Author: Charlie

Retired American nature-lover, living in Costa Rica, photographing birds and other jewels of nature. This site simply reports on my joys of being RETIRED IN COSTA RICA!
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Orosi Valley Tomorrow

Orosi Valley

Note to those who get this blog by email (about 50 of you) that each post is emailed out at about 2AM in the morning automatically by a computer after the day I post it. So I am doing this for Monday posting and you receiving Tuesday morning while I am traveling by bus from Atenas through San Jose and Cartago to the little village of Orosi in the Orosi Valley next to Tapanti National Park. Here is the link to my Google Search on


Of course I plan on photographing birds in the Tapanti National Park and at the B&B grounds plus maybe other locations like El Copal depending on transportation options. Then there are the ruins of the oldest colonial church in Costa Rica there plus the current Orosi Church is the oldest still-functioning church in Costa Rica. There are supposedly good restaurants in Orosi, a botanical gardens, waterfalls, and other sites that will be surprises for me when I get there!  🙂   So the next few days should have posts of what I am seeing daily there, assuming I have internet connection. This is a whole new area of Costa Rica for me to explore and I understand another popular place for retirement.
¡Pura Vida!
Retired in Costa Rica


A Bonus Note:
COSTA RICA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
And if anyone noticed that we had our presidential election (1st round) Sunday past, Two of the many candidates made it to the runoff election which will be on Easter Sunday this year, meaning no special events beyond mass and worship services allowed like the usual Catholic Processional Parade through town. No competition to voting, yet even with that only about 60% actually voted. Democracy is difficult to make work everywhere, but I think 60% is probably much higher than the U.S. voter turnout. 
And those two winners? Well the older and most “conservative” is Fabricio Alvarado, an evangelist and gospel singer who is a non-politician and surprise winner because he is rabidly anti-gay during a time that most Latin-American countries are starting to legalize gay marriage. This mostly Roman Catholic country is generally homophobic and that is the only reason this unqualified Trump-like jerk was selected. Amusingly, the other candidate in the runoff is also named Alvarado, Carlos Alvarado, a young man who will accept gay marriage and some other liberal ideas. This morning’s newspaper headline was something like “Two Alvarados in Runoff!”

And here’s today’s article in one of our online English Language Newspapers titled:
Evangelical Candidate Leads, Country Heads to a Second Round  This is really a big deal in a majority catholic country! 

It will be interesting to see what happens. (If I were a gambling man, I would say homophobia wins here and thus the unqualified evangelical.) But if much of the younger generation, like my Spanish teachers, get their young friends out to vote, it could go the other way, plus some catholics will have trouble voting for a non-catholic. No one really needs a singing evangelist as their president even if you don’t like gay marriage – that could be almost as bad as having Donald Trump! (Though thank God there is no racism here! But homophobia is alive and well!)
I STAY OUT OF POLITICS HERE AND OF COURSE CAN’T VOTE. 
Why can’t I vote? I’m a legal resident but not a citizen which is a much more complicated process and at my age – not a goal! And “Not my problem!” is another way I stay sane and tranquil!   🙂
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New Bird Calendars Started

My CafePress.com shop has always had wall calendars available, mostly with Tennessee and Nashville photos and one old Costa Rica birds calendar from my 2009 trip. Just deleted that one and added two more this week with three more Costa Rica Bird Calendars planned. Here’s the covers and links to the first two:

I think it is cool with hawks, falcons, guans, caracaras and curassows!
You can see each month’s photo by clicking that month description page.

This is the most colorful of all 5 bird calendars with
parrots, toucans, macaws, motmots, trogons, cuckoos, etc.
And here is what the inside or one month of all these calendars looks like, this particular one with a photo of two Scarlet Macaws in a tree. The photos are large, 8.5 X 11 inches and the calendar portion the same with plenty of space to write down appointments. 


Three more bird calendars are planned for “Hummingbirds, Small Birds and Medium-sized Birds” if I can’t think of more creative titles!   🙂

And if you don’t care for birds, there are more calendars with photos from Nashville Zoo, Tennessee State Parks and Nashville in general plus some general landscape calendars, a barns calendar and a Scripture Verses calendar. AND ANY CALENDAR YOU ORDER CAN START IN ANY MONTH YOU CHOOSE, LIKE A MARCH TO FEBRUARY CALENDAR IF YOU LIKE!

