Enjoyed high school kids this afternoon
Every Monday afternoon until early December George and I are helping a group of high school kids practice their English in preparation for their student exchange trip to Virginia in January. It is not easy for them just like Spanish is not easy for me. But practice is the most important thing about learning a language! Today I had them pull a household object or toy dollhouse furniture from a bag and explain what it is and say one sentence using the word, in English of course! Our focus today was the host home they would be staying in for two weeks.
I haven’t felt comfortable photographing them yet. Maybe next week I can share a photo of the group “Club conversacional inglés.”
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| Front Entrance to Liceo Atenas |
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| Kids walking home after school |
In the Garden This Morning
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| Some mornings start out cloudy, but usually not all day. Atenas, Costa Rica |
EXTRA TIDBITS ABOUT COSTA RICA
Teatro Nacional Celebrates 120 Years by Planning Renovation
And I personally will celebrate it by attending a special presentation of “Swan Lake” by the 72 person ballet of Havana, Cuba on October 15.
Read this interesting article on “The Origin of Name Costa Rica AND phrase Pura Vida.”
Chachalaca & Church
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| Gray-headed Chachalaca Flying over and into my treetops for breakfast today. Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Central Catholic Church Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Central Catholic Church Atenas, Costa Rica |
Parroquia San Rafael Arcángel Atenas
https://www.parroquiasanrafaelatenas.com/
I walk by this beautiful, simple church building almost every day.
WEATHER: I doubt that it makes your news, but we have had some very heavy rains which is normal for late in the rainy season, but this year it has brought some serious flash flooding in parts of the Central Valley and the North Pacific with flooded homes, washed out roads and landslides. Atenas has not been affected. Most damage was in San Jose, Cartago, and parts of the North Pacific. As my photos show, nice weather here with afternoon or early evening showers. Just right for the gardens! Mejor clima del mundo! The best weather in the world! 🙂 Fortunate!
Good Morning World
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| Squirrel Cuckoo My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
Two mornings in a row for breakfast and he gave me a better pose this morning. Plus in only one shot did all 5 tail feathers show like this, so I’m particularly pleased with this one! It happened just as the fog lifted on a beautiful morning in Atenas!
And on my walk downtown today I got a shot of the church I’m pleased with, but I’m holding it for another day. It is so enjoyable to just walk through this tranquil little town every day! And I often stop in a little shop for a cup of coffee and a rollito de canela (cinnamon roll). This is living!
How encouraging to someone who lives here! (right click to change article to English)
A Cuckoo at Breakfast & World Travelers at Lunch
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| Squirrel Cuckoo Waiting on me in the Nance Tree when I went to the Terrace for Breakfast Atenas, Costa,Rica |
I have better shots of this cuckoo, but it is still nice to have one visit occasionally. 🙂
I had lunch today with Tom & Jess who are temporarily in Atenas as a part of their retirement plan to travel all around the world in their retirement, a month or two here and then on to the next interesting place. Sounds like fun! Click on their names above for their blog which is much more extensive about their retirement travels than my blog. And if you notice that they visited Zarcero in Costa Rica and don’t remember me reporting on it, you are right! But I plan a day trip there by bus soon! It’s a village famous for its beautiful church and topiary garden.
From here in November they go to Florida to catch a cruise ship that will drop them off in South America where they stay a while before Antarctica and then back to Africa again. They have an international health insurance policy and try to live simple lives in rent houses in every country they visit. They are renting a house in Roca Verde near me now.
They frequently use rent cars to give them more independence in seeing what they want to see. What they are doing seems more tiring and more expensive than my particular retirement plan, but a fun and exciting one. I do plan to visit other countries in Central and South America eventually and of course continue to explore Costa Rica! I visited every single Tennessee State Park before leaving there and plan to likewise visit all the National Parks in Costa Rica in time! It was good to visit with other world travelers that enjoys adventure as much as me! And even that is part of my retirement adventure of living in a coffee farming village in Costa Rica! 🙂
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
– Robert Frost
Traveling Costa Rica
“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”– JRR Tolkien
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| Beach or Mountain – Every Place is Good to Visit Here! Above is sunset at Flamingo Beach. |
That is part of my retirement job of “enjoying retirement.” And though my entire photo gallery titled “Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA” includes much from these trips I take about every two months or more frequently, it has been mostly organized in subject galleries like Birds, Butterflies, Flora & Forest, places and events. Because people ask me about traveling to a specific location, what I saw there, about guides, activities, hotel, food, etc. I decided to add a new section to the photo galleries called “TRIPS.” Here you will find a gallery or folder on each trip with most recent trip at top and most include multiple photo galleries, like one for all the birds I photographed there, one on the hotel, other animals, scenery, etc. So if you are interested in what you might see and do in say Drake Bay, Tortuguero, or Sarapiqui, just check out my trip gallery to that place. And you already know that nature is my primary focus on all trips! 🙂
I guess this will be most helpful to persons considering a particular place to visit to see if it is something that interests you. Now also be aware that I travel to places multiple times and usually in different hotels/lodges. So check out all three of my trip galleries to San Gerardo de Dota for example. Or if you are just wanting . . .
