterranean side of the Panama Canal, has a big rebuilding
program underway as its city area is pretty shabby. It’s important primarily as
a port, and Pippi holds the Panama flag as she says goodbye from the comfort of
the Windstar lounge.
March 19 - Farewell Central America!
Off to sea, en route to the journey’s end at
Aruba.
End of the trip... Aruba ahoy!
To get back to San
Francisco, what was required was changing planes in the Charlotte airport…
Seems a strange way for the most direct flight back from Aruba, but it was….
TO SEE ON MY NEXT TRIP TO PANAMA...(for me, I hope there is always a next trip somewhere) … the Frank-Gehry designed Biomuseum, which
is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institute and tells the geological story of
the arising of the Isthmus of Panama.
And maybe on that next trip, I’ll see Panama
City’s modern downtown, perhaps without mist!
