Crocs and Crabs

Costa Rica is well known for its eco tourism and its efforts to protect and restore endangered species, plants and animals and to protect the natural habitat. This despite being a poor country.
Our tour guide, Heidi, is a kindergarten teacher who is the granddaughter of a Jewish girl who escaped Nazi Germany on a banana boat with other children in 1939. The grandmother was adopted by a local family and married a local man, called a Tiko and the rest, as they say, is history.
Costa Rica means rich coast. Legend has it that Christopher Columbus came here on his third and final voyage and found natives wearing gold and silver jewelry with emeralds - and called it Costa Rica. We are very close to the equator and days and nights are equal year round, sunrise in 5:30 AM and sunset 5:30 PM. The temperature is also constant year round, within a couple of degrees. The temperature depends on your location, primarily altitude. For example, at the coast where we are docked the temperature is 82 to 84 degrees Celsius year round. The Capital, San Jose at 4,500 feet above sea level has a temperature of 18 to 20 degrees Celsius, year round.
Costa Rica, does however have two seasons; dry season and wet season. The Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is one of the wettest places on earth, with over 300 inches of rain a year.
We took an hour and half bus ride over rough roads into the jungle for a river cruise on the Tarcoles River. We saw Howler monkeys, crocodiles, dozens of birds, iguana's and land crabs on the walk to the river. It was hot and humid but very exciting to see a crocodile up close in its natural habitat.
We also saw a cashew fruit tree. Yes, there is a cashew fruit that looks like a small orange bell pepper but apparently has a distinctive taste that locals use to make a drink. Each piece of cashew fruit also has a nut attached, which has to be roasted and then you must crack its very hard to get the nut. No wonder they're so expensive.

History and Youth

Antigua, Guatemala
Thursday, April 27, 2006
At 8:45 AM we began a two-hour bus ride from sea level at Puerta Quetzal to climb 5,000 feet to Antigua, the ancient capital of Guatemala. Our journey took us past five volcanos, two of which are still active, coffee plantations, sugar cane farms and past two ornate and colourful cemeteries.
As we got off the bus in Antigua at the ancient Convent of Saint Theresa, we were greeted by a group of natives, descendants of the Mayans, selling blankets, necklaces with jade carvings and carved wooden masks. One young girl, with a gap toothed smile, black hair tied in pig tails and bright dark brown eyes caught my attention. She spoke in flawless English, with an endearing accent.
"Mister, buy a necklace for your wife." She said, as she flashed a big smile and held a necklace out for me to see.
"No thank you," I responded, as I followed our tour guide past the street vendors into the convent.
"Okay, buy one for your mother-in-law."
I laughed, and kept walking.
"Buy one for a friend."
I chuckled again, but kept walking.
"Okay, then, buy one for an enemy."
I roared with a big belly laugh, turned and smiled at her and said, "Maybe later."
"Okay, Mister" she said with a smile.

The ancient Convent of Saint Theresa was fascinating and in amazing condition given the earthquakes and several hundred years since it was an active convent.
When we left the convent the street vendors were waiting and my young girl right at the front.
"You're a very pretty young lady," I said to her as our tour group walked by them back to the bus.
"Thank you, that's nice, but you don't buy anything."
"Later," I said as we continued onto the bus.
"Okay, Mister."
It was now past noon and our bus took us down narrow, often one-way, streets that sometimes required the driver to back up to make turns, to another convent that had been converted into a five star hotel, the Casa Santo Domingo for lunch . The Casa Santa Domingo is a mix of authentically restored rooms, with modern coveniences and untouched ruins.
Our lunch was served buffet style in a brick walled outdoor patio with vines, blooming trees and multi-coloured Macaws. Servers in brillaint white chef coats, hats and gloves served each dish. First was a leave of lettuce covered in sliced apples, tomatoes and candied pecans. Next, mashed potatoes, green beans, beef kabobs with onions and red peppers, roast pork, and chicken. Everything was excellent. We sat at patio tables covered in immaculate white table cloths and chairs covered with white linen seat covers.
After lunch we visited a number of museums in the Casa Santa Domingo complex before walking two blocks to the Jade museum where we had a lecture about jade and watched crafts people making jade jewellry and then, visited the jade showroom (surprise!) where Janet bought a bracelet (no surprise).
Next, we had a half hour in the city square. I purchased a latte from a cafe our tour guide said was both safe and served high quality, authentic Guatemala coffee. It was great, very close to a grande latte from Starbucks. The best coffee I had since I left home.
The girl saw me in the square and came over. I told he I'd give twenty pesos to take her picture with my wife. She liked that idea. On my way back to the bus a young boy about six asked to shine my shoes for ten pesos, which I agreed to. I purchased a hand carved and painted mask from a man on the street as my souvenir.
There were chidlren and young people everywhere, which isn't surprising when you learn that half (50%) of Guatemala's population is under fifteen and that the typicaal family has eight children.

