IF IT’S SUNDAY THIS MUST BE COSTA RICA: OK, I admit it. I’ve lost track of the days and because they’ve stopped putting those day-of-the-week mats in the ship’s elevators, I’m struggling to realize that it’s Sunday. It’s a lazy Sunday for sure. We enjoyed most of it poolside, in the gym and at the restaurants.
We’re heading west from the Panama Canal and enjoying scenic slow-speed cruising in the calm sheltered waters of Golfo Dulce just off the rugged coastline of southwestern Costa Rica.
Golfo Dulce translates from the Spanish as “Sweet Gulf” an apt name due to the abundance of rainwater and rivers flowing into the narrow inlet. Sparsely populated with small ports and villages the area boasts only a few towns. Heavy rainfall sustaining tropical rainforest vegetation made the region a major banana port from the 1930s until the 1980s. Today, palm oil is its major crop.
Costa Rica is one of the leading areas of conservation in Central America with more than 27 per cent of the country protected in national parks and preserves. Our points of interest today include the Golfito National Wildlife Refuge, where a chain of mountains climb to 1,600 feet then plunge abruptly into the sea, forming a jagged coastline in cliffs, tidal pains and estuaries. We’ll get our hands-on experience of Costa Rica tomorrow as we disembark for a variety of rainforest excursions.
Memory Tip: Ever drink a great bottle of wine on vacation and then forget the name? Try this. Bring your digital camera to dinner and photograph the bottle. Just don’t upload all the bottle photos to your blog. It might give your friends the wrong impression.
Today’s Irony: Let’s stay with the topic of alcohol. It struck me today that the “Friends of Bill W.” (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting takes place during Wine Hour. Hmmm…who planned that? Well it made ME smile.
