 |
| Costa Rica Mountain Landscape |
 |
| Tilling Sugar Cane fields |
 |
| A new bronze bell for a church in Grecia |
 .. |
| 1 1/2 tons of bell to be lifted to the top of the church tower. |
 |
| Metal Church in Grecia |
 |
| Nests of a bird called 'Oropendula' |
 |
| Main Church in Sarchi |
 |
| Shuttle transport in Puntarenas (Sandy Point) from ship to shore |
 |
| Beach in Puntarenas with deserted life guard station |
 |
| Little green parrot gazing down from a Palm tree trunk |
 |
| Colourful wraps fluttering in a fresh Ocean breeze |
 |
| Amsterdam at dock in Puntarenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Digging for clams |
 |
| Official ship's pilot in his off hours - line fishing of the back of his pilot boat |
Costa Rica, the Rich Coast, that is what Columbus called this area of Central America when he sat foot on it in 1502 and glimpsed a few flashes of gold. He landed in what is now called Puerto Limon, the Lemon Port, on the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica. Puerto Limon got its name from the custom of locals to avoid street names and numbers, but orienting themselves by landmarks to find addresses. A centuries old lemon tree in Puerto Limon was the most prominent landmark, thus the name of the town...
Costa Rica is about the size of Vancouver Island, straddles the isthmus between the Atlantic and the Pacific and is bordered by Nicaragua in the north and Panama in the south. 5 Million people call it home, as well as 50,000 species of insects, 2000 species of orchards, 208 species of mammals, 850 species of birds, 118 non poisonous snake and 27 poisonous snake species...and one could go on ad infinitum with the list of a truly 'rico' rich concentration of flora and fauna. Things get a little confusing sometimes..monkeys are named after other mammals or monks, such as squirrel monkey, Spider monkey, Capucine Monkey.
The Howler monkey acts as a local alarm clock, as they start their ear splitting chorus at about 4:30 in the morning and stop again around 5:30, at which time THEY retire for a nap.
Rich in other ways as well: average lifespan is 78 years, literacy is 95%, 93% of homes have electricity and running water, no army since 6 decades, and no wars, good education and health services. 9% of income is withheld to pay for health and retirement benefits.Minimum salary is 600 US, unemployment is 4.5%, a Big Mac costs 2 US, and fuel costs 1.50 US a liter.
An average of 450 earthquakes hit the country each year, hence houses are built one story high only. 7 active volcanoes keep things rumbling.
With all that fire around, cremations are expensive and people bury their dead in mausoleums, which are built above ground to save space (bury them 6 deep) and evade water logging. As our narrator said: nobody wants to stand at a bus station and see weird things float by after a heavy rain.
8 degrees north of the Equator, it rains a lot, it is humid and hot on the Atlantic side and just plain hot on the Pacific side, with pleasant climate high up in the mountains amongst the volcanoes, and the day is eight hours long.
Their economy ranked from highest to lowest, is based on
Technology (Intel, HP, Amazon have plants here)
Eco tourism (Costa Rica invented eco tourism, and is serious in environmental protection and preservation...one may zip line, bird watch, walk volcano rims, white water raft, ride gondolas through dense rain forests etc etc)
Medical tourism (many pharmaceutical companies have plants here, but the main income is derived from new noses, tummy tucks, lifted faces, new pectorals - medical skills are high and costs low - and as a bonus, enhanced tourists may stay and enjoy the country during their recovery period)
Manufacturing
Agriculture (Pineapples, Bananas and Coffee)
Enough of local statistics...
Instead of eco-touring through mango swamps crawling with crocodiles or tropical rain forest canopies, I sampled a few human settlements.
First Grecia, more than 100 meters of elevation, where a church constructed of steel graces the local main square. After the first adobe church fell victim to an earthquake, and the second brick church was destroyed by another one, and a replacement wooden one suffered the same fate, the local faithful commissioned a Belgian company to pre fabricate an entire church out of steel. This one, assembled in the little town of Grecia, is still standing, the inside lined with white painted wood - very cool temperatures inside - and home to the oldest organ in Costa Rica. Today it received a new bell, which was in the process of being hoisted to its lofty perch by a small army of volunteers, trying to position the bronze bell weighing about 1 1/2 tons under a manually powered pulley affair.
 |
| Celebrating 'Ascension of Christ' - 40 days after Easter |
I strolled around the pleasant park fronting the church and discovered, with the help of a local 'anciano' - senior citizen - who was watching the 'parajitos', little birds. Way up in one of the palm trees gracing the plaza were a few nests of Oropendula (golden birds with build large net like nests).
But, coming as a complete surprise, Grecia is a hot bed of used car sales lots. Why - one may ask.
Many Costa Ricans emigrated to other countries to better their economic situation, and used to send some of their earnings 'back home' to support their families. These incomes were subject to taxation. Resourceful Costa Ricans started to send foreign made cars 'back home' instead, non taxable, but relatively easy to convert into cash. The central trading place for all these 'barely used' cars is Grecia, where Toyota, VW, BMW, Ford lots...you name it...outnumber local grocery stores. Apparently the prices are right, too, high end vehicles sell for a fraction of the 'regular' price.
Before heading back to MS Amsterdam, we were off to a traditional oxcart factory. Oxcarts were the common method of transporting coffee beans from their mountainous growing area - now trucks and even helicopters have taken over, but the tradition remains alive...photos in the next blog.
 |
| Costa Rica greeting 'Pura Vida' - be happy, good luck... |
