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Dragonfly

I love dragonflies with some of my past favorite nature photos being dragonflies, like the Blue Dasher Dragonfly I photographed at Montgomery Bell State Park in Tennessee that was my most popular photo in 4 years of Arts & Crafts Fairs.   🙂   Who would have thunk?   🙂

Then there was the Tropical King Skimmer Dragonfly on the Amazon River in 2006 and a similar one on my first trip to Costa Rica in 2009 at Corcovado National Park!

See all of my Costa Rica Dragonflies in my CR dragonfly gallery! And I have a long way to go since there are about 270 species of dragonflies in Costa Rica!   🙂  The one above is right here at Macaw Lodge and I’m unable to identify it right now.

“I love to see the sunshine on the wings of the Dragonflies… there is magic in it.” 
― Ama H.Vanniarachchy

Macaw Lodge

¡Pura Vida!

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Two Days of Birds

These 19 photos are in addition to the bird photos I posted my first day here and of course there will be more!   🙂

There are lots of birds everywhere here, but finding them close enough to make a photo is sometimes a challenge. My guide this morning helped some since he knows the area and where some birds are often found. That will help me with the rest of my days here as I continue to find and photograph birds on my own plus other wildlife and nature. Enjoy!

Birds Today at Macaw Lodge

And I hope you saw my earlier post of the sunrise on my early morning birding hike today! Beautiful!

“Some people are very competitive in their birding. Maybe they’ll die happy, having seen a thousand species before they die, but I’ll die happy knowing I’ve spent all that quiet time being present.” 
― Lynn Thomson, Birding with Yeats: A Mother’s Memoir

Macaw Lodge

¡Pura Vida!

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Sunrise Hike

This morning I did my birding hike at Macaw Lodge and kind of liked this photo of the sunrise along our trail. Thought I would share it in addition to the birds I photographed which will be in another blog post.

“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.” 
― Jo Walton

Macaw Lodge

¡Pura Vida!

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Waterfall & Natural Spa

This morning after breakfast I hiked to the waterfall and “Natural Spa” on the lodge property. Tonight I only report on that. You never get many bird photos on thick forest trails like that one, but I did get an unusual frog that I will share later plus a lot more birds today in lodge gardens plus a fleeing Sunbittern at the waterfall! There is Wifi only in the dining room, so I’m doing one post a day just before dinner. And tonight after dinner I’m going on the night hike for probably more frogs!  🙂   Pura vida!

Trail to the Waterfall

Waterfall Slideshow

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Natural Spa

“The waterfall winks at every passerby.” 
― Marty Rubin

Macaw Lodge

¡Pura Vida!

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Arrival at Macaw Lodge

Lunch Today

I wandered around the grounds when I arrived but did not make it to the waterfall today. Had a beautiful, healthy salad for lunch when I met a lovely young couple from Germany who are thinking about moving to Costa Rica. He is a photographer. They are not staying the night in lodge, just day visitors.

I am the only overnight guest here now. It is off season or rainy season and the ride up the mountain from Tarcoles is a rough 45 minutes on a bad road which discourages some, but it is really isolated! That is one thing I love about it! It is also very “wild” with rainforest noises as dark arrives (mostly frogs). It rained much of afternoon so I will explore more tomorrow. Just a few shots for today:

 

Birds Today

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Other Wildlife

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Grounds Shots

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My Cabin

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Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.      ~John Muir

Macaw Lodge

¡Pura Vida!

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Park Renovation Progress?

Hard to prove it by me. They just keep welding pieces of metal on what will be the “Kiosk” or Bandshell and now they are trimming and taking out some trees, so that speaks to more of the garden renovation. We will see. It was originally going to be completed by the end of 2018 and now I think they will really have to speed up the work to get it done by the end of 2019!    🙂    I made these two photos yesterday, so up-to-date June 16, 2019!

The city has  a Facebook Page presenting the remodeling with architect drawings of what they expect it to look like – The New Central Park Atenas. Click on one of their pictures to enlarge it and begin a manual slideshow of the new park.

Are they pruning the old trees or will they be removed?

¡Pura Vida!

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Next Week’s Adventure

Sometimes I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world! Being “Retired in Costa Rica” is simply perfect for me, even if I never left my little casita and garden in Atenas! But on top of that I get to continue exploring one of the most beautiful and ecologically diverse countries in the world! And next week it is to a place that not only have I not seen, but I am yet to meet anyone else who has been there! Even my driver will be going for his first time!   🙂

I urge you to watch their beautifully created introductory nature video to see part of what I will experience next week and also as an expression of why I love Costa Rica so much! Nature!       🙂

Just click the Macaw logo below to see it on YouTube. I’ll give you their website link further down.

