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Published: June 20th 2017
Geo: 9.98102, -84.8392
Today we are going sightseeing, but you know the routine by now, first breakfast! Fresh squeezed orange juice, by yours truly, granola with yogurt and, of course, coffee.
On our agenda is a visit to Puntarenas (Sandy Point), a nearby port town. In January, 2017 this is one of the ports our cruise ship will visit. We think it will be fun to check out the town ahead of time. Our first stop, however, should be a lot of fun (and it is one of the excursions listed on our upcoming cruise). We are going to visit to Sanctuario Lapas - a macaw sanctuary.
Loaded down with cameras, hats, water bottles, my phone (in case we get lost and need GPS) and snacks of carrot sticks and cucumbers, swimsuits and towels we start out.
The drive is nice though there is a lot of work being done on the autopista (highway) so at times we're down to one lane. It looks as though rock slide damage is being cleaned up and repaired.
Our directions are to go to this little town and then drive X meters to the left. Yup, we do all that. The road goes to a 1-1/2 lane dirt road...hmmm...but
there's the sanctuary! And...the gate is locked. What??? Luckily Jeff has read the reviews and knows that if we blow the car horn someone will let us in.
Alberto is the gate keeper, ticket seller and our guide. He doesn't speak any English, and our tickets cost about twice what we thought they would. Turns out I think I agreed to a guided tour. This should be interesting...a Spanish speaking guide, one gringo with no Spanish language skills and one with rudimentary Spanish.
This place is wonderful. I gather from our guide, Alberto, that most of these birds (macaws and toucans) are rescued or given to the sanctuary as unwanted pets. Many have had their wings clipped and cannot fly. The cages are huge circular cages so those that can fly some have a lot of room to do so. But there are many that fly free in the sanctuary including a bunch of parakeets and parrots. These birds are noisy!!
Interestingly, there are also a couple of tapirs here, a couple of jaguars and several species of monkeys. Alberto finds a feather from a macaw on the ground and gives it to me to have. WOW! Our tour is about 90 minutes
and despite the language barriers we make ourselves understood. Alberto points out a wild deer nearby and says "Bambi" which apparently is the universal word for deer. hahaha
There are a couple of nesting macaws, one couple already has babies, but we couldn't get photos of those. This is a great experience and we are the only people here. We ask Alberto about cruise ship tourists and he indicated that the sanctuary is very busy when the ships are in port. Jeff and I feel so lucky not to be in a group of 18-20 people shuffling along.
Frankly, I am just not doing the sanctuary justice by writing about it - take a look at the photos for a better feel.
Leaving the sanctuary, we head for Puntarenas; about 20-30 minutes on the autopista. We can see the lights of Puntarenas and the Nicoye Peninsula from our casita; it is now time to go exploring. We find a parking place, grab our water bottles, hats, put on some sunscreen and set off.
There are bicycles everywhere - on top of cars, on bike racks on the backs of cars, people standing in biking gear next to their bicycles. Aha! Puntarenas is the
end point for the BMW Costa Rica triathalon. No wonder the place looks like athlete heaven.
Puntarenas is hot, hot, hot! And being Sunday all the local families are out sitting under the trees or laying on the beach having picnics. Jeff and I are lucky in a way because there is not a cruise ship in town - it is crowded now and a cruise ship would add 3,000+ tourists to the mix. There is a nice long paved walkway and we walk from one end to the other. Did I mention it is hot, hot, hot?? There are many, many, many vendor stalls set up for cruise ship people and since there is not a ship in port today, a lot of them don't have any merchandise displayed.
Yesterday the boat that we will be on in January stopped here! Actually, we know where the ferry terminal is, but we don't know where the cruise ships dock. We can guess because there is a really long pier, closed off with a locked gate and manned by a couple of security men. I walk over to ask them if this is where the cruise ships come in. I'm hot and tired
and very politely ask them in Spanish "Do you speak SPANISH?"! They burst out laughing and I did too. Yup, this is the pier. We find out from them that the next ship will dock on martes (Tuesday) - Jeff and I are hoping to be able to see the ship from Magallenas.
Puntarenas looks like a poor city - obviously its main industry is tourism, but it didn't used to be that way. It used to be the major shipping port for the export of coffee.
I don't want to sound rude, but from a tourist or cruise ship stop there is really nothing to recommend exploring Puntarenas unless you want a t-shirt or hat or some other Costa Rican souvenir.
We ooze (we're melting!) our way back to the car, tip the car watcher, open our snacks and drive home.
Holy crow, time for a shower. It was breezy at the shore and sand has stuck to the sunscreen on our legs. Yech. All cleaned up, we text Norman and Annie to see if they would like some "sunset" company; we'll bring wine.
Jeff and I, remembering to bring a flashlight this time, spend a lovely relaxing evening chatting with them. When we
went outside to sit dowm I saw Annie lifting the cushions of the chairs. What the heck? "Snakes" she said. "I don't want any surprises after I sit down."
I could have gone a lifetime without hearing that!
Time to head home...Annie opens the front door and shrieks! What? What? We cautiously look out to see two scorpions either making scorpion babies or fighting right outside the front door. With the sudden light, one scuttled off, the other hunkered down. Annie and Norman were able to catch it in a dustpan and fling it into the jungle.
A little excitement to end the day!
CONTEST!! There is something odd in the photo of me juicing the oranges. Can you spot what it is? Hint: review yesterday's post. There is Costa Rican coffee for the first correct response!
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John and Janet
non-member comment
Your juicer is a different color!