Category: Culture

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Floating Free of Time

The following statement about hummingbirds was included as an insert in a Papyrus Birthday Card I received from my sister Bonnie who said the card reminded her of me “getting the most out of life!”  (Thank you Bonnie!) And the above photo is a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird photographed this past week at Xandari Nature Resort, Costa Rica, “floating” above a flower just outside my room.

Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying out hopes for love, joy and celebration. The hummingbird’s delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life’s sweetest creation.     ~Papyrus

The card itself continued the theme with . . .

DREAM BIG

LAUGH LOTS

BE AMAZING

LIVE WELL

EXPLORE LIFE

ADVENTURE ON

Enjoy every extraordinary moment! Happy Birthday!     ~Papyrus

And so the hummingbird inspires us to get the most out of life! I hope that is what you are doing! Enjoy life!    🙂

And here is another hummingbird that seems to be “floating” a little more than the above one. He is a Green-breasted Mango Hummingbird female at Dave & Dave’s Nature Center of Sarapiquí, La Virgen, Costa Rica shot on my 2016 Trip to Selva Verde Sarapiqui.

Have another great day!

Charlie — Retired in Costa Rica

And see more hummingbirds in my BIRDS photo gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

🙂

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Leaves N’ Seeds

A few of the things I found to have interesting shape or color in the forests and gardens beyond the flowers at Xandari.

Leaves N’ Seeds

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.

~William Shakespeare

 

See also my gallery Flora and Forest.

All photos made by Charlie Doggett at:

Xandari Nature Resort

¡Pura Vida!

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Xandari Flowers

Xandari has one of the best flower gardens of many in Costa Rica and I would be hard-pressed to name any one as THE best – but this one does a great job and here you can browse through about 40 species blooming there this month (that changes month to month!) and I will do a separate post of “other plants,” seeds, fruit and even interesting leaves! So much beauty in any garden! As always, click an image to enlarge it or in this format to start a manual slide show.

Xandari Flowers

 

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.
– Luther Burbank

 

I will be starting work on my Xandari 2019 Trip Gallery today but give me a week to complete it – lots of photos!   🙂   In the meantime, check out my other trip galleries which I egotistically consider amazing!   🙂   OR specifically . . .  the Xandari 2018 Trip Gallery where I showed more of the architecture & Art than this year. It is one of my favorite hotels!

And/or check out my other flower photos in the gallery Flora and Forest.

Xandari Nature Resort

¡Pura Vida!

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Xandari Birthday Cake!

The staff had already done so much for me to make my birthday special, but I couldn’t finish dinner without them bringing out a birthday cake and a rendition of Feliz Cumpleaños sung more by another guest than by the waiters. Fun! And now it is finally over! One more birthday! The 79th! Not sure how I can top this for the big 8 – 0! Got a year to decide!

The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.

~Madeleine L’Engle

For a very special birthday I say THANK YOU to

Xandari Nature Resort

¡Pura Vida!

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Birthday Color!

Last night before dinner we were treated with a double rainbow! This morning the maids brought me a new bouquet of flowers with a “Feliz Cumpleaños!” greeting. And I have already enjoyed 4 fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate for my birthday! Plus the staff sang Happy Birthday in English to me at breakfast!

AND . . . this was my guided bird-hike morning with the most interesting birds being the mother & juvenile Crested Caracara (rare find) who landed in the same tree as the Yellow-headed Caracara did the other day!    🙂

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Rainbow  —  el arco iris
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Tropical Flowers from the Hotel Gardens in my room
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Crested Caracara adult & juvenile, Xandari Nature Resort, Costa Rica

“I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.” 
― William Shakespeare

🙂

Xandari Nature Resort

¡Pura Vida!

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Flying Saucer Has Landed!

Sorry guys! But it sort of looks like what we used to call a “Flying Saucer” in the States when UFOs were a big thing there!   🙂

Trim 1st then remove.

This is just my occasional UPDATE on the progress on the REMODELING OF CENTRAL PARK ATENAS – excruciatingly slow to me! This big round metal thing will be the “Kiosk” or Band Shell or Stage in the center of the park. (See link to pictures of it at bottom of post.) It will be great for “Theater in the Round.”

