February 27, 2026- Day# 54

 On our way from Costa Rica to El Salvador, so spending another day at sea. The Currents newsletter is giving information about the Oceans. The oceans cover 2/3rds of the planet surface and contain 97% of the earth’s water. Only about 5% of the oceans have been explored, which seems amazing to me. The deepest water in the Atlantic is along the Puerto Rica Trench. 

Lectures today: first was by a person who’s one of his first jobs was writing jokes for Johnny Carson. He also wrote scripts for a number of movies and had some good stories to share about Johnny and Joan Rivers. The second lecture was “Why did the Classic Maya Civilization Collapse”. Spoiler alert, it was multi-factorial. 

I have mentioned other entertainers we have had on ship and would again recommend you google the pianist Roy Tan. A very talented young man. 

February 26, 2026- Day# 53

 Missed the sunrise again this morning, I guess I am going to need to set an alarm for 5:30am tomorrow. We arrived at about 9:30 in Puntarenas, Costa Rica! They are calling for sunny skies and temperature of about 93 degrees. Lots of warnings to use sunscreen and drink plenty of water. Before I talk about our excursion, a little information about this country. 

They say that Costa Rica is the Central American country with unlimited tourism potential. It is a democratic and peaceful country without an Army since 1949. Both the health care and educational systems are said to be excellent. The country only has 0.03% of the land mass, but 5% of the world’s biodiversity. 25.58% of the country is protected land and they are powered by almost 100% renewable energy. Costa Rica is the place where the Mesoamerican and South American native cultures meet with the southern most part of the Nahuati influence at the Nicola peninsula. The central and southern portions had Chibcha influence from South America. The capital city is San Jose which is in the central part of the country and much cooler than along the coast.  Therefore most of the population lives in or near the capital. The tiny community of Puntarenas was discovered in 1519 by Ponce de Leon. The country saying is “Pura Vida”- pure life. 

A one hour bus ride took us to the sanctuary where we saw and photographed Scarlet Macaw, Great Green Macaw, a sleeping Jaguar, Spider Monkeys, White-faced Monkeys, Squirrel Monkeys, Baird’s Tapir, Blue-headed Parrot, a Eyro Cat, and some different trees and flower. I hope you enjoy these pictures. 

February 25, 2026- Day #52

 While this is another sea day, we continue our trip up the Pacific coast of Central America. We are moving from Ecuador yesterday to Costa Rica tomorrow (this has been on our bucket list) and El Salvador after that. We are then scheduled to have three stops in Mexico, but with the current turmoil in that country we have not heard that any decision has been made regarding these ports. I have not wanted to check the State Department recommendations. I am sure we will be getting notified regarding the Mexico plans in the next day or two. 

During the night we again sailed across the Equator so there is another ceremony for those doing this crossing for the first time at 11:00 am today. With the most recent time change I got up at 6:00 am and already missed seeing the sunrise. 

Had an informative lecture about Grapes & Dogs, They Are Not All The Same. It was an analogy for understanding wine through looking at  the differences of grapes and how this can be compared to different breeds of dogs. I guess I had not ever looked at wines this way. 

At lunch we met a couple from Waukee Iowa that we had heard were on the ship, but we had not met them previously. Dinner was at the French restaurant “Jacques” which as usual was outstanding. The after dinner entertainment was DIVAS3 for their second performance. 

Tomorrow is Costa Rica! As I mentioned above this has been one of our bucket destinations, and we are scheduled for a sanctuary tour to see the local flora and fauna.

February 24, 2026- Day# 51

 This is our one day in Ecuador. The port city is Manta.  We were to dock at 7:00am, but when I looked outside at 7:03, we were already docked and ready for excursions to go ashore. They are calling for showers today, that we should take umbrellas, but the weather all day was warm, sunny and dry. Our excursion is not until 11:15, so I will discuss a little about the region before I tell you about our day.

