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Yesterday I walked to town on a couple of errands, getting another butterfly at 3rd & 8th Ave garden enroute – accomplished my errands – heard some music and then saw the dancers in Central Park, dancing to the music of our town’s “Old Men” Marimba Band. It is almost like Covid is gone (though still giving booster shots) and a somewhat normality in this peaceful little coffee farming town. A few individuals still wear a mask, but generally none.
Yesterday, 15 September, was Costa Rica’s Independence Day Celebration nation-wide including here in Atenas. I worked into the night processing my many photos and selecting choice ones for my photo gallery titled in Spanish this time :
2022 Desfile del Día de la Independencia, Atenas
Here’s my favorite portrait of one of the two UTN Cowboys on horses followed by just 2 photos from each of the 8 sub-galleries in the above gallery (including one with the above guy’s horse) . . .
I never tire of trying to capture a slightly different view of Atenas from atop the hill I live on the side of in Residential Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica. These are not necessarily my best shots, so check out the others in my gallery: From Hill Above My House.
Here’s the three shots from my walk the other day, one a single shot vista and the others are two-shot panoramas of Atenas Central from atop Phase 1 of Residential Roca Verde. If you look close you can see the church steeple and the palm trees in front of it which are in our Central Park.
¡Pura Vida!
I’ve recently learned that much of the park renovation is being paid for by volunteer donations as the city budget was greatly hurt by the pandemic. And all the work is being done by park employees rather than an expensive contractor, so I guess the slowness is to be expected and maybe praised for a job well done without much means.
After the celebration of the park entrance sign and flagpoles, they finally started again by blocking off another wedge of the park with the ugly tin construction fence. It is the area where we’ve had a children’s playground. They’ve removed all the old playground equipment and dug up the brick sidewalk in preparation for another modern cement sidewalk with I assume the trademark low walls for sitting as a replacement for park benches. There will likely be an additional sitting area for parents watching their children play. This sidewalk radiates from the central circular kiosk to the SE corner of the park. Once the concrete work is done I assume they will then install the new playground equipment and another section of remodeling will be completed. I doubt that even they know how long it will take. Here’s 3 photos to show what they’ve started . . .
In Alajuela a couple of weeks ago while waiting on my bus I snapped this statue of dancers in a neighborhood city park where I temporarily catch my bus back to Atenas. Ticos love dancing and do in the parks a lot when bands perform, but it is rare to see any Tico this overweight! Maybe the couple is suppose to be tourists? 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
See my Alajuela Gallery for more photos from the provincial capital.
NOTE: I still plan on my first report from Chachagua Rainforest tonight, but for morning readers, this lifestyle report 🙂 . . .
Now you could call my bus-riding “cultural” or “simple living” or “green living” etc. But Saturday I road the bus to Alajuela again after almost cutting it out for 2 years because of Covid and the dangers of infection in such close quarters. For example, one of my old bus drivers died of Covid he caught as a driver to and from San Jose from Atenas.
But during this past Saturday’s bus trip I felt all the tension and stress caused by the fraudulent use of my debit card just disappeared and I vowed then that I would do this regularly again now. Covid is waning here and I’m feeling safer with all travel now, though I still consider my hidden jungle lodges safer than the cities! 🙂
First you must know that I have not owned a car since 2014 when I moved to Costa Rica and even though I rented cars a few times during my first 2 years here just for trips outside of Atenas, I soon discovered the joy of walking and taking buses and taxis and for awhile was taking bus trips all over the country. I now use a private driver for more of my trips (especially with Covid), but the more regular bus trips to Alajuela (and fewer to San Jose) will now continue while still wearing a mask. And as a senior adult, the Alajuela trip is free and to San Jose half price, like the equivalent of 75 to 80¢! 🙂
Here are more views of the new Central Park Sign including a selfie and what it looks like at night and from behind! 🙂 My earlier reports on the sign did not include the finished product at night or from behind! 🙂
Sure enough, they finally uncovered the park sign last night at 7 pm in the rain without me! But I heard the fireworks go off right at 7 and knew that was the reason. They love to celebrate anything with fireworks here! 🙂
This morning on my way to my one breakfast out a week I detoured by the park for these 3 shots on my cellphone. I know the sun lights up at night and suspect the letters might, but won’t know until I go by there at night. I was not expecting the “little murals” on the letters since other parks in Costa Rica with their town name spelled out like this use solid colors like Alajuela’s red and Heredia’s also red. Thus Atenas is definitely unique in this way! 🙂
I may describe the murals in more detail later, but in brief, the A: has our National Boyero Monument (Oxcart statue), T: the main Catholic church on the south side of Central Park, E: with three of several historic buildings, N: what appears to be lifestyle images, A: the historic and famous railroad bridge over Rio Grande and S: is their nod to the farmers with sugarcane, coffee and oxen.
Continue reading “The Park Sign”
I went early at 8:30 for what I understood would be an “unveiling” of the new ATENAS park sign and what they were calling a “dedication ceremony.” Nada! After nearly 2 hours downtown I picked up my photos I had left earlier to be printed across from the park and Sr. Chacón there told me that they would not unveil the ATENAS letters until 7 pm tonight (probably in the rain) and I will not go back! I was there mainly to get a photo of the Atenas sign, so I was disappointed! I walked home with my new photos and will maybe go tomorrow to photograph the sign.
!Then the only programming on the stage for the first two hours was the main Evangelical church here in town performing charismatic music like in a charismatic worship service and a hand full of vendors (more like a flea market) – both also disappointing to me. The stage will have more and different kinds of music throughout the day, which is what the city does with all of these all-day fiestas they sponsor, but after I learned the sign would not be un-covered, I got my photos and walked home. 🙂 I will photograph it tomorrow and post just that photo. 🙂
At 9 am tomorrow (Saturday 30 May 2022) the city is unveiling and “dedicating” the new entrance to Central Park Atenas, even though the renovations are not nearly complete nor will be for some time. They will remove the black plastic from the ATENAS sign and the park workers have been busy trying to get ready! They’ve laid some new grass in that area and have flower there to plant before tomorrow, plus they are taking down that ugly tin construction fence and are re-painting the white skirts around all the trees in the whole park. Plus tents are going up for the typical fiesta day vendors and when I asked at city hall the time of the ceremony (9am) they made sure I knew that there would be live music Saturday night! 🙂 Maybe we really are getting over Covid! Though masks are still required in all public places – even tomorrow! 🙂 And we still have to wash our hands upon entry to all businesses.
Here’s 5 shots made yesterday (Thursday) that indicate they are preparing for tomorrow!