Day 4: The Rich Coast

This morning we dock in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. The bay is much prettier than the harbor at Panama. Costa Rica is truly beautiful. The city is still a Central American city, but it is designed to appeal to tourists, and they keep it clean. Bananas are one of their top 3 industries. Number one is--tourism. I suddenly feel like they like me. They really like me.

Again we had a long bus ride through narrow and winding roads to get to our target destination. Again, it was an eye strain to keep up with passing scenery. It was almost all banana plantations. They put blue bags over the bananas to keep the bugs from getting them. I did not fall asleep, though because Theresa and I did a lot of chatting. We stopped for a classier potty break than the ones we experienced in Panama. There was a gazeebo with juice and stuff for us. While we were standing around two fairly cute guys asked me to take their picture for them.

Finally we got to our destination. The river did not look especially menacing, so I entered the raft with trepidation in check. Of course the especially sleek, curly-haired latino guide in his wetsuit soothed any anxiety that might have remained. Otto drilled us on commands before we pushed off. The last command was "high ten" where we all raised our oars to the center and sout "Pura Vida!" It means, literally, life is pure. Otto told me the slang translation was "It's all good."

The rapids didn't go very fast, they were only a class two--cruiseship liabilities and all--but it gave us time to scan the vegetation for toucans and sloths. Termite tree nests can easily take the form of sloths. Because it was the dry season, again and still, we learned an extra command: "Bounce." That's what you do to get the raft off of the rocks. sometimes it didn't work so Otto got his wetsuit wet and pushed us off while we bounced like children on a red Kool Aid overdose.

It only took us one time passing another raft to learn the command "splash." Oars double as water distribution weapons against slower moving rafts. In fact, we did not have to be commanded in all things, and began to take initiative. For a time, the semi-placid waters did look like rapids.

This excursion was the most fun, definitely. We returened to the ship famished and took full advantage of the buffet offrings. Then we took a little time to relax and prepare for dinner. We diverted from our normal routine and ate in the Supper Club, which was gourmet dining for a cost. As a group, we were a little too rambunctious for the setting, but I think most on the ship knew us by now, and expected that.

That night was a pool party. Trey got selected for the lipsync contest and won, because he was pretty good, and because he had an awesome cheering section. There was live music from a calypso sort of band until 1 am. I had just finished a liter of Supergreens, so I was good to go. My friends were plenty willing to call it a night, though. I wished them good night and went to seek adventure.

The club was closed because the pool party that night was the club. Karaoke was closed for the same reason. There was nothing to do! I went to my room and got the mp3 headphones they gave me (loan) to practice for my upcoming performance. I took my music down to the vaccant Karaoke lounge and worked my number. I herd running overhead. Elephants? Wildabeasts? I went to investigate. I the adult was having a terrible time finding something to do and, lo, at 2 am the 9-11 year-olds have supervised activity until 3 am.

I wandered around the ship and found the two guys who had asked me to take their picture being equally bored. It was actually a whole group of under age 25 bored people. We finally gave up and went our separate ways. Still.......

!Pura Vida!