Bays and Beaches

Huatulco, Mexico
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Beautiful Bays and Beaches
Huatulco is a Pacific coast resort area south of Acupulco. The tourist area has nine bays with resort hotels, white sand beaches and clear azure waters. The temperature is in the high 80's all year round. When we stepped out of the ship we were immediately hit by a wall of humidity and heat that immediately wrinkled my pants and started me perspiring. We walked along the pier past some shops selling silver jewellry and local arts and crafts. I particularly liked the round multi-coloured Aztec calendars made from thousdands of pieces.
Then we came to a square and a park with small cart kiosks selling tourist souvenirs. Jan and I walked past and talked with a taxi manager who spoke good English and arranged to hire a taxi for an hour to tour the countyside and village - price, US$40.
Our driver, Peppi drove a Nissan Sentra with air conditioning. Thank God! We went to the surfing beach at Tangolundo Bay and up onto the top of the mountains overlooking the bay where our ship was docked, from both sides. The roads were paved, in excellent condition and the traffic very light. We felt safe. The streets and buildings were clean and fresh -- a stark contrast to our other stops in Mexico. There were a number of resort developments with condos starting at US$140,000.
The local restaurants are famous for their seafood but our stop here was brief, arriving at 8 AM and departing at 12:30 Noon, so we never had anything to eat.

Amazing Dolfins

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Today I had an amazing encounter with nature that will remain with me for the rest of my life. Jan and I booked to Swim with the Dolfins at the Vallarta Adventures through Holland America Cruise lines.

Rarely do tours fulfill the hype used to promote booking them. This was an exception. This tour exceeded the hype!

We took a bumpy 30 minute bus ride from the port where the cruise ship docked to the dolfin adventure facility.

At our orientation lecture we were told that we had to take a shower to remove all sunscreen, cremes and hair gels to prevent damagaing the dolfin's delicate skin. We also had to remove all jewellery for the same reason. Next, we moved to some bar stools, under a covered open-air patio beside the pool where we had lockers. Here we listened to an audio program about the intelligence and emotions of dolfins and their amazing ability to communicate while we watched the dolfins playing in the large pools.

After the audio program we had our showers, put on our life vests, were assigned to groups of eight. We were warned not to touch the dolfins face, especially the eyes and to avoid their blowhole. Each group of eight had two dolfins, a trainer and a photographer and a specific corner of the very large pool.

As soon as we entered the 12 foot deep sea water pools the dolfins approached us, rolling onto their backs for us to rub their bellies. Their skin was extremely smooth, very firm and tight. They seemed to genuinely enjoy tummy rubs much like a dog, The dolfins would roll over every so often to get a breath. Then, they'd swim around gently rubbing against us as they swam by. I felt completely safe, like I was swimming with a friend, a friend that was enjoying themselves and wanted to play. I wanted to play too. I was thrilled to swim with our two young girl dolfins and pat their bellies.

Later, the trainer got us all together in the pool and had us raise our arms swinging them back and forth in the air. The dolfins dove down and then returned swimming bewteen us rolling back and forth splashing us using their fins, drenching us all. Next, the trainer had us applaud and the dolfins came up between like they were standing and clapped with their fins like they were part of the group. It was almost as if they were mocking us and we all laughed.

After the dolfins were familiar with us, the trainer got us to get into couples. Then, he blew on his whistle, which we could not hear (but the dolfins could). He made a hand gesture and the dolfins came up beside each couple, one at a time, kissing us on the cheeks. Then, the trainer had each couple put our arms around the dolfins posing for a group picture. The people were harder to coordinate than the dolfins.

At this point, this tour and this experience was already way beyond my expectations. What happened next blew me away.

The trainer advised each of us that we could ride the dolfin but we had to follow his instructions explicitly. We would position our self in the pool where he told us. Then the dolfin would be instructed to get on her back and come to where we were in the pool. We would reach over and hold the dolfins two bottom fins with our arms extended fully, belly to belly with the dolfin. The dolfin would use her tail fin for power and the dorsal fin for steering and take us across the pool a distance of about 50 feet.

I treaded water in the pool wondering if I was too heavy, waiting for my turn, watching others fly across the pool. It seemed easy for the dolfins. When my turn came I reached across and grabbed each fin, extending my arms, floating belly to belly with a beautiful creature. The surge of power startled me, a smile exploded on my face as we raced across the pool. I think the dolfin winked at me. I blushed. I'm a married man. I loved it.

For the finale, the dolfins we swam with put on an aqautic acrobatic show for us that was spectacular often landing only a few feet from as we huddled against the edge of the pool.

This was among the top two or three nature experiences of my life.

Lands End Beaches

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Cabo, as the locals call it, is at the end of a one thousand mile long peninsula created by an earthquake, long ago, separating Baja California from mainland Mexico and creating the sea of Cortez bewteen Baja California and mainland Mexico. Our cruise sailed from San Diego down the Pacific coast of Baja California to Cabo, our first port of call.

Cabo is a small centre whose economy is focused mainly on tourism. The beaches are spectacular and there is a wide array of water sport activities available. Deep sea fishing, parasailing, sea-do rentals, glass bottom boat tours bookings can be made at kioks right at the port.

Jan and I simply walked around the village and along the port boardwalk. We were regularly attacked by smiling pseudo-helpful timeshare salespeople pretending to be tourist representatives. "Can I help you? Do you need directions? Let me give you a map."

Then they would try to pursuade us to attend a timeshare presentation, offering all the regular inducements. "Just for visiting you'll get a $150 cash. Oh, you already own a timeshare... make that $200 cash." We resisted.

The setting is beautiful and the beaches terrific. But, if we were going for a beach holiday we'd go to Maui.