HOTELS & LODGES
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| Me at hotel by Arenal Volcano |
And if you only want my opinion on a hotel or lodge? Well, I’m using a new “story-telling” feature on my web gallery host (SmugMug) now to present my opinions of the various hotels and lodges I have visited, over 30 in 3 years! These are listed alphabetically by locations (town. park, etc) and include links to the hotel’s website as well as other links of interest like my above trip galleries! 🙂 You find it in my big gallery under “PLACES & THINGS” as Cost Rica Lodges & Hotels.
And for different kinds of reviews, I also write a report on most hotels on TripAdvisor where you should find a list of my reviews.
TRANSPORTATION
Most Americans are addicted to cars and thus will use a rent car with a GPS that will get you to any location. Just don’t depend on maps and addresses since house numbers are not used in Costa Rica much nor are streets or highways labeled, which can be a problem at the intersection of two highways where you need to turn. In addition to GPS systems, a lot of locals use WAZE on their cellphones for directions since it includes traffic problems, wrecks, construction work and detours. Or Google Maps provides good directions also on phones. Just bring a car charger for phone!
But if you want to forget the stress and travel the Pura Vida way, take a public bus to anywhere in the country for pennies on the dollar compared to rent car and no stress or getting lost. At your destination town, take a taxi to your hotel or many hotels provide shuttle transportation. To find bus schedules and plan your trip use http://horariodebuses.com/EN/cr/index.php and if you can’t handle Spanish, there is a menu item to “Change the Language” with many major world languages included, like English! 🙂
NOTE: Since this post I now use a private driver for most trips not needing a plane. I use Walter Ramirez whose business is linked in the right column of this blog and to logo at left. I highly recommend him and all of his drivers. It costs more than a bus but is quicker, more efficient, more comfortable and relaxing with stops anytime you wish.
For longer distances and to save a long bus ride, I recommend the Costa Rican Sansa Airlines to get you across the country quickly and efficiently (telephone them is best) or their Canadian competitor Nature Air. Booking online has not worked efficiently for me, so I recommend telephoning either airline. NOTE: Nature Air has gone out of business since this post. But Sansa was always better anyway! 🙂
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| Typical 12-passenger plane used for in-country flights and to neighbors Nicaragua and Panama. |
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It
Well, I may have gotten carried away with travel information and opinions! Sorry! My original purpose was to simply introduce you to my new set of photo galleries called
A New Photo Gallery!
So, I hope you check it out and enjoy some of my trips vicariously or get ideas for trips of your own!
buen viaje
(That’s Spanish for “Bon Voyage” or “Good Trip”)
“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous,
leading to the most amazing view.”
— Edward Abbey
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| Caribbean Sunrise at Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca |
White Angled Sulphur Butterfly
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| White Angled Sulphur Butterfly In My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| White Angled Sulphur Butterfly In My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
This was difficult to identify. I photographed one in 2015 and was a little unsure then, but with my new Mexico butterfly book I am certain now and confirmed it on the internet. Different! 🙂
See my Butterflies Photo Gallery.
Un día tranquilo en el pueblo.
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| Un día tranquilo en el pueblo. — A quiet day in the village. Atenas, Costa Rica as seen from my hilltop walk this morning. |
Several of my Photo Galleries include images of Atenas:
Walking in Atenas (mostly flowers & trees)
Vistas (1st 3 sub galleries are of Atenas)
Atenas, Costa Rica (General, of buildings & people)
Costa Rica Birds & Other Wildlife include many photos made in Atenas!
Now that’s more info than you wanted, but hopefully it shows how complete my total Costa Rica Photo Gallery is as you drill down into different levels of galleries. It is true as named:
And in many ways my main website now as a retiree in Costa Rica. Check it out! It is what I like doing more than anything now, making interesting photos of different aspects of Costa Rica.
Nesting Material
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| Rufous-naped Wren Resting in a Cecropia (Guarumo) Tree With nesting material from a Nance Tree For the nest being built in my tallest palm tree. Atenas, Costa Rica |
And more birds in photo gallery: Costa Rica Birds (238 Species)
This particular wren is one of the most visible around my house and the most common one to fly inside my house as two did yesterday until I waved a towel for their exit.
¡Pura Vida!