Two ports in two days, it seems we're in full swing. The captain just announced that it’s going to be 36 degrees Celsius so we’re in for a hot one. With our 09:00 a.m. arrival here in Corinto this gives us about 7 ½ hours to explore this small Nicaraguan town of about 24,000. We were here last year in November but we headed directly to the town of Leon, so we decided that we just hang in here particularly because it was going to be hotter inland, away from the ocean.

We shopped the little market just outside the ship and the girls bought a few trinkets while I took photographs of the locals. Our supply of "coca light" was down to zero so we thought we’d find a place to recharge our supply. Wandering the downtown streets we ran into Ian and Wendy, our friends from Sydney, Australia so we decided that we’d take two “bike carts” for a one-hour tour of Corinto. I don’t think our driver calculated the weight factor for our cart, with Jean, Deb and I as he was dragging his ass by the time the one-hour tour had finished. It’s a pretty tough way to earn $5.00 bucks.

He and his cousin steered us in the direction of the ocean for a quick look and then we hopped into a seaside restaurant for a couple of cerveza’s. Five soft drinks and four beers for $11.00, yet another good deal. It’s a very poor country, certainly not at the same level of what we saw just yesterday in Costa Rica, but the people seem happy and content.

Speaking of Costa Rica. Yesterday I had my tour group (17 people in all) – everybody showed up on time, paid their money and we got off the boat at exactly 7:00 a.m. Everything was working as planned, and believe me I plan. I looked left, I looked right, I looked for a sign – no Gil, our tourist guide for the day – no Mercedes van. Tick, tick, tick, what can I do now for god sake. I ask around some of the other bus drivers if they know Gil or Tropical – no luck. The fifteen people other than Deb and I are starting to get restless, I think I see pitchforks in my mind with chants of “I know we should have booked HAL instead of this joker”.

It’s now 7:45 a.m. and still no Gil. I’m screwed. Then two blue vans pull up and out pops Jimmy and his brother Johnny to the rescue. We agree on the itinerary, they match my price with Tropical and we head out. It turned out that the tour was fantastic. They’re two great guys. I recommend them highly if any of you out there get to Costa Rica and want a couple of great tour guides in Puerto Caldera. You need to contact Jimmy Murillo Pirado at Pacific Sun Travel (506) 83205965 or (506) 26364604. They will surely look after you well.

They are exceptional naturalist tour guides and can be reached via email at [email protected]. At our last shopping stop for the day we were able to finally get some Wi-Fi so that I could check my emails and low and behold there’s an email from my MIA Tour guy Gil. It’s a Wanted Poster with my picture indicating WANTED – DEAD OR ALIVE along with the dollar bounty that he’s placed on my head. A little way over the top for a guy who just was too lazy to do his job and be there at the agreed upon time and location. I anticipated some problems getting back through security at the port area, so I donned my shades, flipped my ball cap around and hurried onto the ship – thankfully no issues.

Beyond all that ****, we had a great tour. Saw some great wildlife on the Tarcoles River along with monkeys and a terrific Costa Rican lunch. A truly, great day.