Revisiting Costa Rica

Day 14 – 16 October 2026 – Sea Day

 

Today we had the Mariner luncheon, where those of us who have joined the Holland American cruise line membership program are served a special meal and thanked for our loyalty.  Kind of a nice perk on a sea day, and the food is always a bit nicer than the usual lunch menu.

 

However, there was some announcement in the middle of the meal that we didn’t quite catch – the captain couldn’t make his usual speech, he had been called back to the bridge.  But there was some rumor that our ship helped with equipment for some rescue or boating accident nearby, which might have delayed our arrival in Costa Rica tomorrow.  The captain announced that we should be able to make up any lost time during the rest of today and tonight.  I’m hoping to get more inside information during dinner, since I’m now curious.  Especially after last summer’s non-rescue at sea on the Oosterdam!  (Post note:  We still have no idea what this was all about!)

 

Day 15 – 17 October 2026 – Puntarenas (Puerto Caldera), Costa Rica

 

Richard and I have been to Costa Rica previously for five week trips, the most recent being in 2011 before we started our world travels.  I practiced blogging about our travels on that 2011 trip, if you want to read about those adventures.   

http://phebeandrichardcostarica2011.blogspot.com

 

With cruising, there’s never enough time to spend more than several hours in each port.  People purchase or arrange excursions, but half the time seems to be spent on a bus while driving to the site, and then back to the ship.  I’ve learned to just wander around whatever town we stop at, and see what is available right here.

 

Today, we arrived in Puntarenas, a medium-sized town on a really long skinny peninsula on the Pacific side of Costa Rica.  We docked at a pier, and I wandered on into town, despite the threatening skies.  There were all sorts of murals on walls as well as painting on the pier itself.  I moved some chairs around to get photos of the fish and coral, though I especially enjoyed the sea turtles! 

 

Given that rain appeared imminent, my first pursuit was walking down the beach and dipping my toes in the ocean.  The sand is black due to the volcanoes in central Costa Rica; all that lava turns into igneous rock, which erodes into black sand along the 
shores.

 

After my feet dried off, I headed to the Pacific Market – it isn’t a huge market, but there were probably twenty or so tables with all sorts of arts and crafts items.  Some were more artistic than others, such as the man who used molted feathers to create images of various local birds.  Others had the basic touristy tee shirts.  It quite a mix!

 

I found a pack of postcards, a few featuring my favorite, the friendly blue morpho butterflies.  There are also shots of Volcan Arenal with glowing lava flows, and the ever-adorable capuchin monkeys.  Costa Rica really has incredible biodiversity, with something like twelve distinct micro climates due to the topography of this small country that is roughly the size of West Virginia.  The country has both Pacific and Caribbean coasts, rainforests, towering mountains, and cloud forests!  You can also drive across the continental divide here – all of that in one small country!

 

There was a man with unique tee shirts, and it turned out each one was a monoprint – meaning only one printing of the original design.  He explained he “paints” on glass, puts the shirt on top, and has a press it goes through to make the print.  (I told him that in English, we call this a monoprint.)  I found a wonderful shirt with a few sea turtles for Richard – just too cool to pass up.

By now it was raining fairly hard, so I stayed under the various canopies and wandered a bit more.  Bought very little, mostly just chatted with people selling things.  Always good to practice my skills in Spanish, which are fairly minimal.

The rain let up enough for me to dash across the street and have a cappuccino.  Yes, it was a warm day – but with the rain, and being damp, I was chilly and a hot drink sounded good.

 

I eventually walked back to the ship, in a light rain much of the way.  This seems to be typical weather in Costa Rica, a light misting rain that isn’t strong nor heavy enough to qualify as real rain.  But damp enough to wet clothing, hair, and skin all along the way to the ship.  Oh well, at least it wasn’t as steamy hot as most of our previous port calls.  The rain also enhanced the colors of one painting on the concrete pier, the traditional folk art style painting with flowers, arabesques, and curlicues!  It looked so much better after the rain!

 

Richard and I both like to sit on our balcony and watch as our ship moves away from the pier or dock, and heads out of the harbor.  Tonight we had a subdued sunset, and then a tugboat that kept its bright lights on to assist our captain with backing up and turning port (left) at the same time.  It’s just interesting to watch.

 

Plus tonight we had a light show!  Lots of lightning in the distance, behind the coastal hills – creating sort of a backlit effect on those hills while also lighting up that section of sky!

 

Weavings and Huipils, Mora, and More Chocolate

Day 13 – 15 October 2026 – Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

 

Puerto Quetzal is another industrial port filled with shipping containers and the cranes to load those containers onto the freighters lined up along the wharves.  Stacks of containers, beeping cranes and trolleys, just a hive of activity.

 

We cruise ship passengers walked across a moveable bridge to the shore, though it’s all buttressed with rocks and boulders, no beach on the inside of the harbor.  We had a quick walk up to another large thatched hut which housed various excursion desks, a small stage for a band, and, much to my delight, a wooden jaguar!

 

Beyond the welcome center hut I found winding paths full of multiple smaller buildings and kiosks overflowing with all the gorgeous textiles, decorative items, and jewelry made in Guatemala: weavings, embroideries, ceramics, silver and jade, intricate beaded figurines – on and on!  SO many beautiful items, and so many things I’d love to have.  But given our travelling lives, we really don’t need much of anything.

 

I did buy a few items.  I fell in love with a purse that is woven fabric in bright pinks and purples with touches of orange, yellow, green – it kind of looks like a sunset.  The front is the woven part, from a used huipil, the traditional blouse Guatemalan women wear.  The back and wrist strap are leather.

