One nagging concern I have about our travels around the world is whether it’s a wise use of our resources. Why should we indulge ourselves in luxury travel when so much of the world is suffering in poverty?

Costa Rica’s economy isn’t all that bad – steady growth in GDP (5%-ish) not-all-that-bad unemployment (less than 10%) and poverty levels that are declining (25%-ish currently). Costa Rica’s economy is driven by services – 70%, followed by industry (20%) and agriculture (4%). Tourism contributes 8% of GDP and is a major source of economic growth and jobs growth.

So, our contribution to tourism here and most places has a positive impact. Is the same true of a more developed economy? Italy and many other tourist hotspots are driving tourists away. But here the tourism business is welcoming.

So travel we will, for better or worse. It’s a ton of fun and a great way to gain an appreciation of how the rest of the world lives.

Today, Saturday, we saw the Costa Rican economy in action. We walked from our hotel about 3/4ths of a mile through the central shopping area of San Jose. Sidewalks were crowded with shopper. Stores and street vendors were doing a good business by all appearances. There was a vendor selling lottery tickets about every 100 feet along the way. Some of the vendors are unlicensed and our guide said they had to be on the lookout for police, ready to roll up their operation and run. Daniel, our guide, started his career selling limes, unlicensed, at street corner at age 14.

He also said that central shopping district had no neighborhood associated with it – no apartments or houses at all. After 8 PM the streets are taken over by drug dealers, criminals and prostitutes.

And speaking of the lottery, Costa Ricans are highly superstitious. We walked by a statue of a rather voluptuous woman, La Chola. Rubbing her backside brings good luck. A good place to rub your lottery ticket.  Most of the Ticos passing by when we were there gave her at least a pat on her well-worn posterior. Pat her hand to bring friendship. Rub her stomach so you’ll never go hungry. Rub her chest and . . . Well, you‘ll have to guess. This is a family blog.

Daniel was leading us on a foot tour named Bites and Sights of San Jose. We met in front of Los Presentes, a group of statues representing the agricultural workers who used to occupy downtown San Jose. They’re gone by now, moving to the countryside. And as the tour name suggests, he led us through two large markets, along the streets of downtown San Jose to  Mr. Sloth’s Coffee Shop, stopping along the way to sample fruits, ice cream, Costa Rican empanadas and finally Costa Rican coffee. He also pointed out important buildings and historical sites.

Beforehand, we ate breakfast at the hotel, violating big time our intermittent fasting routine. I may have used this line in earlier blogs, but while traveling we practice intermittent eating: 16 hours eating, 8 hours fasting. Judy had eggs Benedict and I had a traditional “Tico” meal of eggs, rice and beans, plantains, tacos and cheese. Can’t say enough good things about the Grano de Oro. Every nook and cranny is filled with vegetation: green plants, flowering plants including blooming orchids everywhere.

The walk to the meeting place helped, we rationalize, to use up some of the unaccustomed AM calories. Skies were partly cloudy; temps up to 80. A breeze kept things comfortable.

San Jose has no “old town,” dominated by Spanish cathedrals and governmental buildings. Such structures are scattered around town but there’s no one area where they are concentrated. Part of the reason is that San Jose’s land is unstable, particularly from earth quakes. When a structure is damaged, it isn’t rebuilt, it is replaced.

We stopped by the National Theater, built in the late nineteenth century to entertain business people from Europe and elsewhere. The plan was to finance its construction from coffee duties. In the end, such duties contributed 4% of the cost. The balance came from Costa Rican income tax revenues.

We visited the main cathedral on what was the central plaza of San Jose, the place where independence was declared and site of other important historical events. The cathedral is Catholic. Eighty percent of Costa Ricans are practicing Catholics.

The first market we entered was spread over a collection of buildings. We stopped in the basement of one where local farmers sell their fruits and vegetables. There we sampled a wide variety of Costa Rican produce. Many are not indigenous to Costa Rica. Bananas were introduced by Chiquita and the rest. Many are from Asia.

