Uh-Oh! The Beginning of a Downhill Spiral - No Limon!

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Buenos Dias! With great excitement and glee we are looking forward to our excursion of today (Thursday, February 22nd). We are going to Limon, Costa Rica. We are going to take a quaint, open-air railcar along the historic banana route. We shall go onto a banana plantation with photo stops to catch a glimpse of the various monkeys that thrive in this rainforest region. Hopefully, we might get a peak at some sloths. It’s going to be a wonderful expedition. I know you will love it. Don’t be late! The train won’t wait!

Bong, Bong, Bong. An early morning announcement by the Captain burst our journey bubble. Wiped it completely out! Whah, Blubber, Snivel, Heave. At 7:24 AM, due to the bad swell and unfavorable sea conditions and at the advice of the local Pilot, the decision was made to abort our port of call (Limon). Noooooooooooo. No railcar, no bananas, no monkeys, no sloths....nothing!! Rats. But I guess Mother Nature rules the day.....nothing we can do about her unwanted, cruel behavior. We are left with just our imagination to take us on this unique excursion.....picture it: I can see all of us hanging over the side windows of the railcar to get the best photos. Look, a massive banana plantation. The great bunches of bananas grow upside down....cool. Look up! Monkeys galore. Hooting and hollering as we snap their pictures. Keep it down you mad monkey. Finally, a slow moving sloth appears. Our granddaughter, Sara, loves sloths! They smell real bad; horrendous bad!! Wonder if that will change her devotion. The original trip would have taken a half-day.....our imaginary trip took 30 seconds. Lulu is so disappointed. She’s over in a corner, moping. Poor thing!

Here’s a few facts about Costa Rica to occupy your minds. It takes 4 years for a coffee bush to mature when you can finally pick the beans. More than 200” of rain fall yearly. Costa Rica is slightly smaller in size of W.Virginia. It is the oldest democracy in Latin America. It is the only country in the Western Hemisphere without any army or military of any kind. They pride themselves as being “The Land of Peace.” Four types of monkeys live here. AND we didn’t get to see any of them. Sniff, Sniff. We must be strong!

In the meantime, the cruise ship hustled around to add more activities to this now additional day at sea. Too depressed, we decided to go back to our room and watch free movies on the TV. Any chance to snuggle up in our magnificent bed was a welcome respite. Cory decided to wander around the ship.....his loss, my gain. Lulu and I had the huge bed to ourselves. We watched: The Zookeeper’s Wife, The Glass Castle and Silence. All of them were very good. Talk about a day at the movies. All while lying on the most comfortable bed in the world. Aaaah. Life is Good! Making lemonade out of lemons....without going to Limon.

The sea is rough. The boat is rocking and we are staggering when out and about. Lulu found the vomit bags hanging on the many railing. She thought the pouch was her own little snugly travel pocket....until people started reaching in and grabbing the bags. She got scared.....she felt she was being molested with so many hands fondling around her. Life in the pouch was short lived.

Well, folks. Tomorrow is going to be a repeat of today.....cruising at sea. Get your agenda cards out and we’ll see what and when and how you want to busy yourselves. There is so much to do on the floating entertainment center. If left to me, I’d stay in our heavenly bed and just watch movies......relaxation like I have never known. ZZZzzzzzzzz

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Photos

Our Sad & Disheartened Group
Our Limon, Costa Rica Excursion is Cancelled