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Day 107, 5/4/24 Huatulco Mexico

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A small sweet town with relaxing port scenery and
… Beautiful beach scenery.. We love eating ceviches and drinking cocktails /beer by the beaches of Mexico and watching the world go by….
Banana boats are very popular here
Our lady of Guadalupe church… Boasts the biggest ceiling painting of our lady of Guadalupe…. That plus the Vangoh style painting makes this church special
Super hot today…Nice cool drinks are badly needed…. Cheers!!
Bye Huatulco!!

Day 105 5/2/24 Day 1 of 2 sea days to Huatulco, Mexico

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Back to doldrum lake like sea again…

Pacific ocean is full of marine life… Saw dolphins frolicking at sea during breakfast

Forgot to mention that it has been super hot and humid since Cartagena Colombia, can’t wait to get back to the super comfy weather that’s been waiting for us in Los Angeles…

Another perks of Elite status…. Kanape delivery to our stateroom… They are delicious and goes very well with our whisky and coke (mini bar from before)

Day 104, 5/1/24 Puntarenas, Costa Rica

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We were just here in Dec 2022 when we did the Antarctica cruise… Let me share some pics from that cruise

Originally R was not planning to do anything this time ( as the memories from last time were still fresh) just bump around the port while P wants to check out the capital San Jose but tour got canceled due to potential strike on Labor day. …. but we ran into a friend this morning who bought a Coffee, chocolate and Sarchi experience excursion but didn’t feel well enough to go, so we decided to go for it.

Costa Rica’s volcanic soil makes great coffee…. Golden beans they were called… It funded the growth of the country through the years. Today, We visited the coffee plantation 1.5 hours away from pier in the Naranjo region

Scenery from Pier to Naranjo… Sands in Costa Rica are not white because it’s volcanic sand
The reason they also planted a lot of banana trees is to redirect bat’s so that they go for bananas instead of coffee beans
Turns our dark roast beans has the least caffeine as caffeine burns off with temperature… That’s a huge revelation for us
Only red ripe beans can be picked and the pickers picked it with a basket tie around their waist .. Coffee beans without crust looks like peanuts
Peaberry beans (on top) VS regular beans (at bottom) … peaberry (also called caracol, or “snail” in Spanish) is a mutation of beans inside its cherry and only happens to about 5% of the world’s coffee. Regular coffee beans has two in a cherry like twins while Peaberry’s are only child’s. They said it has better flavor and it’s smaller numbers makes it more expensive
The plantation guide Ronny showed us how to make a perfect cup of coffee the old fashion way, the key is simmer ground coffee in almost boil water(but not boiled as it will create a burn taste) ) and use cheese cloth to strain ….a good cup of brewed coffee should have a beautiful golden foam on top and should not taste bitter
He also showed us the anatomy of cacao plant and let us taste freshly dried cacao nuts  as well as chocolate covered peaberry beans

Afterwards we get to tour Sarchi oxcart factory… Apparently it is a cultural thing thats very significant to Costa Rica…. Because of the high altitude of the coffee plantations, the coffee beans  have to be manually picked and transportation of the coffee beans or any other produce still rely on oxcarts and these Sarchi oxcarts were beautiful painted and very well made

Sceneries near the Naranjo, Sarchi region
Our tour guide Marcie did a little “free shopping” as she called it in the middle of the road on our trip back to get this cashew fruit…. Never saw one before… Costa Rica is blessed with fruit trees and vegetation every where..
After the tour P went to check out the beach and local food while R went straight back to cabin to recharge

We were glad we did this tour especially the coffee part… I will do medium roast from now onwards instead of dark roast… No wonder all these years of dark roast never jolted me to full awakness 🤔

Goodnight Puntarenas!!

Day 103, 4/30/24 one Sea day towards Puntarenas Costa Rica

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Sunrise today…. Very pretty… Notice the black fume on the right side? That’s our ship emitting Sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide…. We always tried to brush it aside and ignore it…and  we are happy to hear that Princess is adding newer ships that burns LNG (liquefy natural gas) instead and largely reduced green house emissions

Below is our wall where we stick magnets, P’s art work and pictures token with friends and crews onboard and…. After 103 days it’s getting quite busy..