They still have to redo the landscaping and add new benches, picnic tables and some recreation items. Maybe the landscaping has started with the cutting down of several big trees. Hard to tell. And the underside of that kiosk roof is going to have artwork added, so still a ways to go there too. Here’s shots of 3 stages of the kiosk in the last 4 days – faster than usual progress:

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25 June 2019
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25 June 2019
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28 June 2019

All images are cell phone photos by Charlie Doggett.

 

The city has  a Facebook Page presenting the remodeling with architect drawings of how they expect it to look. Nice! The vision of an architect! AND BEST VIEWED AS A MANUAL SLIDESHOW! Click on a picture, then the right or left arrows.

¡Pura Vida!

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Macaw Lodge Photo Gallery

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

2019-06-27
Click gallery page above to visit it.

“A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels.”
— Ansel Adams

Macaw Lodge Website

¡Pura Vida!

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Arrival at Macaw Lodge

Lunch Today

I wandered around the grounds when I arrived but did not make it to the waterfall today. Had a beautiful, healthy salad for lunch when I met a lovely young couple from Germany who are thinking about moving to Costa Rica. He is a photographer. They are not staying the night in lodge, just day visitors.

I am the only overnight guest here now. It is off season or rainy season and the ride up the mountain from Tarcoles is a rough 45 minutes on a bad road which discourages some, but it is really isolated! That is one thing I love about it! It is also very “wild” with rainforest noises as dark arrives (mostly frogs). It rained much of afternoon so I will explore more tomorrow. Just a few shots for today:

 

Birds Today

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Other Wildlife

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Grounds Shots

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My Cabin

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Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.      ~John Muir

Macaw Lodge

¡Pura Vida!

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Park Renovation Progress?

Hard to prove it by me. They just keep welding pieces of metal on what will be the “Kiosk” or Bandshell and now they are trimming and taking out some trees, so that speaks to more of the garden renovation. We will see. It was originally going to be completed by the end of 2018 and now I think they will really have to speed up the work to get it done by the end of 2019!    🙂    I made these two photos yesterday, so up-to-date June 16, 2019!

The city has  a Facebook Page presenting the remodeling with architect drawings of what they expect it to look like – The New Central Park Atenas. Click on one of their pictures to enlarge it and begin a manual slideshow of the new park.

Are they pruning the old trees or will they be removed?

¡Pura Vida!

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Next Week’s Adventure

Sometimes I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world! Being “Retired in Costa Rica” is simply perfect for me, even if I never left my little casita and garden in Atenas! But on top of that I get to continue exploring one of the most beautiful and ecologically diverse countries in the world! And next week it is to a place that not only have I not seen, but I am yet to meet anyone else who has been there! Even my driver will be going for his first time!   🙂

I urge you to watch their beautifully created introductory nature video to see part of what I will experience next week and also as an expression of why I love Costa Rica so much! Nature!       🙂

Just click the Macaw logo below to see it on YouTube. I’ll give you their website link further down.

This small eco lodge has only eight rooms and is recommended by National Geographic Society. I expect stellar service and food along with my full immersion in the wilderness! The video does not mention birding (I don’t do yoga), but they have birding guides and multiple options for birding with of course many trails I can explore on my own. And they will be my third lodge to visit that has installed Macaw Nesting Boxes, what may save a whole species from extinction!

My current approach to trips is to stay most of a week with birding in the mornings followed by relaxation and photo processing in the afternoon with a great evening meal and early to bed. Some places are more designed for my kind of schedule and I think this is going to be one of those! And may become one of my new favorites! Now explore their website by clicking the link below:

Macaw Lodge Website

As with most good lodges, there’s a lot to explore on their website as well as on their grounds, like their secret gardens and birding trails, their own waterfall with plunge pool swimming hole, their farm where most food I’ll eat is raised, unlimited birds, insects and other nature to photograph and much more! Six nights there will give me time to explore and discover another great getaway to which I already expect I’ll return! I love new discoveries!   🙂

Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.  ~John Muir

¡Pura Vida!