If I keep trying maybe I will get a really good one on one of my 4 nights here! 🙂
When I admire the wonders of a sunset . . . my soul expands in the worship of the creator. ~Mahatma Gandhi
¡Pura Vida!
Better Sunsets Tonight
Good Night from Xandari
My first afternoon was settling in, photographing the room, hiking the upper level of trails photographing mostly flowers and having a really great dinner! I love it here! Maybe my favorite hotel in Costa Rica! But I’m too tired to process photos tonight and this sunset is not great but will have to do. Good night! 🙂 Much more tomorrow!
¡Pura Vida!
2019 in Photos
Someone may remember that for “2018 in Review” I did a “Photo a Month” and decided then that it was not the best way to choose favorite photos – like it or not, the best or “favorite” photos are not evenly divided among 12 months. 🙂
So . . . this year I decided to try my personal favorite photo in each of several categories for 2019 – but yikes! This was not easy either and I really wanted more from the category of Birds, which is what I photograph the most – but this is what you get this year and since I used a different bird on my electronic “Christmas Card” earlier, you got that bird too! And now I’ve decided to include two photos from my December trip to the rainforest AND there’s another bird! 🙂
I kept adding categories to include more photo! Cheating? 🙂 Here’s my personal favorites (not necessarily best photographically) – photos that mean something special to me in each of 18 categories listed alphabetically:
Airplane Shot
Amphibian
Art & Architecture
Bird
Butterfly
Flower
Forest Sunrise
Insect (not a butterfly)
Jungle Sunset
Monkey
Mountainscape
Oceanscape
Ocean Sunrise
Ocean Sunset
Rainbow
Rainforest Animal
Rainforest Bird
Sloth
Waterfall
And yes, I realize that I kind of stretched the landscape category with other “scapes” which I won’t do next year but maybe try for my top 12 favorite photos (17 here) which had I done this year would have been mostly birds. But hopefully these “favorites” will give you an idea of what it is like being Retired in Costa Rica! 🙂 And 2020 will have a lot of great new photos! 🙂 I’m sure!
¡Pura Vida!
Waterfall & Tower Hikes
Today I had a morning hike to the Danta Waterfall and afternoon hike to the Observatory Tower they call “The Nest.” Both were good, see photos below. And though still rainy today (I had to leave tower before most toucans arrived), there was almost a sunset tonight or the nearest we’ve had this rainy week and of course what little I got was mostly behind the clouds. 🙂
Waterfall Hike
Tower Shots
An Almost Sunset
¡Pura Vida!
Oh, the Places I’ll Go!
Monday I’m off to Arenal Observatory Lodge in Arenal Volcano National Park with my choice room reserved again – #27 – where my deck looks up at the volcano and out past the bird feeders to Lake Arenal over which the suns sets each evening in brilliant colors!
I was there a year and a half ago and you can see why I like it in my trip photo gallery: 2018-May 4-9 – Arenal Observatory Lodge. It is truly one of my favorite places and I’m beginning to return to such more often now, where there are more birds than I will every photograph! (An “official” birding hot spot.) Plus waterfalls, trails, horses, a farm, beautiful scenery, good food, and a comfortable room with more places nearby to visit. And I will probably relax more this time without the rush of trying to see and do everything the first time! ¡Tranquilo!
“You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So… get on your way!”
― Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
¡Pura Vida!
Hacienda Guachipelín – THE BOOK
The book is finished with 4 new lifer birds for me and now I’m off to other creative activities. Remember – you can PREVIEW the book electronically (flip through the pages) for free at my bookstore by clicking on this link and then each page to turn a page. Fun! And best seen in full screen mode! 🙂
https://www.blurb.com/b/9712481-hacienda-guachapel-n
Or click the book cover image below to get there:
¡Pura Vida!
“…and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”
―
The Craziness of My Passion
Yesterday I hired Walter to drive me to the three hotels within an hour and a half from my house to deliver the photo books I made about the three hotels: Jaco-Carara Birding Hotels. (Click to preview the book.)
I visited these 3 hotels in March, June and July this year and because they are all in the same area of Costa Rica near Jaco Beach and Carara National Park I decided to do one photo book instead of three, thus the title and combination of photos. A nice book if I do say so myself, with a large variety of coastal and forest birds and other wildlife plus the best sunset photos yet and an interesting sunrise photo I used for the front cover. Check out this book about Punta Leona Hotel, Villa Calletas Hotel and Macaw Lodge by clicking the above link. An electronic “Preview” is free!
Walter picked me up at 10 am and I was home by 3:30 pm which included a super lunch at Villa Calletas which the book notes as the best of the three for food (according to me)! 🙂
Why would I spend as much money on delivering 3 copies of the book as I did on printing them? Because I’ve had 2 hotels not receive their book through the mail and most of all I’m passionate about making nature photos and sharing them, especially with the people who helped me make them and love the nature of their surroundings as much as I. One young hotel employee was thrilled to see his work surroundings depicted in a photo book – his smile alone made the trip worthwhile! 🙂
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” ―
Visit my Bookstore for other such books.
¡Pura Vida!
Of the Marvelous – Trip Book
Sorry there were two posts yesterday, the old man gets flustered on the computer sometimes and makes mistakes! I intended for one of those today and this one for tomorrow, but here it is anyway! 🙂
I think this is one of my best books yet on travels around Costa Rica, this one about my week in Uvita on the southern Pacific Coast, whale-watching, many birds and other wildlife, sunsets, a river trip and visiting one of the most beautiful waterfalls I’ve seen yet in Costa Rica, Nauyaca Waterfall, my 27th waterfall to photograph here!
You may see or “Review” every page of the book electronically for free without having to order. Enjoy another one of my tropical adventures in Costa Rica! ~Charlie
The book: https://www.blurb.com/b/9678019-of-the-marvelous
Or click the book cover image:
“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”
~Aristotle
And for even more photos see my “Trip Gallery” 2019 Cristal Ballena, Uvita
¡Pura Vida!
Vistas
And into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul.
~John Muir
Day Vistas
Sunset Vistas
All from a week at Cristal Ballena Hotel, Uvita
See also my Ballena Trip Gallery for ocean & river vistas.
Bonus Article
From the “Live in Costa Rica Blog” — What is the best way to do one’s due diligence for retiring or living in Costa Rica?
¡Pura Vida!
Morning & Night Make a good Day!
I planned to post the report on Rio Sierpe Boat Trip today but still not finished – so just a quick glimpse at today, another nature day! 🙂
“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”
¡Pura Vida!
@
This trip gallery: 2019-September 13-21–Cristal Ballena, Uvita