San Luis Waterfall

San Luis Waterfall, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica

San Luis Waterfall, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica
The “Long View”

This was a “by-product” of our Saturday morning birding hike in the cloud forest reserve. Not big, but beautiful as all waterfalls are to me. It was simply on one of our trails with birds around it.

For your own safety, no swimming allowed!
Besides, this is a rainforest preserve for the wildlife. It is their water!  🙂

I have a lot more wildlife photos to share, just still going through them all and selecting a few. 

Today was Spanish class and maid day, so been busy in addition to the photos!  🙂
 “As long as I live, I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing.”    ~John Muir


And someday I’ll do a photo gallery of Tennessee Waterfalls I’ve photographed. Some grand ones there!

Thanksgiving Plus Improved Numbers: 49.4, 49.6, 51.2, 48.8, and 46.8

“View from a Costa Rica Cloud Forest”
My photo from the September trip to Talamanca Mountains & Quetzales Park.

It is a THANKSGIVING time for me the way wonderful friends are loving on me as I’m about to leave! Tonight’s going away party at the apartment of Frances Carver was wonderful with super good food by her daughter Kay and help from her son-in-law Ed. They are such great friends and the time together was special!

And the numbers? Well those are this afternoon’s weights of the five suitcases with only one coming in over 50 pounds, so I’m about to get there as I continue to adjust and remove items like the iron skillet that I pulled today! Weird you think? Well it was the only cooking utensil I felt valuable enough to take, but they have utensils in the furnished apartment and I will be able to buy things like that there. The biggest adjustment in my suitcases today was taking the 26 pounds of file folders in my Tupperware-like file box out of a suitcase and shipping it via my Miami address. I’m hoping it will get there within a month! And worth the high price I’m paying! I guess what we choose to keep or take with us on a downsizing move like this tells a lot about our priorities.  🙂

I sold my car Friday and Monday I am wiring more than 20% of the income from it to the Costa Rica shipping company as a “deposit” on the shipping of the 57 boxes of art and books. Everybody wants my money now, but after getting settled and the residency paperwork behind me, that will hopefully slow down.

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And by the way, I am so happy about President Obama’s announcement on Cuba where I hope to travel again, remembering my wonderful trip with AZAD two years ago. Now if congress will just get off their rear-ends and stop the stupid blockade, the U.S. might become a humanitarian country again. Oops! Getting political which I promised myself I would not in these blogs. But . . . I am looking forward to living in a country that has no enemies and no military or military industrial complex.  🙂

Resplendent Quetzal Day

Resplendent Quetzal Male near Trogon Lodge
San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica

Collared Redstart, Trogon Lodge
San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica

“Buena Vista” in Talamanca Mountains Above the Clouds
with a Tico friend soaking in the beauty.

A great last day and I’m exhausted with two birding hikes and the 90 minute drive back to San Jose. At dinner tonight I started a list of positives and negatives to moving to Costa Rica. I’ll share that later. I have thousands of photos, more great memories of Costa Rica, and a lot of knew knowledge about the country and the people. I have new friends here and from other places including a guy from the Netherlands today. Now I need a few days to let it all soak in and get some rest before I decide.