charliedoggett.net
Butterflies photographed in Costa Rica and nearby
I just uploaded the last photo I’ve chosen to share from a very photogenic resort! I’m pleased with a lot of the photos and you can see them in the gallery at:
https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2019-July-28-31-Villa-Caletas-Jaco
Or it may be more fun 🙂 to click the image of the first page:
¡Pura Vida!
Slowing down a little – here’s my shots from the last full day at Villa Caletas and a very relaxed 4 days. The featured image is of a hotel worker walking up the street in front of my room towards the Zephyr Palace.
The prettiest things here along with the vistas . . .
See all my butterflies in my Costa Rica Butterflies Photo Gallery!
No gardens, just pots and plantings around buildings.
Such as there were today . . .
This is not the very best birding place even though you do see toucans and macaws. The concierge never worked out my two requested birding hikes because no others here wanted them and they don’t do for one person. No problem! I’ve already been to Carara NP 4 times and Rio Tarcoles about 8 times! Hanging out here was more relaxing and it was a good time on the mountaintop!
CLICK image to enlarge.
All shot from my room before dinner.
“Happiness consists of living each day as if it were the first day of your honeymoon and the last day of your vacation.”
– Leo Tolstoy
🙂
¡Pura Vida!
See all photos from this trip at 2019 Villa Caletas, Jaco Photo Gallery.
Well . . . my goal for today was to photograph a toucan and a macaw. Goal accomplished! Plus some other colorful creatures before, during an after breakfast, with several butterflies included and a most interesting blue-winged insect on my breakfast table! Remember, nearly all restaurants in Costa Rica are alfresco! Enjoy my photos from Villa Caletas today.
CLICK image to enlarge
Color is like the finishing touch on everything.”
~Marc Jacobs
See all my butterflies in my Costa Rica Butterflies Photo Gallery!
Or all photos from this trip at 2019 Villa Caletas, Jaco Photo Gallery
¡Pura Vida!
This morning a quick walk through my garden gave me photos of these four butterflies plus I kept seeing a bright yellow one (probably one of the Sulphurs) who would never slow down enough for a photo. But here’s the four I got (CLICK to see larger):
There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.
~R. Buckminster Fuller
See all my butterflies in my Costa Rica Butterflies Photo Gallery!
¡Pura Vida!
Yeah, I have these Black Witch Moths visit my house almost every year and you can see at least 4 others in my Butterfly & Moth Gallery, found alphabetically as “Black Witch Moth.” And I obviously don’t believe the Latin Folklore that the appearance of one means death is coming to that house soon.
This one was on my bathroom wall at the ceiling last night and gone by this morning. To the naked eye it is very dark as this photo on my Canon SLR without a flash shows (only bathroom ceiling light on in the night). In February I shot one on my brown shower curtain with my cell phone and flash and if you go to that link you will see how much more colorful they are with more light or in the gallery there is also one with the Canon using the flash. Big difference! As light always brings!
As one visitor to my house said “I always see something scurrying away when I turn on the light during the night.” Well, living with strange wildlife is not for everyone, but I find it quite interesting and kind of fun when one is named a “Witch!” 🙂 Why, it even calls for a Halloween Cartoon I think:
🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Because it was a special week, I’m doing a second book on Xandari where I celebrated my birthday last week. It was such a colorful week, I titled it “Brilliant!” Follow the link to a free online preview of the book showing 82 of my photos. Or click this smaller image of the book cover below:
Also see the 2019 Trip Gallery for this week.
Or the older 2018 Xandari Trip Gallery
And my photo book for that year’s visit titled Xandari Enchanted by Nature
A truly amazing place!
¡Pura Vida!
The photo gallery for last week’s fabulous birthday retreat at Xandari Nature Resort is now ready at:
https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2019-07-1-6-Xandari-Nature-Resort
or you can click this print screen image of the first page:
And for more on Xandari see my 2018 Xandari photo gallery with more of the art and architecture but not as many birds as this year.
¡Pura Vida!
The combination of some of the biggest and best flower gardens anywhere with the right time of year for butterflies in Costa Rica means that Xandari has thousands of flying flowers now! 🙂 Like hummingbirds, most are very difficult to photograph, but here are ten I managed to capture, or the ones who stopped at a flower – some seem to never stop! 🙂
And to see more of my butterfly photos, go to my Butterfly Gallery where you can also order prints or wall art of any of the photos in my gallery.
This is my last day at Xandari, leaving tomorrow morning, but I will be sharing more photos here over the next few days including a nice collection of birds and of course creating a trip gallery soon. Stay tuned for more Xandari Magic!
Everyone is like a butterfly, they start out ugly and awkward and then morph into beautiful graceful butterflies that everyone loves.
~Drew Barrymore
¡Pura Vida!
I completed my “Trip Gallery” of the 6 nights at Macaw Lodge, Carara National Park, Costa Rica. It is another fabulous nature retreat in Costa Rica and I hope you check out some of the photos I have posted. You can click the print screen image below or this web address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2019-06-18-24-Macaw-Lodge
“A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels.”
— Ansel Adams
¡Pura Vida!
One of the best things about Macaw Lodge is the beautiful grounds! The owner Pablo’s hobby of horticulture helps! 🙂 I have already done posts on Flowers and Other Green Things, The Waterfall, and yesterday on my Cabin in the Woods – thus you’ve seen some of the grounds but here is a whole lot more photos of just the general look of the grounds and chocolate farm and in my gallery I’m adding a Trails gallery because that is a big part of the grounds, though I barely photographed trails, mostly the trail to the waterfall & spa.
Click on an image in the montage below to see it larger and/or start a manual slideshow.
There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.
~Lord Byron
See my “Trip Photo Gallery” titled: 2019-06–18-24–Macaw Lodge (finished except for a few more bird photos)
Macaw Lodge (lodge website)
My Quick Evaluation: It is one of the better “eco lodges” and more isolated than most at 45+ minutes from a town of any size and no houses or farms nearby. The rainforest surroundings match or surpass most other eco lodge I’ve visited. The rooms are excellent as is the food, though note that you have to request daily maid service and a change of towels. And you need lots of towels because it is the hottest most humid place I think I’ve been to yet (in the middle of rainy season) and hanging towels never dry.
Birding is good or basic, not my best source of birds with one “lifer” here if I labeled the Indigo Bunting correctly. Though note that I did see a Sunbittern which is a rare find anywhere (though this photo not good)! As a comparison, I photographed 30 species here and 53 at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge and about that many at Selva Verde Sarapiqui my first trip there. But this was still good!
There were lots of lizards but I saw no monkeys or other wildlife (though supposedly there). For my morning guided birding hike they secured a local Carara Park area guide who was good but not the best I’ve had. The Muscovy Ducks on the lake are entertaining and they, along with other birds, have babies this time of year (June).
I would return here but probably not anytime soon, since I know of eco lodges that have given me more birds. It was a great location for the Yoga Retreat going on while I was there! And for anyone wanting to just “get away!” About 45 minutes from Tarcoles or an hour from Jaco Beach on a terrible road. Though not required, 4WD would be safer.
It is adjacent to Carara National Park, but on the backside, thus about an hour drive to the entrance on Ruta 34. The Lodge can arrange a driver from San Jose Airport at about $140 each way. I’m glad to answer other questions you may have about this unique place.
¡Pura Vida!