This port is known for its tuna fishing and packing. Most of the big companies including Bumble Bee Tuna have a major presence here. Today in addition to the major commercial presence, it is a holiday resort center for people from the region. Manta is the second major port in the country, just behind Guayaquil. History of the city includes that a Boeing 707 carrying cargo crashed into the town’s wooden church in 1996. The statue of the virgin remained intact. In addition to Manta, we will be going to Montecristi which is where the authentic Panama hats are made. Do you remember that the name of the Panama hats came from when President Roosevelt in 1906 visited the building of the Panama Canal and was photographed wearing one of the hats? They were not, and never have been from Panama. These hats have been made since at least the 1600’s in Ecuador of the woven “toquilla straw” fibers from a local type of palm tree. Also, Ecuador does not have its own currency, but uses the US dollar as their main currency. 

Our tour started at the very hot Banco Central Museum in the city of Manta. They showed the history of the local people and how they have lived and survived over the years. Most of the fisherman and farmers are humble people who work long days to make a living. The minimum wage is about $450 per month. They mainly eat a big meal of rice, beans, and a protein at noon, then a lighter meal in the evening. Each house has a meager kitchen but also a “shrine corner”. Our tour guide was also very proud to let us know that the city has their first female mayor.  From this museum we

went to Montecristi to see how they hand process the fiber and hand make each Panama hat. The women lean over and hand weave each hat. See the picture and video. Joan and I each bought a hat. Next we visited a chorrillo factory to see the agave plant being used to weave bags. Unfortunately most of these factories are now out of business because they are being replaced by plastic! What a shame. This factory is just barely holding on, mainly because of the tourism. Lastly, we visited an Ivory Nut factory to see how these nuts are processed to make several products including jewelry. We bought a few trinkets to remember this part of the trip. I would say that we really enjoyed our one and only stop in Ecuador. 

February 23, 2026- Day# 50

 Day number 50 of the trip is at sea, going from Peru to Ecuador. Slept in late then after breakfast did some games to earn Big “O” points that can be used to buy Oceania merch. Attended a lecture about archeological sites that was really interesting. He talked about Moche people, the use of their ceremonial pots, and how the spouts elongated over time. In 1987 grave robbers looted the Huacas and these were ceremonial sites. They robbers looted the Huacos which were ceremonial pots, and he talked about the guard who was buried to protect the graves. I know this is more than you care to know, but Joan and I enjoyed hearing this information about the sites we visited yesterday. The second lecture of the day, I attended, but Joan did not. It was from a guy who has been a writer on the Simpsons for about 30 years. He showed some clips and talked about the show. I have never been interested in this show, and I have not had a charge of heart. I still think it is just dumb and dumber. 

Ate dinner with some friends at the Asian restaurant on ship, Red Ginger and I had some of the best Sea Bass I have ever eaten. I think I was impressed and talked about it when we ate they before. The evening show was called the Divas3, and they were a good blend of music from Diva singers over the last 3 decades. 

February 22, 2026- Day #49

 Another morning, another city. This is our final port in Peru. It doesn’t seem possible that we have already been on this trip for 49 days. 

Just a post note, that at least in the parts of Lima we saw yesterday, we did not see the over crowded (people hanging in the sides) public transport minibuses called “combis” or “micros” that we had seen in the past. I think this was just because of the sections of the city we saw.  We did see some very modern looking public transport buses in Lima.  However, today in the smaller less affluent communities, we did see lots of these smaller overcrowded buses. 

On to today. We are docked in the port of Salaverry, Peru which was built in the 1960’s, mainly for commercial purposes. Very few ( only about two per month) cruise ships dock here. We toured the city of Trujillo which is the third largest city in Peru and located in the La Libertad Region. This is an important area for archaeological centers especially for the Moche from the pre- Inca era. Also this area is known for its beaches, especially for surfing and a major surfing competition every March. 

Some of the sites today included the mountain peaks of the Sun Temple (Huaca El Sol) and Moon Temple (Huaca La Luna). We toured a museum with lots of Moche pottery that was not used for everyday use, but was more ceremonial in nature. The bones of an adolescent female were recovered. The town square is made up of brightly colored former mansions that now are a hotel, government buildings and a cathedral (which was closed). I also got a picture of a very enthusiastic person’s music wagon, some young children doing a traditional dance (I wonder if they came from a local competition) and a person on the square who I thought may be making a political statement, but apparently was prophesying. Good that we were being watched closely by several of the security. We were obviously tourists. However on the way back to the port there were several police doing a significant traffic stop of vehicles going into the city. Sorry, I was too slow to get a picture.