The first port of the season was sky-high temperature wise. Of course I shouldn’t be surprised; we are in Costa Rica after all. That said, one thing I’ve learned in this job is that my tolerance for heat is about the same as my tolerance for cold – that is to say…not so good. So I never go out much in tropical ports unless I only have to walk a few steps to the water (which is why I do so well in the Caribbean).
That said, I was determined to get off the ship for at least a little while, since I didn’t have IPM (a rare occurrence as I purposely take most of my IPMs in the early days of the cruise to get them out of the way) and there was nothing more pressing that X-Files reruns keeping me on the ship. So I spent a pleasant though brief amount of time wandering through the market on the pier where you could purchase everything from baseball caps to butterflies (and I mean that literally, and I would have bought one, except for me butterflies will always be associated with Puerto Rico, and if I’m going to buy one it’s going to come from there. End of story.)
I’ve always been fascinated by street markets, the sights and the sounds of them. It’s odd really, in any other context that much noise and clamour would short me out and send me running, but somehow in the context of a market I can handle it. The trick is not buying anything. This was the first time in ages I’d been to a market and not walked away with (or been forcibly dragged away from) something. I suppose I have a weakness for pretty sparkly things.
But with only $5 in my pocket and no desire to make a draw from my account (I have more important things to save for) I was perfectly content to just amble back to the ship and spend the rest of my afternoon watching Mulder and Scully battle sea monsters.
So I’m occasionally superficial, so what?