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| Old sewing machines, comparable to those we’ve seen in our home country. |
“Sightings from the Veranda in Costa Rica”
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| Sunny morning view of only a tiny portion of the exquisite grounds of this exceptional property, La Perla de Atenas. |
Today’s photos complete the series we’ve shared over many days, which we’d taken weeks ago at Atenas Railway Museum. Costa Rica is located in the town the Río Grande of Atenas.
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| A bulk oil dispenser and a variety of other equipment. |
Based on Tom’s over 42 years working on the BNSF railroad in Minneapolis, we’d decided to share these photos with those of our readers who worked with him, worked on other railroads, and other railroad enthusiasts.
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| More different types of jacks, a scale and odds, and ends. |
Also, many of our readers have written over the years stating they enjoy museum photos. We apologize for this seeming repetitious presentation for those of our readers who don’t care to see photos from museums in other countries. After a while, all the new photos we’ve posted (no repeats) may appear to be “more of the same.”
Now, we’ll move on to another topic on our minds over the past several days as we quickly approach the time for our next cruise (a 30-night back-to-back)beginning on Thanksgiving Day (US holiday) on November 23, 2017.
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| A hydraulic railroad switch/stand. |
Each sunny day while here in Atenas, we’ve spent about two hours in the swimming pool, swimming a bit and performing our own versions of simple water exercises. It’s relaxing, refreshing, and great fun. What makes this period most enjoyable is our non-stop conversations.
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| Various types of rails (frogs). |
No topic is off-limits, and it’s during the times we’ve spent in various pools throughout the world we’ve had an opportunity to share the most intimate details of our lives, our dreams, our hopes, our successes, and our failures.
Neither of us has ever shared so many details with another human being. Funnily, it’s become somewhat of a “hobby” or pastime, making pool-time all the more meaningful.
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| Staff handbrake for boxcar or locomotive. |
We may often tell a sad memory from our childhood or an exciting adventure we experienced as adults. We laugh and say that as we age, we’ll never run out of stories to tell when our memories begin to fail. At that point, neither of us will remember which stories we’ve already described, and we’ll let them know once again with the same sense of delight.
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| Close to the center of this photo is a drawbar and knuckle coupler used to connect two boxcars or boxcar and locomotive. |
Not unlike the stories we post each day, pool-time discussions seem to follow a “theme for the day,” which we generally follow while splashing about. It’s when our fingers and toes become wrinkled and waterlogged or, when the rain begins to fall, we finally get out of the pool.
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| Different types of tongs are used to pick up rails and, below, heads for pickaxes. |
Yesterday’s discussion centered around how many cruises we’ve been on since the onset of our travels on October 31, 2012. As we approach the fifth anniversary, we find ourselves reliving many of the life-changing experiences we’ve had during this blissful period.
As cruise time approaches, we began counting the number of cruises over the past five years, which we’ve done in the past but hadn’t done so recently. In all, including the Mekong River Cruise, we have been on 19 cruises, averaging almost four per year.
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| An old student desk. |
This number includes back-to-back cruises, which means (for those who haven’t cruised) two cruises booked together, one after another. Each cruise has its fare, perks and can include the same cabin if secured properly.
In the three instances we’ve booked back-to-back cruises, we’ve made a point of ensuring we’ve been able to keep the same cabin, avoiding the inconvenience of moving our belongings.
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| Old adding machines and typewriters. Gee…we’ve come a long way. |
The cruise line requires back-to-back passengers to get off the ship when one cruise ends and the second begins. In each case, we’ve been OK getting off the boat when it’s been convenient to take care of things we need to do or purchases we may need to make. However, we’re aren’t required to go through the lengthy, time-consuming check-in process, only security when we return to the ship.
Tomorrow, in Part 2, we’ll review our past cruises with information taken directly from Tom’s Cruise Critic listing, which is easy to read and we hope our readers find interesting.
Soon, we’re off to the Supermercado Coopeatenas for groceries. We’d hope to wander through the town, but heavy rain is expected and has just begun to fall. It appears we won’t have pool-time today after all.
Enjoy your day, rain or shine!
Photo from one year ago today. October 25, 2016:
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| During our last meal in Sumbersari Bali, this fish soup was served at our table. It looked delicious but contained a small amount of flour for thickening, so I avoided it. For more photos, please click here. |