Friday March 8th
2013.
After leaving Manta we
had a day’s sailing in calm seas, before we reached the sea port of Puntarenas
in Costa Rica, which is the gateway to its capital of San Jose. It was a
beautiful sunny day, but hot and humid and about 32 degrees.
The country of Costa
Rica is a poor third world Central American country, which has no military or
armed forces and no mineral resources. It’s economy is basically supported by
the production and exporting of coffee, tobacco and bananas. It is now trying
get their young tourist industry up and going, and they appear to be slowly
winning the battle, but they still have a long way to go.
Puntarenas is a small
fishing village situated on a peninsula, and has a population of about 14,000
people. It is an idyllic place with palm tree lined brown sand beaches. The
village is old and rundown and poor by any standards, however the place was
very busy and the locals were glad to see us and welcomed us with open arms.
We had an afternoon
excursion arranged to visit the area’s hinterland which included a scenic train
ride along the old Pacific Railroad in restored old time rail carriages, and a
scenic river boat journey along the local Tarcoles River basin. The trips gave
us a good picture of the local fauna and animal population which included the
country’s national bird the Scarlet Macaw. The trip was well worth while, and
the local’s were trying very hard to impress visitors to their country.
This is an out of the
way place, but if passing a visit should not be missed.
Tomorrow we overnight
to San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua.
