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“Walking Grass” AND Super Bowl Champion

I called it “Walking Grass,” but really it’s a green Walking Stick insect
My Terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

I’ve seen several of these all over Costa Rica but so far all have been brown more like a stick. But this one is green and all the websites indicate it is the same bug!  🙂   Cool!

SUPER BOWL CHAMPION IN COSTA RICA
Did you know that Tom Brady has a house in Costa Rica?
http://www.liveincostarica.com/blog/2017/02/costa-rica-has-a-super-bowl-champion.htmlhttp://www.liveincostarica.com/blog/2017/02/costa-rica-has-a-super-bowl-champion.html

Tom and Giselle are in the small Pacific coast town of Santa Teresa.
Neighbors have included Leonardo DeCaprio, Robert Plant,
Matthew McConaughey and Liam Hemsworth, to name a few.

They are not the kind of expats I run into in the Atenas supermercados, but you might if you lived in Santa Teresa.  🙂

Tomorrow I’m headed to downtown San Jose for two days to make photos in the “Concrete Jungle” of Costa Rica and hoping for a lot of nice photos (of something other than birds!). . It will be totally different from my other trips!  🙂

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More Flame Vine Pix

Close-up of an open bloom, Flamevine or TriquiTraque in Costa Rica
In my garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
My favorite shot so far.

At first the blooms are “capsules” or little tubes before opening up.
My TriquiTraque in Atenas, Costa Rica

TriquiTraque looks best when massed on a wall like I have in my garden.
Atenas, Costa Rica

There is not much online about this flower in the way of information. As “Flamevine” the best I could find was at the University of Florida website. When I Google triquitraque it is my blog that comes up in addition to a lot of photos by different people. So I can’t tell you much about them. I did find this page article in a botanical gardens book which is kind of scientific. And I think I have already noted that in Spanish dictionaries triquitraque means “clattering noise” or a “string of firecrackers.”

🙂
See also my Costa Rica photo gallery called Flora & Forests
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Temple of Music

Ceiling of the acoustically perfect band shelter in
Morazan Park, San Jose, Costa Rica

“Temple of Music”
Morazan Park, San Jose, Costa Rica
Photographed last week on a trip to San Jose.

The Morazan Park was built in 1887 and was the place where New Year’s Eve festivities were celebrated in the late XIX century. Also music recitals were held in this place and still are nowadays.

This is why in 1920 an investment was made for the construction of the Temple of Music, which has an almost perfect acoustic.

The temple was used for political speeches and also for the exchange of the Power of the Republic. Nowadays, several concerts are presented, from the National Symphonic Orchestra to contemporary music groups.

The Temple of Music is a duplicate of the Temple of Love and Music of Versailles. Its Neoclassical design was made by the architect and painter Jose Francisco Salazar, who also designed the Club Union, the Law School of the University of Costa Rica and the Drugstore of the former University.

The above copied from:
http://www.costaricaexplorerguide.com/php/atracciones2.php?idm=2&atract=65

See the glass building behind the band shelter? It’s Holiday Inn Aurora.
The last night of my 2010 Caravan.com tour of Costa Rica was there and
I’m spending two nights there this week on a “Concrete Jungle” photo trip.
This photo copied from the web.

My trip this week will be to photograph old churches and other interesting or historic old buildings in central San Jose on my walking tour. I discovered a great app for my phone to guide me on many walking tours of San Jose from GPSmyCity.com   with my personal guide, maps, and voice directions each step of the way. Wow! Travel has gotten easier!

I hope to be adding a lot more photos to my already existing photo gallery on San Jose and also to the gallery of Costa Rica Churches. 

The rainforests and cloud forests are my favorite parts of Costa Rica, but sometimes it is exciting to plan on a city visit too! And there is a lot in San Jose for my short Thursday-Saturday trip. Getting there by bus of course!  🙂  Then some taxis though mostly walking. 
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Triquitraque or Flame Vine Blooming for This Year

The brilliant orange flowers of Triquitraque or Flame Vine is a great contrast to the blue Plumbago flowers.
I saturated the color so they’re not really this red, but are a deeper orange than next untouched photos.

If I remember correctly they will bloom 2 to maybe 3 months, February-April. I had hoped for year around blooms like some of my other plants, but this gives me something special for this time of year. And this year they cover more of my stark concrete wall, which is what I wanted! 🙂  ¡Me gusta!

AND PHOTOS FROM LAST YEAR: 

See also my photo gallery Flora & Forests
And read about Flamevine which Costa Ricans call Triquitraque, Spanish for “a string of firecrackers” or sometimes can mean “creaking” or “rattling” in colorful conversations.  🙂
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Atenas Clinic Murals-Graffiti

In the alley/back street to the back entrance of the public clinic of Atenas is this graffiti + the next photos

To the right of the above 3-pix panorama is this painting.

And around the corner on the cross alley seen when you walk out the door. 

There is a lot of this kind of graffiti or “public art” in Atenas. I don’t know the origin or if someone is helping to keep kids out of trouble, or art class projects, “professional artists,” or what? But it is interesting for a small rural town and does add a lot of color to the community. If you go to the front door of the clinic you might not see these, but this door is more convenient for most of us walkers which is most of the patients! 

I personally like “Public Art” for all cities and towns even when the style or images are not appealing to me. It seems prudent to me for a community to have a local committee or Art Commission as my former hometown of Nashville had to manage it, the locations, and even the nature of the art. I do not know if Atenas has such a group. 
See my photo gallery of MORE PUBLIC ART IN ATENAS

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My first free prescription!

Waiting in line for my “free” prescription
at the local government Clinica Farmacia.
The right line is to give them the prescription & left to pick it up.
Depending on work load, 1 to 3 hours wait. I just left and returned later.

My local private doctor diagnosed me with heart arrhythmia and through an expensive private cardiologist in San Jose I was given an expensive beta blocker at about 60-80 bucks a month. My local private primary care doc found a generic version at about half that price, but I talked to my government primary care doctor anyway. As reported earlier, he sent me to a cardiologist at the Alajuela Hospital where I would go with emergency heart problems on the government plan. And the really nice, 30-something cardiologist checked me out and said he could give be a prescription at no cost but it would be different from what the private doctor gave me (a 3rd brand of beta blocker). It is Atenolol and after researching it online I discovered that it is the most used med for arrhythmia in the U.S. or all around the world right now. So I am just now experiencing one of my big savings through CAJA, the government health plan.

As I think I explained earlier, I am keeping my foot in both doors “just in case” because some hospitalizations, surgeries, or other procedures have long waits in the government program unless an emergency. i.e. Hospital Alajuela will be my government hospital where I have a cardiologist already. Next Monday I have a consultation at Hospital Metropolitano San Jose which will be my private hospital of choice when the public hospital is not available. I joined a discount program with them and will save up to 80% off many services there compared to other private hospitals. At my age, regular private insurance is just too expensive, so this is my self-made plan and I plan to use the public services as much as possible as in this case with heart medication, but if needed, I have a private option that I hopefully can afford. 
When you are an immigrant in another country, it takes time to get all the details worked out. But it feels good when you do!  🙂

And after stirring up people on Facebook with a comment about Trump, I’m going to stay focused on BEING an immigrant and not telling people how to solve the immigrant problems in the states!  🙂

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Flowers Up Close and Personal

 

Heliconia & Blue Plumbago
My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
Red Ginger among the Maraca Plants
My Home Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica
“Parrot Flower” or a type of Heliconia

Fern
My Home Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

See also my photo gallery of Flora & Forests