Link to the total CafePress Shop

Or link to just calendars
Or link to just the new CR Birds T-Shirts


Nature as Art
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“Real” & Electronic Books

“Real” Book
Trees of Panama & Costa Rica
Electronic Book
Hercule Poirot: The
Complete Short Stories
I don’t buy many “real” or paper books any more with my Kindle Fire and the easy access to so many books electronically. And as an Agatha Christie fan, the Kindle has been a great joy for me with basically no storage space needed! And the best deal yet has been my current reading of The Complete Short Stories of Hercule Poirot. The cover says “More than 50” which of course means 51 stories, almost like 51 little books. I’ve loved every one as I’m now on the last 12 which are sort of related in their connections to the Roman mythology of Hercules, Hercule Poirot’s namesake! (Note that Hercules Roman mythology is similar to the Heracles Greek mythology.) And equally interesting is that this last series of 12 stories were all written in the year of my birth, 1940, and first published in magazines in both England and the U.S. Cool!
But nature reference guides are mostly easier to use in paper format, so my new “real” book on the trees of Costa Rica will hopefully help me identify more of the trees I see and photograph here. Experts know the names of around 3,400 trees here (more than all of U.S. & Canada combined and they still have not identified them all here. This particular book includes Panama which has a lot of overlap with Costa Rica and is produced by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on Isla Barro Colorado in the middle of Lake Gatun, Panama which I visited Dec. 2013, making me confident this is the most authoritative resource available for now. And though I haven’t gotten into photographing trees like I do birds and other animals, the importance of trees ranks near the top as ecology indicators and value to us humans.
 
“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.” 
― Kahlil Gibran

 

Illustrated by my photo at Tambor Bay last Christmas:
If a tree dies, plant another in its place.   -Carolus Linnaeus
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Tempted to Become a Catholic?

Central Catholic Church in Atenas
“Iglesia Catolica San Rafael De Atenas”
I walk by often and sometimes go in for a few moments of quiet and prayer.
I think it is the most beautiful and worshipful space in town.
Atenas, Costa Rica

For more photos of Atenas in General see this gallery or many more photos in other theme galleries plus also my gallery Churches – Costa Rica for church building photos nationwide.

Architecture is the thoughtful making of space. 
~Louis Kahn

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“Nature As Art” Business Card

I still have my “Enjoying Retirement” business cards but these are for a select few wanting photos:
NOTICE: I introduced a NEW BUSINESS CARD in September 2018 with one of my bird photos.
Okay, I’m not resurrecting my old photography business in the full sense, but a few persons have asked about getting my photos, so using what is already online, my photos are available for order through three websites I already use. Those sites produce the items and make the money with a small % to me.
  1. For Wall Art the Smugmug Shop has good options (click “BUY” at bottom of enlarged photo) and my new favorite is the wall art photo printed on metal in the glossy format.I’ve ordered several for my house walls here in Costa Rica – birds of course!  🙂  There are several other items available with any of my photos printed on them under the headings of “Keepsakes” and “Phone Cases” and the best part is there are more photos to choose from on my Smugmug gallery!
  2. The Cafe Press shop THIS SHOP CLOSED was set up years ago with Tennessee + USA photos you can still order if you like and one old Costa Rica Birds Calendar. I am slowly adding new Costa Rica photos here and items not available on my newer Smugmug Shop like T-shirts and calendars.   See the direct link to Costa Rica Birds T-Shirts below. I plan to add some new bird calendars soon, then other items. Slowly! I’m retired!  🙂
  3. My Bookstore is another animal!  I mainly make the photo books for my own personal enjoyment and a way to show some of my photos to other people here locally. One of each is available to see in my Living Room. And all are available for purchase and include more than just reports on trips. I have even put a lifetime of scrapbooks together photographically in a 4-volume biography set of books for family history buffs. And yeah, there may be a fifth volume eventually about my retirement in Costa Rica.  🙂
The business cards were recently ordered and will be used locally when someone here asks about buying my photos. But you guys in the states have the same access to internet orders with less expensive shipping and no import tax, so maybe they are a better deal for you!  🙂   Enjoy!
Nature As Art
Costa Rica Style
 
 
Though I have this wall too full (cluttered), here are examples of both metal and canvas wall art photos.
Atenas, Costa Rica
 

