STREET ART: Tortuguero Village

Only a few hundred people live here but they have more interesting “Street Art” than many big cities! Of course it helps that they are in the middle of a National Park! 🙂 That link is to the official park website in Spanish and for my photo galleries of 3 park visits, use links at the end of this post.

DISCLAIMER: “Street Art” for this series is paintings and tile work along streets, usually on buildings, that may or may not have been commissioned or done “illegally” without permission. I have no way of knowing. I purposefully did not include public statues, fountains, etc. obviously sanctioned by the government.

Tortuguero, Costa Rica

Tortuguero village is reachable only by boat or plane in what is called “The Amazon of Costa Rica” along the country’s northeast coast or Caribbean side. The village is the heart of Tortuguero National Park adjacent the Park Visitors Center with transportation to all lodges by boat. One side is the Atlantic beach and the other a river/canal into the glades. Above is the one art pix for email notice of post and please click READ MORE for more photos of this nature-centric Street Art . . .

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STREET ART: Atenas, Costa Rica

This post begins a new series of “Photo Essays” that could become the new style of my blog, now that I’m not traveling as much. I’m starting with a “Street Art Series” of maybe a week’s worth of posts on places where I’ve lived or visited. The first is an unlikely art town, the little coffee farming town of Atenas where I now live . . .

“Graffiti is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.”

~Wikipedia

Here’s one street art in Atenas for the emailed post, then click & read on for more . . .

At Pachacuti Art Shop
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A Revised Book

Back in July I announced a cheap little paperback book about me being retired in Costa Rica to introduce my nature photography and blog. It was titled Experiencing Nature (link to blog post) and after I received copies of it I was very disappointed in how the photos looked on the cheap or “standard” paper! Never again! I have destroyed the copies that I ordered to give away and created a newer version on premium photo paper and since it costs $20 instead of $8, I will not be giving as many away, 🙂 -but it is a much better book now with a revised title: Retired in Costa Rica, Experiencing Nature for Life and improvements inside. Click that link or the cover image below for a free PREVIEW of all 20 pages!

The replacement book about my life in paradise! 🙂

These photo books are just another creative outlet for me, giving me a record of my experiences here and great gifts for the lodges I visit! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Fellowship of the Ring

I finished both the book and the movie and I think Jackson was more true to the book with this movie than he was with The Hobbit movie. He put the death of Boromir at the end of this story rather than at the first of the next one like the book, which is really where it belongs or fits the best and he presented the passing of Boromir more poetically than Tolkien, so I liked this movie as much as the book which is different for me. 🙂 Now I’m reading The Two Towers which I remember little about.

¡Pura Vida!

The Hobbit Re-read

“I’m going on an adventure!”  said Bilbo Baggins

~JRR Tolkien in The Hobbit

Only great books deserve “re-reading” and The Hobbit (Wikipedia link), the 1937 published book by JRR Tolkien, is certainly one of those! I just finished reading it again on my Kindle and of course discovered “new stuff” not in my memory! He pretty much introduces a new character or creature in every chapter and then brings them all back together for the epic “Battle of Five Armies” at the end of the story.

Cover of The Hobbit on Kindle.

I will not write a full or formal review but just share some first impressions and personal feelings on the re-read of a favorite book, which I followed by a re-watch of the 3-movies version of the book . . .

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Flowers of Banana Azul

So many and so much color! Here’s a sample photo and then read on for the slide show of 19 different flowers.

Beach Spider Lily
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East Coast Sunset?

Welllll . . . sort of. The sun seemed to be setting in the northwest last night and by shooting north along the beach I got some reflected light in sky and lots of shadows from the rainforest trees on the beach. 🙂 Late afternoon is nice light anywhere and the sky is nice, even in the second shot where I shot due east over the Atlantic! But I probably won’t try that again here. It was not like Tambor Bay beach that curves and you can get both sunset and sunrise there if in the right places. 🙂 And here – I’m just a retired old man playing with my camera! 🙂

Shooting North
Shooting East

¡Pura Vida!

My Sunrises/Sunsets GALLERY.