In the Central Market we sampled a gelato made on site since 1909, if I remember correctly. Neither the ice cream nor its stand have names. There’s only one stand and only one flavor – cinnamon, nutmeg and I forget what. After a taste the success of the business comes as no surprise.

Mr. Sloth’s Coffee Shop served us the better part of a meal. It included banana ceviche, vegetable tamales wrapped in banana leaves and plantain empanadas that we made ourselves (brown sugar and cheese on the insides). A cup of Costa Rican coffee ended the day. Costa Rican coffee is 1% caffeine, compared to the typical 3%. The coffee is much milder than Starbucks, et al.

In all, a fun and educational day.

After, around 3 PM, we hailed a two-stop Uber to take us first from Mr Sloth’s to the Grano de Oro (grain of gold, not sand like I said yesterday) where we picked up our bags. Then our driver took us to the Marriott where we checked in with the hotel and with the Tauck staff. The latter had us fill out information sheets and waivers. There are roughly 180 guests on this trip with five guides so we’ll be in groups of 30 or more each day. We’ll fill up the good ship Bellot.

Next, the welcome cocktail reception at 6 PM this evening followed by dinner. Tomorrow, we’re off to a coffee plantation and then an eco park feature rain forest and waterfalls.

The recpetion – a mixer, really – was nice. The group is a cross section of Sun City Center – 60 to 80-year-olds. Most seasoned travelers. The lady I sat next to at dinner was on her 26th Tauck tour. Dinner was a four-course affair. We won’t be going hungry.

We leave for the coffee plantation at 8:30 AM.

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Day 1 of our 22 day journey to Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. Alarm at 4:15 AM, 7:00 AM departure to Miami and 10 AM flight to San Jose. Uneventful except that they couldn’t start #2 on the Airbus 321neo in Tampa. Maintenance showed up, recommended a manual start, rather than computer assisted. We ended up with a 20-minute dash down Terminal D in Miami but we were first on behind the wheel chair contingent. 

Two pilots, apparently deadheading from Tampa to Miami, left the flight when the delay was announced. “Not a good look when the crew abandons ship,” I said to one as he left. 

It’s a pretty day for flying and we’ve had nice views of Miami, the Florida Keys and Cuba, including a barrier island off the southern coast of Cuba, apparently uninhabited. Then, beneath the clouds, the mountainous cloud forests of Costa Rica and into San Jose. 

The best laid plans aren’t the best. Sometimes, forget the plans; go with what presents itself. This afternoon proved the point.

Tauck had arranged transportation from the airport to our first-night hotel – the Grano de Oro (Grain of Sand) downtown rather than the official digs at the Marriott. The Grano de Oro is an old mansion made into a hotel. It proved as charming as the pictures on line. So far, we’re pleased.

The ride from the airport, normally 20 minutes, took an hour and a half due to accidents. I’d like to tell you it didn’t matter because of the interesting scenery. But Highway 1 wasn’t all that intriguing. The only thing of note were collections of third-world-ish buildings nestled next to steel and glass skyscrapers, one housing Amazon.

Our room wasn’t ready but we had a plan: walk to the nearby (15 minutes) contemporary art museum and the adjoining park. The man who checked us in recommended an alternative: the National Museum of Costa Rica. And again, the unplanned was the winner. Uber worked like a charm both ways: $3 each way plus a $3 tip. Traffic was big-city terrible.

The museum is housed in a former army barracks built in 1917, a fortress-like structure that has been much modified since its army days. It is a repository of a large collection of artifacts and documents spanning Costa Rican history, beginning with pre-Colombian indigenous peoples to the present day. There’s even a large live butterfly section you can walk through.

The bad news is that the museum sent my head spinning: too much history to absorb in a two-hour visit. So I could only scratch the surface. But here goes:

Columbus landed in 1502 and the Spaniards, as we all know, had the run of Mexico, Central and South America for 300 years. Before, archeological evidence shows a blending of Mesoamerican influence from the north and Andean influence from the south.