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THIS SHOP CLOSED

Costa Rica Birds on T-Shirts(CLICK title to see all 30+ choices)
Squirrel Cuckoo Men’s  Classic T-Shirt
If you like birds and like having them on T-Shirts, here’s 30+ choices of birds you can wear on a very high quality T-Shirt from my CafePress.com store. (More to be added) In another section of that store you can find more birds on T-Shirts that I photographed earlier in various places in the United States including the Florida Everglades & Nashville Zoo. And also other products like calendars, coffee mugs or canvas tote bags. Fun!
MEN & WOMEN’S T-SHIRTS INCLUDED ON ALL 30+ BIRD CHOICES!
Sunbittern Women’s Classic T-Shirt

Wear Nature!

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Interesting news article and video:  Amazing Encounter of Tourists with Baby Humpback Whale
¡Pura Vida!
Retired in Costa Rica
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Pattern of the Crowded

Pattern of the Crowded
Flying out of San Jose Airport in December I snapped this shot of a very crowded neighborhood.
Should I have titled it “Pattern of Poverty?” The roofs don’t say except that they are very close together.
San Jose, Costa Rica 
Photos like this remind me that the world is packed with people and not all live beautiful or happy lives, even in Pura Vida Costa Rica. Though I think poor people do better here than in maybe most other places. The First Baptist Nashville group coming here on mission trip to Hogar de Vida will be serving beautiful children who were removed from their parents because of severe abuse or other problems, maybe from a neighborhood like this one. 
See my photo gallery on San Jose  which includes the prettier sites. 
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Light Beneath the Elephant & the Monster

Both photos by Samsung Cell Phone:

Elephant Ear or Tarul 
In the Roca Verde gardens of Charlie Doggett
Atenas, Costa Rica

Monstera deliciosa  
In the Roca Verde gardens of Charlie Doggett
Atenas, Costa Rica

Okay. So now you know it has been a month since I’ve been on a trip or very far from home, meaning more photos in the garden. And that is fun too! Trying something different here from behind or beneath 2 large leaves and I’m fascinated by leaves! The Elephant is among my heliconias and gingers in the larger flower bed out my backdoor, while the monsteras have recently replaced ornamental grasses behind and above a garden wall (a ledge) behind my house and an extension of the garden, giving a jungle look from the bathroom ceiling window (dormer-like above shower) and helps maintain the garden walk around two sides of my house on a tile walkway. I like it! And in one week I’m in Orosi Valley & Tapanti National Park for some fresher photos!  🙂

See also my photo gallery:   FLORA & FOREST

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Costa Rica Ranks low in Central America Homicides for 2017. Our rate is similar to Panama’s

with only Nicaragua having a lower rate (you surprised?). The most danger for homicides are in El Salvador and then Honduras.

And if you add in the rates for all Latin American and Caribbean countries, then the safest or fewest homicides is in Chili with the most in Venezuela. And Jamaica is the 3rd worst after Venezuela and El Salvador. Mexico? Hey, they are right in the middle of the list of Latin American countries, worse than Costa Rica, but a long way from the worst! Sorry Trump! Mexico is not so bad!  See the charts and maps in the above linked article.

Interesting. And again, I feel safe in Costa Rica, especially in a little central valley farm town away from the big city of San Jose where almost all murders take place or maybe in port towns of Limon and Puntarenas. Choose your location carefully.  ¡Pura Vida!

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Costa Rica is getting ready for Electric Cars.  Another interesting English-language article. It is logical for a “green country” but also requires infrastructure and “power stations.” Money!
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New Graffiti/Mural at Sports Park

They are replacing all the old graffiti murals that were on this sidewalk wall.
This is first one completed. The whole wall was painted black first, then tags (below),
now this over one of the tags, a turquoise scribble.
Atenas, Costa Rica

For a year or more this is what was in the above spot:

Last year in the same location.

Then early in January these “tags” were painted with the bright turquoise at far right being where the current cartoon mice reside. I hope the other tags are overpainted too. I like the mice!

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Unfortunately we have Polluted Rivers in the “Green” country of Costa Rica too. Click the link for an online English newspaper article prodding the government to do more. Sad for me that this is about the Tarcoles River, the closest birding river for me and of course dangerous for the birds. The Tarcoles has tributaries coming from the big city of San Jose which is one of the problems. Be sure to see the video in the article showing all the plastic bottle caps and other junk found in the stomach of a fish. Shocking!