The Art of Thermostats

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

We arrived at Puntarenas, Costa Rica this morning. The heat, of course, was already here. We reluctantly left the ship to allow the crew to perform the deep cleaning that had been announced yesterday. All the crew leave was cancelled, and they all had to work to clean various areas. I saw someone spraying the carpet in one of the stairwells. I saw people wiping down every surface that might have been touched by human hands. Mostly, we got out of their way, so we didn’t see it all, but I know they cleaned in all the passenger cabins and probably in all of the crew quarters. The wiping in the dining room included the chairs, the menu covers, the cabinets where dishes and glassware were stored, etc. The “team” worked really hard, and they are to be commended. Now, let’s hope this extraordinary effort achieves the desired result.

As I was saying, we got off the ship here, and this is what we saw at the end of the pier. (From our perspective it was the “end” because at that point we reached land and there was no more pier. Some might say this point is the “beginning.” I will look it up someday.)

To the south, the ship and the other end of the pier:

To the west, an inviting beach, recently groomed.

To the north - OMG, a giant sloth. I love the winsome smile of this gentle creature. I am overcome by emotion. I think this might be my “spirit animal.”

To the east, we will visit a beachfront park full of statues and interesting sights. We will do a geocaching activity in the park. I hope it is as nice as the Malecón in Puerta Vallarta.

Well . . . . .

One of the first things we saw looking to the east was this. You might not know that muelle is the Spanish word for “pier.” Please read the entire plaque and think about it for a minute You don’t have to know much Spanish to get the gist.

The Malecón was vibrant, clean, well-maintained, and  crowded with tourists and shops and restaurants. The beachfront park and promenade in Puntarenas was everything but. It was littered with rubble and derelict buildings. It was dirty and deserted. The plaques on most of the statues were missing. After we walked about 10 blocks, I began to feel unsafe. A car pulled over near us and cruised slowly down the street, stopping about a half-block ahead. Time to turn around and head back.

I think this was once a public restroom

We did see some of the sculptures that were placed along the roadside edge of this “park.”

An octopus

This one was quite recognizable from the street. On that side, it looked like the prow of a boat. The light at this time of day was unsuitable for a photograph from the street side.

I have never studied art, and I have no artistic talent. (I am a “word” person - yes, I am.) I need all the help I can get with art. I feel kind of lost without plaques on the statues. Some people would say that plaques are limiting and so on, but that’s not how I see the world. 

Perhaps this park is the way it is because Puntarenas is not really a big tourist town. It’s trapped in sort of a vicious circle. I have no answers. If people don’t have enough money for the necessities of life, how can we expect them to have nice parks, where art is valued?

When we retuned to the sloth statue (not part of the park’s art collection), we were greeted by Mr. Iggy Pop. “Follow me!,” he seemed to say. “I’ll show you where the good stuff is.”

We followed him to a market, and people playing dominoes, and other signs of life everywhere. We bought a beautiful bowl carved out of some exotic hardwood.

And one final photo to remember where we were.

A Story Within a Story - Part 1

(Warning: Some people might find this story-within-a-story too boring. Please feel free to skip ahead to the conclusion.) 

By this point in the cruise, we had come to understand that the reason we felt cold in the cabin every night was not because it was cold outside. The dance to get the temperature in the cabin under control had already begun. We had asked our room steward to let the maintenance department know that cold air was blowing on us all night and we could not control it using the thermostat. A couple of maintenance guys showed up and took a panel out of the ceiling and did something inside the ceiling to lower the speed of the fan. One of the guys left his cell phone/flashlight inside the ceiling when he replaced the panel. He realized it pretty quickly and came back. 

This didn’t help much. The loud noise from the ceiling over the bed abated somewhat, but it was still cold and a little breezy.We experimented with the thermostats and found that whatever we did, the room temperature stayed within a narrow range of about 70 to 71.5 degrees F.

Part 2

After we had proven to ourselves that the thermostats did not work, we told Rehana about it, and she immediately reported it to her contact in the Maintenance Department. Two guys came to our room right away. We explained the problem - we thought - and they opened up the panel again and adjusted the fan and the temperature. They said they had replaced one of the thermostats. It still didn’t work properly - meaning the thermostats did not control anything.

Part 3

Rehana called back the next day to see if it had been fixed.  We explained that we didn’t think the thermostats were connected to the ventilation system in our room. A guy was waiting outside our room when we got back from breakfast. Another guy and a supervisor showed up minutes later. We explained it all again. We went outside to sit on our balcony. They told us they had connected the thermostats and we should let them know if we still had a problem. Finally it worked. The thermostat brought the temperature up by 3 degrees within 10 minutes.

Conclusion

Rehana is gently but inexorably persistent. The maintenance department is courteous and responsive. Don’t be afraid to speak up when there is a problem.

Today’s fabric is Cozy Sloth Novelty Cotton Fabric, available on Etsy. You have no idea how much sloth fabric is out there. I saw a woman onboard wearing a dress made from a very cute sloth fabric!