 

The vendor included a lovely ikat woven bag to hold the purse, rather than a paper bag.  (Ikat weaving is so confusing to me – the threads are dyed in patterns and then woven, and voila, there is the design.  I have NO idea how anyone can dye thread in patterns that weave up into anything recognizable!)

 

Onward with my walking, and chatting with people selling all these gorgeous things.  I did end up buying a tortilla warmer (which will work as a hot pad in any kitchen, given I’ve never warmed a tortilla in my life!) – I managed to cajole the woman, Maria-Rosario, to let me take her photo along with her colorful corner booth.  (She had her son take a photo of both of us on her phone – too funny!) 

 

I also asked the man who sold me a batch of beaded stars of David for Chanukah for his photo – not only does it help me remember the people I chatted with, it shows all the Guatemalan arts and crafts in the shops.  The beading is unique – tiny colorful beads for the body of the object, and somehow there are always dangling and hanging pieces that integrate into the whole piece.  My stars all look like comets or constellations, with short strings of beads ending in tiny beaded secondary stars!

 

I found a chocolate shop as well – I tried 70% cacao, 80%, and 95%.  Plus chocolate tea, a wonderful tea made from the dried skins of the cocoa beans.  SO delicious.  Of course, I ended up with two bags of chocolate tea, which I will enjoy all winter.

 

And then there was the retired dentist who now has a shop featuring textile items made by women across the country!  I’ve been looking for a collapsible fabric bowl or basket for travel, something easy to pack that will hold all those random things we need on a nightstand, or to hold art supplies for a project, or whatever art items I might need.  She had a lovely rainbow striped basket that can turn inside out for another look, or even enlarge!  My new travel basket!

 

It kind of went on like that – wander, shop, have conversations with vendors in Spanish or English, taste, buy or not buy but chat anyway. 

 

I also had a cold drink, mora juice.  Mora is a wonderful Central and South American berry, something between a raspberry and blackberry. 

 

Yes, I was sort of shopped out by that point.  I don’t usually go on a shopping spree, but Guatemala has such unique textiles, I do tend to go overboard.  But then again, I’m contributing to the local economy, right?  I asked one woman if she came to this place every day, and she said yes, she does.  I asked how far away does she live, she said it takes her two hours to get there.  And then another two hours to get home.  Every single day!  In light of that, my contribution to these artists and artisans seems minimal.  But it does give people money to support themselves and their families.  Human dignity, self-sufficiency, and all that.

 

We sat on our balcony for our sail-away, something Richard and I both enjoy.  We watched the tug and pilot boats accompanying us, and I always wonder how the local pilot disembarks from our ship and manages to hop into the pilot boat.  I haven’t seen an exterior ladder, and the Deck A exit we use seems a bit high for someone to jump from our moving ship into a moving pilot boat.  So many questions!

 

At dusk, the clouds cleared and we could see volcanoes in the distance!  At least, I think they were volcanoes – they had that Mount Fuji shape! 

 

And somehow, the whole port of loading machinery looked so much more interesting in the dark!

Marimba Bands and Chocolate

Day 12 – 14 October 2026 – Puerto Chiapas, Mexico

 

Puerto Chiapas seemed to be an industrial port – we saw row after row after row of huge shipping containers stacked several high, all labelled “Chiquita” – full of bananas, no doubt!  It isn’t a huge port, but it looked like bananas are definitely the biggest crop here!  But it is near some Mayan ruins, as well as several coffee plantations and other places that can be visited on excursions, so ships stop here on their way onward.

 

Once I disembarked, I could see there was a walkway through manicured lawns, but no beach, just huge rocks along the shore.  It was a short walk to a tourist center, a giant thatched building that was sort of combo tourist and shopping mall – there was a group dancing traditional dances, a marimba band (with a really great saxophonist!), and lots of shopping.  WAY too many gorgeous embroidered or woven textiles – so hard to not buy everything!  Of course, I watched the dancing for a while, and then when they took a break the musicians began and I watched them – the guy on the alto sax really was soooo good!

 

Then, well, shopping seemed like an appropriate activity.  I wandered around each and every shop, because who knows, I might miss some item that I can no longer live without.  (I did purchase a gorgeous cotton scarf that is so soft and silky – it’s jacquard woven, so the design is on both side, in black against rich jewel tones of ruby, sapphire, turquoise.)

 

And chocolate!  The chocolate was delicious, dark and rich, with just a touch of cinnamon added.  I’m not sure if the chocolate is meant to be mixed with hot water and milk to create hot chocolate, but I will admit to just cutting the round bars into pieces and nibbling a bit for my dessert.  Delicious!

 

There were tours available, but I was fine with just wandering around in this area for a while.  Sitting in a bus or van for several hours is just not appealing to me, and there never seems to be enough time to explore an archaeological site or wherever the tour might be.

 

The two entrances to this tourist center had those hanging cut paper decorations, and I found out this art is called “papel picado” – literally, pierced paper.  All the papel picado I’ve seen has been done on colorful tissue paper.  Of course, I wonder what happens to these decorations in heavy rains, but maybe this is considered an ephemeral art form, like sand art or something.

 

I found great views of our ship beyond the papel picado!!!

 

Once back on our ship, I realized we were docked in a huge harbor that had interconnected rivers or canals branching off in various directions.  There seemed to be a network of rivers and waterways – not quite the canals of Venice, but somewhat similar in a more natural sort of way.  And one canal or river seemed like the main street of a neighborhood!  Really, I could see buildings all along the banks, with small motorboats moored or docked right alongside the edge!  It turns out that the real name of the town is Puerto Madero or Puerto de San Benito, just to make things more confusing.