Mexico did the heavy lifting in its war of independence in 1821. The Central American countries were freed as part of Mexico but soon broke away. Costa Rica declared sovereign independence in1828. A democracy was established in 1868 and things went on an even, if poverty-stricken keel into the 20th century.

An election in 1948 was annulled by the ruling party. That didn’t sit well with the other side and a civil war broke out, lasting five weeks. The rebelling junta was successful, and the leftist and communists were ousted. A new constitution was established, guaranteeing free elections that included universal suffrage. The army was dissolved and a Guardia National established to provide civil peace and safety.

The U.S. has mucked around in Costa Rican politics, especially in 1912 when the Marines landed and in the 1980s vis-a-vis the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

Tonight we’re having our two-traveler welcome dinner. Tomorrow: a walking and eating tour of San Jose after which we head to the Marriott to meet the rest of the crew.

Not a bad day’s work for the first days, if I do say so myself.

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It’s the new year and time to dust off the traveling togs and hit the road, this time to Central and South America.

Actually, we just returned from a fantastic family adventure in the British Virgin Islands over Christmas week. Captain Jeff, along with crew mates Carter and Reagan, piloted the 42-foot Arctic Paradise II for seven days, December 22 – 29. Rebecca, Esme and Griffin joined us for the latter half of the trip, December 26 – 29, and quickly trained in as capable deckhands. We sailed in great breezes all week, snorkeled several times, became adept at mooring, anchoring and managing sails, and ate way too much every evening ashore. But of course the highlight was being with all our kids and grandkids for a relaxing time together and a challenging sailing adventure.

I spared the world from daily blogs but Judy and I did snap the shutter a couple of times. You can see the pictures, if you’re so inclined, at https://zenfolio.page.link/DjEvJ.

After the sailing trip, Judy and I flew back with the kids to Melrose for a week of socializing. The main reason for our trip to the frozen north (it got all the way down to 30 degrees one day) was a surprise party for Rebecca. Her boyfriend Sammy arranged the party to celebrate Rebecca’s recent completion of the Doctorate in Nursing Practice degree at University of New Hampshire. Nineteen friends and family members met in a local restaurant’s wine cellar for great socializing and great Italian food. The surprise was complete and much enjoyed by all. Judy and I embarrassed ourselves when our buttons burst with pride over Rebecca’s accomplishment. We’re pretty proud of our other shipmates as well. Pictures of the week in Melrose are included in the link above.

Our upcoming trip involves back-to-back Tauck tours, one through Costa Rica and Panama and the other through Columbia. We leave on January 10 and return January 30.

We’ve been to Costa Rica twice, once back in 2002 when Rebecca was doing a Northeastern University quarter there to learn Spanish and two years ago when we spent Christmas on the beach at Tamarindo with the family.

This time the two of us will spend a day on our own in San Jose and then tour with the group for two additional days in Costa Rica before boarding our small cruise boat (the Bellot; 200 passengers or so) at Puntarenas on the Pacific coast. The boat stops twice in Costa Rica before reaching a remote village on the Panamanian coast. Then, we spend a day sailing through the Panama Canal from west to east. We make a stop at a remote island community on the Atlantic side before leaving the ship in Colon. From there we travel by land across the Isthmus to Panama City. Ten touring days in all. Here is a map of this part of our trip to give you an idea of where we’ll be:

Next, we fly to Bogota, the capital of Columbia, for a day, followed by stops in Medellin and then Cartagena for three days each. Lots of coffee and, I hope, history stories about Columbia’s violent past and as a close ally to the U.S. in the wars on Communism, Drugs and Terror over the past 50 and more years. Here’s the map for this trip.

As usual, I’ll try to blog every day, conditions permitting. If you’ve been on our daily notification list for past trips, you’ll get the daily notifications automatically. If not, send me an email and I’ll add you in.

Hasta luego!