Category: Atenas

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Cloudy Morning Hills & Gallery Opening

The Hills of Atenas the other day (October 2). I tried to do a panorama that didn’t “catch” or all match, so this is just one section that depicts the clouds or fog in the hills surrounding Atenas many early mornings, as seen from my terrace. There seems to be something “magical” or “mysterious” happening when the morning air is like this. 🙂

Cloudy Morning in the Hills of Atenas, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

Report on Galería ARTenas Opening

Gallería ARTenas Opening

We had a great opening to our little art gallery yesterday with hundreds of people coming to see (and some buy) hundreds of pieces of art. I think it was a big success and that many people in Atenas will become regular visitors and customers. We have a VIP Opening November 5 (government officials, etc.) and the JIT or “Just in Time for Christmas” arts and crafts fair the second week of December, so lots of things planned to motivate return visits. I plan to work with the gallery until sometime in January and then I am going to phase out this old man who is finding it a little too much now at age 83, but after that I may have an item or two in the gallery on consignment but will go back to photography just for fun and sharing it on the blog. So keep reading this blog for my usual flow of nature photography. 🙂 ~Charlie

And a few shots from the Gallery Opening . . .

  • My 6 Wall Art Photos
  • Gallería ARTenas Opening
  • Gallería ARTenas Opening
  • Gallería ARTenas Opening
  • Gallería ARTenas Opening
  • Gallería ARTenas Opening
  • Gallería ARTenas Opening
  • Gallería ARTenas Opening
  • Young Tico Singer

¡Pura Vida!

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Free Art Drawing this Sunday!

At the Grand Opening of Galería ARTenas this Sunday, 15 October, 10am to 7pm, there will be a drawing for free art items from the gallery participants. And from me you can win this beautiful Flora Accent Pillow with one of my photos of a Bird of Paradise Flower printed on both sides! 🙂

If you are anywhere near Atenas, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica, I hope to see you at the grand opening this Sunday of our new art gallery in Atenas, in Calle 2 Plaza adjacent Linea Vital & Pizzeria La Finca.

¡Pura Vida!

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You Are Invited!

Please attend the open house of our new art gallery in Atenas, Alajuela Provincia, Costa Rica, just 12 days away! Sunday, 15 October 2023! It is at the corner of Calle 2 & Avenida 3, beside the new Linea Vital Medical Plaza in the even newer Calle 2 Plaza, 100 meters west of Banco Popular and 50 meters south of La Finca Pizzeria, Crema y Nata & El Rayo. See you there! 🙂

Galería Artenas Facebook Page

¡Pura Vida!

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Muy Pronto!

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=122125987562016558&set=a.122117270456016558

Last week’s early Facebook promotion of our coming art gallery in Atenas.

For what it is worth, the sunset on the top row of the collage is my photo and the Red-eyed Tree Frog on the bottom row is also my photo. Each artist in the gallery got two images for that collage. Tomorrow I will send out the invitation to the Grand Opening on 15 October.

¡Pura Vida!

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Fumigating My House Videos

Alex made a couple of very short phone videos of Walter fumigating inside and outside my house yesterday. It doesn’t show him doing the attic or spraying liquid insecticide along all walls, both inside and outside around the house foundation.

INSIDE

OUTSIDE

I’m back home on Saturday cleaning up their mess and my maid is coming at 1:00 to mop the floors (sticky insecticide) because she mops better than me. I swept up all the dead insects and unfortunately some Geckos too. Hopefully new Geckos will come back in. They are generally the best pest control, just not for thousands of ants!

¡Pura Vida!

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Nite in Colinas del Sol

Yesterday I had my house fumigated for insects, mainly for an invasion of two different kinds of ants and believed the treatment would be more effective if I left my house closed up with the fogging and spray overnight and thus not healthy for me to sleep there. So I spent last night at our little neighborhood hotel, Colinas del Sol, which is a group of cabins along with a few larger, long-term rental houses. I was put in Villa 3 and snapped a few shots before the afternoon rain started. I can’t go anywhere without capturing photos of the nature there!

I’m writing this last night and my plans are to enjoy their breakfast included with the room this morning and mid-morning return home to open up and air out the house, with all the ceiling fans on for awhile! 🙂 Then enjoy my ant-free house! And tomorrow’s blog post will return to the continuing reports on Hotel Banana Azul in Caribe Sur! I’m still processing photos with a lot more to share! 🙂

View from my Cabin surrounded by forest-like gardens.
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2023 Independence Day Parade, Atenas

This past Friday was the 15th of September, Independence Day for Costa Rica, when in 1821 it shed the colonial rule of Spain. In this small but very significant little developing country, patriotism is big and almost everyone wears red, white & blue and many decorate their houses with banners and flags. I wore my national futbol (soccer) shirt, red, white & blue! 🙂

And almost every town of any size has a parade, usually featuring their local schools, and Atenas is no exception! 🙂 I have for several years now been photographing it most years (when not traveling) with galleries for those years included in my super-gallery: PEOPLE, FIESTAS & ARTS Costa Rica. Which of course now includes a gallery for this year’s 2023 Desfile del Día de la Independencia, Atenas. And here is a sample photo from each of the 7 sub-galleries in this year’s parade gallery . . .

Flags

Flags are a big part of this parade. Click image to see more flags.
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A “Lifer” Bird for Me!

The other morning I had about four species of birds feeding on the flowers of my Cecropia or Guarumo Tree and one of them was a new species for me! A White-winged Becard, Pachyramphus polychopterus (linked to eBird). He is smaller than the Rose-throated Becard I’ve seen several of here and like that one is less colorful as a male. In this species the female is a golden orange or tan and more colorful than this male photographed here. Here’s three shots including one of him eating a caterpillar:

White-winged Becard, Atenas, Costa Rica
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Zilpa Longtail

Another new species for me! Zilpa Longtail, Chioides zilpa, found from the Southwestern U.S. throughout Central America and in Ecuador. It is kind of amazing that in this hotter and drier year of fewer birds and butterflies for me, I am still getting about as many new species of butterflies as in a more “normal” year! Of course they are mostly new species of Skippers with definitely not as many of the more colorful butterflies, but hey! A butterfly is a butterfly! 🙂 And I am happy to be finding these new brown ones in my garden this year. And just maybe, when I go the the Caribbean side of Costa Rica in the middle of September, I’ll be blessed with a lot of new varieties of butterflies over there in a totally different climate than the Central Valley where I live. But realistically the whole globe is being affected by the extreme weather this year, so, we will see. 🙂 Here’s three photos of this one . . .

Zilpa Longtail Skipper, Atenas, Costa Rica
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