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Just another one of the unusual things I see in Central Park Alajuela. Yesterday this guy was drumming away on his psychedelic apparatus in the park for tips. A quick snap of it on my way to the bus station. He looks and acts more like a young American, but some young Ticos try to be that way.
¡Pura Vida!
Anthropocene – noun
An·thro·po·cene | \ ˈan(t)-thrə-pə-ˌsēn , an-ˈthrä-\
Definition of Anthropocene
: the period of time during which human activities have had an environmental impact on the Earth regarded as constituting a distinct geological age
Most scientists agree that humans have had a hand in warming Earth’s climate since the industrial revolution—some even argue that we are living in a new geological epoch, dubbed the Anthropocene.
— Nature, 12 Feb. 2004 (Copied from Webster’s Dictionary Online)
Alice Major (Canadian Poet Laureate) observes the comedy and the tragedy of this human-dominated moment on Earth. Major’s most persistent question—“Where do we fit in the universe?”—is made more urgent by the ecological calamity of human-driven climate change. Her poetry leads us to question human hierarchies, loyalties, and consciousness, and challenges us to find some humility in our overblown sense of our cosmic significance.
“Now, welcome to the Anthropocene
you battered, tilting globe. Still you gleam,
a blue pearl on the necklace of the planets.
This home. Clouds, oceans, life forms span it
from pole to pole, within a peel of air
as thin as lace lapped round an apple. Fair
and fragile bounded sphere, yet strangely tough—
this world that life could never love enough.
And yet its loving-care has been entrusted
to a feckless species, more invested
in the partial, while the total goes unnoticed.”
— from “Welcome to the Anthropocene” by Alice Major
Get the book on Amazon
Or from Book Publishers Association of Alberta
Read a review on Goodreads.com
Or join the action with Population Matters
And if you don’t believe in Global Warming, maybe this book of poetry will help you see what is happening to planet Earth. Our grandchildren could enter the year 2100 in a desolate place if earth is even still here.
Retired in the “Ideal Climate” of Costa Rica
That also is in danger of Global Warming.
The climate is changing. Will we change?
¡Pura Vida!
My usual next step after a series of blog posts on a Costa Rica lodge visit is to post in my GALLERY another TRIPS sub-gallery on that particular visit and here it is:
2019 Feb 9-13–Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge or click image:
“To Travel is to Live”
– Hans Christian Andersen
¡Pura Vida!
After two visits to Tortuguero at the Laguna Lodge (2010 & 2016), I felt I needed a change or to at least see what one of the other lodges is like. After an internet search I chose Turtle Beach Lodge. Two out of a total of about 12 to 15 is not the total picture but I at least can compare these two and I like them both. Laguna is larger, housing about 300 people while Turtle Beach houses about 150, depending on how many persons to a room of course, but that is the dining room sizes. Larger is not always better. 
Its been 3 years since at Laguna, but I vaguely remember their food being better or at least a lot more choices beyond the typical Tico food buffet at Turtle Beach where you get rice & beans at every meal plus “mixed vegetables” (boiled cabbage & a few other veggies) along with a change in meat from fish, chicken, pork and beef in rotation for both lunch and dinner and one little meatless pasta. Turtle’s salad bar is skimpier than Laguna’s and had more flies. So overall I remember Laguna having better food.
Housing is very similar in both with basic screened-in cabins, camp-like firm beds, and a ceiling fan plus basic bathroom. Both have a swimming pool and beach access, while Turtle also has a pool table in the bar and most of the buildings seemed newer or more modern. Both have WiFi only in the public areas (dining room, lobby, bar, etc.) They are about the same with the same tours, nature and wildlife offerings and jungle living experience. Though Turtle Beach excels on the canoe or kayak option with their private canal.
I would be hard pressed to recommend one over the other though I lean toward my most recent experience with Turtle Beach, being smaller where you get to know the staff better and I easily got a private birding tour that included the guide paddling me in a canoe while I photographed. I did not ask for that at Laguna but it is probable there too. I also like Turtle Beach’s private canal better than Laguna being on the main river. And I stayed 3 nights at Turtle Beach which really makes a difference over the one night or two night stays before! To get the most out of a place you need more time there and that is my approach everywhere now, with 6 nights more common at other lodges.
Bottom line is that Turtle Beach edges out Laguna Lodge in all but the food which was better at Laguna. Now here are a lot of shots from Turtle Beach Lodge in four slideshows by my categories:
The wilderness is healing, a therapy for the soul.
~Nicholas Kristof
See my 2019 Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge Visit Gallery for more on this exciting rainforest trip!
Or the Turtle Beach Lodge hotel website
Or my photo book on 3 visits to TORTUGUERO, The Amazon of Costa Rica
A Chat with Nat Geo’s “Untamed Costa Rica” Producer
“Costa Rica has one of the few places in the world where a wild ocean and a wild forest can converge simultaneously with one another.” ~Filipe DeAndrade
¡Pura Vida!
The Little Theatre Group of Costa Rica, which Atenas Expats often travel to San Jose to see perform, came to Atenas today, performing for about 70 of the Atenas Men’s Club at the Barons Resort atop Vista Atenas after a fine lunch by Barons. Here’s just 4 shots to depict the experience:
You can see and download these 4 photos full-size in my Gallery.
I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.
~Thornton Wilder
¡Pura Vida!
