Blog

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2nd only to Canada in Healthcare!

HEALTHIEST COUNTRY IN LATIN AMERICA & 

SECOND IN ALL THE AMERICAS AFTER CANADA!   

If considering Costa Rica as your place of retirement, you will be pleased with the results of the latest World Health Organization study on both the health of the people and the quality of the public healthcare provided, especially in regards to premature deaths. (Click above title for article.)  Or see World Health Statistics 2017 from the WHO.
Panama was in second place with regard to fewer premature deaths in Central America (In case you are considering Panama, which was my second-ranked choice for retirement). And in the WHO survey Costa Rica ranks 19th healthiest country in the whole world! Glad I live here now! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!

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Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Rancho Naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Photo by Charlie Doggett

These guys have been feeding a lot in my garden and at the hummingbird feeder I inherited from Anthony.

Watch One Feed on Porterweed Flowers – A VIDEO
You can see what it is like with this video another nature photographer (Steven Williams)  here in Costa Rica posted on an Expat Facebook page. He calls it a Berylline Hummingbird, but I disagree. Those live mainly in Mexico with a few as far south as Honduras, still a long way from Costa Rica! I think it is a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird which is what we have a lot of in Costa Rica. Either way, this is how they feed in my garden:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F2Hw_Zctoc   (Video is slow-motion, not real time!)
See also my Costa Rica Birds photo gallery

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Tropical Blossom Haiku

In My Home Garden
Atenas, Costa Rica

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INTERESTING NEWS FROM COSTA RICA: 
Environmental agency orders suspension of pineapple farming project
which means that the American imperialists (Del Monte) cannot destroy any more of our wetlands and forests. Yay! I’m glad that the government here is defending our environment. This particular case is on the Osa Peninsula near Corcovado where I just traveled. Costa Rica is recognized internationally for protecting its land and environment and has 25% of the land set aside as national parks or reserves. And don’t feel sorry for Del Monte. There is plenty of legal land they can build pineapple farms on with plenty of cheap labor to make them rich!

The Dollar is at its highest value in Costa Rica right now, meaning a good time for U.S. people to visit or vacation or buy property here when you get more colones for the dollar, as much as C581 this article says. It had been at around 530 for a long time which was good, but this is better!  🙂 Best in the last 7 years says the article!

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Fern Haiku & My Simple Life

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CATCH UP ON MY SIMPLE LIFE
Today I took the bus to Alajuela, getting off before downtown to get a few items at PriceSmart (our warehouse store like Costco). Then a taxi to Walmart for some other items they have no one else does, and then walked three blocks to the big City Mall where I finally found some thicker short socks, looked at some kitchen items in the expensive but nice Cemaco Store and ate a burger in the food court. Then taxi to bus station for bus trip back to Atenas by 3. That was my day. I watched the 30 minute ABC World News which is as much TV news as I can handle now. But even that makes me continue to thank God I live in Costa Rica! 
Rainy season is good and normal this year with late afternoon showers with some into the night and the rest of the day beautiful. Everything is green and attractive this time of year. My favorite. 
For my angiogram June 2, my young friend Jason Quesada is going with me and will stay with me since I will be put to sleep. I’m also using Walter Ramirez for my transportation to and from the hospital in San Jose. So I feel good about it even with my bad Spanish, I will have someone who is truly bilingual! And they don’t speak much Ingles in Hospital Mexico!
No more trips until July. I love my simple life!
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Maracas are Flourishing!

Maraca Plant or Shampoo Ginger
My Garden, Atenas, Costa
As always: Click Image to Enlarge

I had the gardeners clean out my garden today, cutting back the plumbago which was taking over everything like a plant-eating monster and this is part of what was opened up. New surprises every day in a garden! And I used to be happy with one or two of these flowers! 20+ now! This sure is different from gardening in Tennessee!  🙂

See also My Garden Photo Gallery  or  the bigger FLORA & FORESTS gallery

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Whale’s Tail

Use your imagination. This bit of beach on the South Pacific Coast
near Uvita is famously called “The Whale’s Tail.” Sorta looks like it!
And this is the area where you can go Whale Watching in August/September.

And other people have better photos than this one I made from our little plane to Drake Bay.

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Corcovado! THE BOOK

A 100 page book with 84 photos form two visits to Corcovado.
 CLICK the image or this to preview the book on Blurb.com.

Note that I set up the softcover book with “standard paper” which makes it a little cheaper, but the hardcover is set up with a higher quality paper for better photos. Sorry they are so expensive, but most “print on demand” self-publishing is, since they often print just one book at a time. And see my Facebook page for how you can make and order your first book with Blurb at 30% off.

See also my trip gallery on the recent Drake Bay Trip  for some of the same photos and

For the 2009 Corcovado Trip, click for my old Pbase gallery which includes photos from that visit to Corcovado along with my first visit to the cloud forest of San Gerado de Dota.