“The greatest gift of life on the mountain is time… to sit and stare at the shapes of the hills.” ~Phillip Connors:
¡Pura Vida!
“The Hills”
The “Trail of Giants”
“Sendero de Gigantes” is the unofficial nickname for the main forest trail at Punta Leona Nature Resort because of some really large trees on the trail. It took me two tries (2 days) to get the 100+ meters uphill from my room to the trail entrance on the main entrance road and then I didn’t even hike it because after a rain it was a muddy, slippery mountainous trail with lots of steep climbs and I tend to fall on wet surfaces, especially on wet steep inclines like this trail had. In fact I nearly fell going downhill into the trail entrance, so I decided not to hike it for my own safety. The occasional disappointments of being old! 🙂
After this introductory photo, there is a gallery of 4 more shots at the entrance. For younger people who love forest trails, this would be a good one! Especially for the big trees! And maybe some wildlife! 🙂
Favorite Green Life Photos 2025
To live in a green world, absorbing both the oxygen and the green spirit is one of the greatest blessings of living in Costa Rica. I randomly picked these photos as representative of this spirit, though many others could have represented it just as well . . .
Living in the Green
I live on a green hill that is surrounded by more green hills beyond the little Atenas Valley. And the housing development that I live in is called “Residencial Roca Verde” which in English is “Residential Green Rock.” And the second photo below is of some of the green rocks just inside our entrance gate that gave the place its name. 🙂 But mostly mossy green during rainy season and losing their color by the end of dry season or becoming brown rocks. 🙂 All possibly symbolic of “Living Green!”
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” – Mahatma Gandhi
That is what one man said about “living green.” Hopefully the world will learn to trade its greed for the green! I’m thankful that I live in a “green-thinking” country, even though Costa Rica has not “arrived” yet, it is headed in the right direction with such things as 99.9% of our electricity renewable (hydro, volcanic, solar & wind) plus 25-35% of our forests are protected as reserves or parks.
“Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.”
— Stewart Udall
¡Pura Vida!
Rain Approaching!
As it does almost every afternoon! And this particular shot of rain on nearby hills was on May 22. A daily afternoon or night (my favorite) is what keeps tropical places like Costa Rica green, beautiful and full of so many species of plants and wildlife. I love it! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
My collection of such photo views from my terrace is growing! 🙂
Poas Volcano on Red Alert!
Many of my U.S. friends who have visited here have included a visit to Poas Volcano NP, which is (“as the crow flies”) just 53.5 km or 33.2 miles from me, though a 2 hour drive through the mountains. 🙂 It has been erupting daily now for a few weeks and increasing in intensity. Today …
The Costa Rican National Emergency Commission (CNE) has declared a red alert for Poás Volcano National Park due to increased volcanic activity, with ash plumes reaching up to 4,500 meters. The park is currently closed indefinitely, and authorities recommend that visitors stay away from the area. Adjacent areas, including Grecia, Sarchí, Alajuela, Poás, Naranjo, Río Cuarto, and Zarcero, are under orange or yellow alerts due to ashfall and gas exposure.
It has always been my favorite volcano to visit in Costa Rica, not only because the closest, but the only one you could look down in the crater and see the bubbling stuff, plus it has a second, older crater with a beautiful turquoise-colored lake. who knows what it will be like after these major eruptions?
Because I live south of Poas and most of our winds are East-West, I don’t get a lot of the ash fall, but some. Before breakfast on my terrace each morning, I wipe the glass-top table off with a Lysol Wipe and then a paper towel. They are black from the small amount of ash we do get. 🙂 Yet farmers near active volcanoes say the ash is excellent for growing vegetables! 🙂
Facebook Video of one day’s eruption: (it would not embed)
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2160888447696509&t=18
And if the FB link above doesn’t work, try the Tico Times article where I first saw it: https://ticotimes.net/2025/04/23/video-poas-volcano-erupts-with-3-5-km-ash-plume-ovsicori-reports
¡Pura Vida!
Reflected Sunrise
The sun rises in the east behind other mountains that are behind the one that my house is on the west side of. 🙂 Simply put, I cannot see much of a sunrise from my house or terrace that faces W/NW where the vista of little mountains I often share are located. But when I am not sleeping late, I can get out on my terrace and get what I call a “reflected sunrise” on those hills in the W/NW. This past week I’ve been sleeping as late as I could to help cure my sick stomach which is now finally well! (I think!) But these two early morning “reflected sunrise” shots were made earlier in March. The feature photo at top is a panorama of three shots on my Canon 750D and this shot below for email version was a quick snap on my cheap Samsung Cellphone! 🙂
Close & Far Panoramas
The first shot on my cellphone is close, as I step out through my gate onto the road by the cow pasture and begin another walk. The second photo on my camera is a merging of 3 shots of the far mountains in a common panorama vista from my terrace. I love where I live! 🙂 Plus it is not far from some totally different vistas I can visit in rainforests, beaches or cloud forests. Pura vida! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
See the photo gallery titled: From My Roca Verde Terrace for many more similar vistas. And FYI: “Roca Verde” (Green Rock) is the name of the housing development where I live, named after the big green (moss-covered) rock just inside the entrance gate. 🙂
Atenas: “El mejor clima del mundo!” “The best weather in the world!”
🙂
2024 Favorite Photos
As every year on New Year’s Eve, I am trying my best to narrow down my favorite photos to just 12 – pretty much impossible! 🙂 But I always do it anyway and never by the months. This year I created 6 categories of photos and chose 2 pix in each. As usual, the birds category was the most difficult to narrow down, so tomorrow I am publishing another post with the 9 runner ups in the bird category. 🙂
The Categories this year are: 1) Birds, 2) Butterflies, 3) Other Insects, 4) Other Wildlife, 5) Flowers, 6) Landscapes. And the ones labeled from “Atenas” are all from my garden except the vista from Casita del Café.
My twelve choices for 2024 will be below this one photo for the email version. They are a slideshow in the online version, so email recipients please click “Read More” below for 12 great photos! 🙂
Good Morning World!
