When life deals you lemons, it's time to make lemonade. That was our theme today after the Captain announced last night that all HAL shore excursions would be cancelled today because of the strikes and political unrest.
The ship experienced some difficulty in getting to the dock and being tied up. While we were scheduled to be off by 9, it was not until nearly 10 before we could leave the ship. Plus the gangway from deck 5 was at a very steep angle. Later we heard that a more flat gangway was set up. Once we were on the dock, there was no photographer, but there were a number of fellows hawking tours. We eventually decided upon one that would take us on a river cruise to see crocodiles and other wildlife. It was a similar excursion to the one cancelled by HAL, but at less than 1/2 the price at $50pp.
Seven of us piled in a van along with Juan, our tour guide. Juan was enthusiastic and very engaging as a guide. This was a side job for him and due to the strike he couldn't work that job. We headed out of town for about an hour on a road that was closed a couple days ago by the strikes (a cruise ship scheduled to dock here then skipped the port because of this) and along the way we encountered a group of white faced cappuccino monkeys that would drop down out of the trees and go after crackers. They had a very gentle feel to them as they crawled over my shoulders and head. As quickly as they grabbed the food, they'd move on the the next person or climb back into the trees and scour the scene for more handouts. It was a great encounter and was alone worth the $50.
At the start of the river cruise withCrocodile Man Tours (CrocodileManTour.com), several van loads of tourists (primarily from the ship) consolidated into one long boat for our tour. We went upriver and soon found one crocodile in the river before finding one our guide, Danny, nicknamed 'Osama Bin Laden' (named that because he's elusive). He was huge and we parked right along side him and took a number of photographs. The guide even jumped out of the boat and got within inches of the croc's mouth. We continued up the river and found another crocodile nicknamed 'Lady Gaga' (not sure of its gender) plus herons and egrets and iguanas and lizards. The tour was about 1 1/2 hours long.
On the way back we stopped at a store we had previously stopped at on a previous Puntarenas visit. Back at the port we found ceviche #3 and enjoyed it with beverages and the company of some other passengers. It wasn't quite as good as the previous two. My wife also enjoyed a 'Churchill' ice cream type soda which is unique to this area. We swapped pictures as they had gone on more of a birding trip. As we prepared to walk down the pier to reboard the Maasdam, I realized that for the first time that I had absolutely no money left in my wallet.
We took showers and then watched the ship leave the pier, back up and rotate clockwise and proceed out towards the open sea while allowing the pilot to climb down into his tender. We now have two sea days to reach Ecuador for our next port of call.
After a very light Lido dinner and conversation with fellow passengers, we attended the lecture on the fall of the Incas. It was really interesting and fast paced. We started to watch the night's movie, a sci-fi film 'The Quiet Zone' but I gave up and returned to the room to update my blog.
It's time to relax for a couple days. I have a little sore throat to try to shake. Stay tuned.
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