This small eco lodge has only eight rooms and is recommended by National Geographic Society. I expect stellar service and food along with my full immersion in the wilderness! The video does not mention birding (I don’t do yoga), but they have birding guides and multiple options for birding with of course many trails I can explore on my own. And they will be my third lodge to visit that has installed Macaw Nesting Boxes, what may save a whole species from extinction!

My current approach to trips is to stay most of a week with birding in the mornings followed by relaxation and photo processing in the afternoon with a great evening meal and early to bed. Some places are more designed for my kind of schedule and I think this is going to be one of those! And may become one of my new favorites! Now explore their website by clicking the link below:

Macaw Lodge Website

As with most good lodges, there’s a lot to explore on their website as well as on their grounds, like their secret gardens and birding trails, their own waterfall with plunge pool swimming hole, their farm where most food I’ll eat is raised, unlimited birds, insects and other nature to photograph and much more! Six nights there will give me time to explore and discover another great getaway to which I already expect I’ll return! I love new discoveries!   🙂

Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.  ~John Muir

¡Pura Vida!

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Evening Gardening

While I was out for dinner between 5 & 6 at Parrillada Androvetto Atenas for my weekly steak at the the place in Atenas with the best meats in my opinion, my gardener Cristian came to do the little job I had requested and then sent me a WhatsApp cellphone photo of his work since I was not there. Ahhhh! The joys of being “Retired in Costa Rica!”

red.anthurium.flowers-450x540On the back side of my house the tile sidewalk continues alongside a concrete retainer wall with a narrow flower bed totally in the shade. Much of what was there had died out and I asked for a re-planting, just some interesting green plants that grow in the shade (sombra). The first photo below is the one Cristian sent me and the second one I took from the other direction after I got home about 6:15 when it is dark here. (Both sunrise and sunset year-around here is between 5:15 and 6:15, meaning 12 hour days and 12 hour nights year-around.) I did have my garden lights on which helped with the photo.  🙂 And he not only put a variety of green and colored leaves but also included two flowers, two Anthuriums! Now the one bare spot I had to see when I walk through my garden is again beautiful and will “fill out” or “fill in” as the plants grow. Another beautiful rainy season in Costa Rica!   🙂

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The photo Cristian sent me of his plantings
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My photo from other direction in the dark with lights on.

“Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out values all the utilities in the world.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

¡Pura Vida!

 

P.S.

I recently discovered on our limited Costa Rica Netflix a fun BBC gardening show call “Big Dreams Small Spaces” with the famous English gardener Monty Don helping people turn ugly little yards into beautiful gardens of their dreams. A fun diversion! Check it out!   🙂

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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

For those who love birds and realize their importance in the future of planet earth, I hope you have already discovered The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

It is from this institution or website that I have my best bird identifier, the free app available from your phone app store called:   Merlin

The basic app is for North American birds, but includes for many countries, like Costa Rica, a download for free of your country-specific birds. The quickest, easiest and cheapest way of identifying birds you see or photograph.

And participate in the research and learning about birds plus create your own checklist of birds seen through their online base program eBird (also with a phone app):

I have also starting taking online classes on their website, the first of which is free and introduces you to eBird, your personal online record of birds seen.

One of their latest award-winning documentary videos is is worth seeing just the free 2 minute preview:  Bird of Prey  about the rarest eagle in the world in the Philippines.

If you love and appreciate birds, I hope you will learn about and connect with

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

¡Pura Vida!

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A Timeline on Moving to Costa Rica

Over the last 5 years I have shared many details of my timeline of moving to Costa Rica, but it is always good to see someone else’s especially a couple’s and one of the best I’ve seen recently is

Our Moving to Costa Rica Timeline: All the Steps Along the Way, by Rob Evans

Version 2Now that link should take you directly to the article but if it doesn’t, then note that it is in this month’s or June 10, 2019 issue of the Newsletter from my friends Paul & Gloria: Retire for Less in Costa Rica    which link should take you to the issue of their newsletter with Rob’s article. Just scroll down to the article. And by the way, if you are seriously considering a move here, you need to subscribe to Paul & Gloria’s newsletter for so much of the little nitty-gritty practicalities and also to learn how they save money much better than me.

The Evans’ did not use ARCR like me and did a lot of other things differently. It will inspire you if you are one of my readers considering a move here. Check it out! There are many different ways to get here!  🙂