Knowing from past experiences that the return trip by boat and bus to San Jose is more tiring and less of an adventure, I chose to try flying back this time and not that early 6am flight! But rather I took the 12:40 afternoon flight – and here is
The Tortuguero Airport Terminal.
Sometimes I think I live a charmed life getting to see such beautiful sights! (Even though my suitcase did not make it on our overloaded flight and is suppose to be delivered by taxi sometime this evening.) I love being “Retired in Costa Rica” and I’m still processing the bird and other wildlife photos from this Tortuguero trip – but coming soon!
See my 2019 Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge Visit Gallery for more on this exciting rainforest trip!
Or the Turtle Beach Lodge hotel website
Or my photo book on 3 visits to TORTUGUERO, The Amazon of Costa Rica
Getting to and from anywhere in Tortuguero is only by boat with outsiders able to use the Tortuguero Landing Strip to fly here by small plane. All week I have been traveling around this rainforest park by boat including my private birding trip in a canoe this afternoon with Ricardo doing the paddling and me making photos! One photo below is from that canoe trip. It is a different world, a water world! Tomorrow the lodge takes me by boat to the Tortuguero Landing Strip for my flight out which is a relief since the gravel roads between Guapiles and the boat dock are in bad condition right now. It is only the second time I’ve gone to an airport by boat with the other being at Drake Bay.
Wilderness is a necessity there must be places for human beings to satisfy their souls.
~John Muir
See my 2019 Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge Visit Gallery for more on this exciting rainforest trip!
Or the Turtle Beach Lodge hotel website
Or my photo book on 3 visits to TORTUGUERO, The Amazon of Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
The first boat ride is through the jungle to the lodge in the river and canals of Tortuguero National Park. “Tortuguero, One of Costa Rica’s most popular ecotourism destinations . . . a study of Rainforest, freshwater and marine biology. The park and small town of Tortuguero are accessible by boat or small aircraft. When people think of Rainforest, the first thing that automatically comes to their minds is Tortuguero.” For just the facts, see the Wikipedia Article on Tortuguero Park, there is no “official” website for the park. The previous park link & quote is from one of many tour companies here.
And since most have to pay for entrance to the National Park (my resident old man status gets me in free) the lodge boats stop at the park headquarters first which is at the little village of poor people that all lodges seem to be required to take tourists to and our guide got it over with along with park tickets before we ever got to the lodge. We were given an hour to wander and though with nothing there I needed (food & souvenirs) I used the time to make photos. Yes, I came here for the jungle, birds and other wildlife and that is what I have been doing since leaving this village, but I will still be longer processing and presenting my wildlife photos. This was easier to put together on another busy day with two boat trips and one rainforest hike.
Of course there are more birds in this village in the jungle, but these are the only 3 I got photos of!
See my 2019 Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge Visit Gallery for more on this exciting rainforest trip!
Or the Turtle Beach Lodge hotel website
Or my photo book on 3 visits to TORTUGUERO, The Amazon of Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
When the lodge in Tortuguero tells me their van they will pick me up at any hotel in San Jose at around 5am and I live at an hour+ away, getting up at 3am to get there is not appealing, thus when I go to Tortuguero (my 3rd time now) I usually use my Hilton Honor points from an American Express Card to spend the night at Hampton Inn Airport. Well, Hampton Inn was full this time for the night I needed and thus the next closest Hilton Hotel was DoubleTree Cariari, at the Cariari Country Club, also called an airport hotel (5 miles). But it used to be an independent, locally owned unique Costa Rican Hotel Cariari. And I’m glad I couldn’t get in the “cookie cutter” Hampton Inn which is an identical building/room as all Hampton Inns in the U.S. Nothing unique or Costa Rican about it except the coffee and staff! And the Cariari is the favorite hotel of my new friends from Durango, Colorado.
My favorite transportation from Atenas, Walter’s Taxis & Tours, brought me here midday and I’m enjoying the exploration of a new hotel to me. Here are a few my cell phone photos made here:
Tomorrow morning at 5:30 AM I leave for Tortuguero National Park on the North Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica.
¡Pura Vida!
are common in both Alajuela and Atenas Central Parks – this one in Alajuela the other day. There doesn’t need to be a reason, just sort of a jam session. It is one of the many things that keep Costa Rica’s small town Central Parks alive and fun to visit!
See my photo galleries: PEOPLE, FIESTAS & ARTS for more music & cultural events.
¡Pura Vida!
And tomorrow’s edition will be written at the DoubleTree by Hilton Cariari Hotel San Jose where I spend a free night (Hilton Honors Points) to be ready for a 5:30am pickup the next morning for my trip to Tortuguero, Turtle Beach Lodge on “The Amazon of Costa Rica.” It’s my 3rd time to Tortuguero but in a new lodge for me this time and staying 3 nights this time for a more relaxed visit. New adventure every month!
And this morning I met a couple from Durango, Colorado who have been staying in “The Cariari” since 1980 when it was a private hotel before Hilton Hotels made it a DoubleTree. They just love it as their hotel near the airport for a stay before an early flight as “snowbirds” who come and go all winter. So I will find out what makes it special! And let you know. It was a substitute for me since Hampton Inn had no vacancies. These American hotels are only in San Jose and on a few big beaches. Most Costa Rica hotels are locally owned and operated which I generally prefer.
¡Pura Vida!