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I’ve decided that two weeks of posts on this lodge may be enough, so I’m referring everyone to the gallery which has been ready awhile. Because of so many amazing flowers in their gardens, I may someday go back to more posts on them, but for now other photos from my life in nature in Costa Rica. You may click the image of gallery to go to the gallery or use this link:
https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2022-April-3-8-Guayabo-Lodge
¡Pura Vida!
Or check out ALL MY COSTA RICA TRAVELS.
Because it is actively erupting now you cannot go in the park near the craters, but my driver took me and Stijn the high road from Irazú to near the top of Turrialba and then around through the farms to the bottom and back to Guayabo Lodge. The big thing to me was how many vegetable gardens or fields of vegetables were growing on the side of the volcano with the rich volcanic ash. I noticed especially a lot of onions, carrots, squash and leafy green vegetables – and I’m sure there’s many others.
Yeah, I know, the old expression is “down on the farm” but here I’m literally UP on a farm in the mountains north of Cartago, Costa Rica on the slopes of Turrialba Volcano. You do know that the best coffee is “mountain grown” and this farm grows coffee along with many vegetables and animals – and just happens to also have a small tourist hotel! 🙂
So on my arrival day I’m featuring a few photos about the farm location of my lodge/hotel, the Guayabo Lodge, the closest one to the archaeological site and National Monument Guayabo which I’m scheduled to visit tomorrow.
Not only am I sleeping on an active farm but also in a beautiful garden with flowers that mostly grow only in the mountains here. Maybe that will be tomorrow’s post since it will probably take a long time to process photos from the national monument tomorrow. 🙂
Here’s 7 favorite farm shots from my arrival day . . .
Continue reading ““Up on the Farm””
That’s the restaurant now, not the large reptilian lizard! 🙂 But to me the food is still just “so-so” or mediocre. My second try was with nachos that I thought a young-adult oriented restaurant would do really good, but they had no chicken nachos that day and the beef was tough or hard to chew and stringy, catching in my teeth. They again asked me how was the food and I told them, so maybe they will improve? Plus, this time I walked all the way to the back of the long restaurant and out into their patio which is obviously the most popular section. It is beautiful with a cool outdoor Costa Rica mural and a statue of an iguana! Pleasing environment! 🙂 Fun, youthful restaurant! And tourists will like too!
A truck and other equipment partially blocked this view from the corner in the other post. This is a cleaner view, even if taken over a construction fence. 🙂
I’m assuming the sun is representative of the city slogan “Mejor Clima del Mundo” which in English is “Best Weather in the World.” 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
See all photos in gallery: Remodeling Central Park Atenas.
In Sunday’s Tico Times it was announced that Costa Rica’s National Parks located in the less-traveled South Pacific Area will receive the equivalent of $1.7 million USD infrastructure improvements which affects some of my favorite National Parks and Reserves like Marino Ballena, Corcovado, Piedras Blancas, Golfito Wildlife Reserve, and La Amistad International National Parks. I have visited all but La Amistad, the nearly inaccessible wilderness park on both sides of the Costa Rica/Panama border.
This will help tourism in that area and provide basic infrastructure needed with anything from a road or trail to a bathroom. Maybe even make La Amistad accessible to an old man! 🙂 They say this about it: “This protected area is vital for Costa Rica biodiversity and conservation. The rugged terrain and intense jungle make it difficult for tourists to visit. You won’t find convenient amenities there.” I slept 3 nights in the adjacent Bribri Yorkin Indigenous Reserve which is probably as close as I will get to that park.
Below are links to my “Trip Galleries” for parks in this area that are some of my favorites . . .
Continue reading “South Pacific Parks to be Improved”
Though I have mostly recovered from my cancer radiation treatments, I can tell from the quality of photos from this trip compared to the two other trips to Maquenque that I have not fully recovered in energy or creativity, but maybe these five shots will provide at least a glimpse of being in the rainforest here in Costa Rica.
Last February I wrote a blog post titled “Tree by the Pasture” featuring one of my favorite trees, plus it is (was) across the street from my house in a vacant lot beside the houses on the edge of the cow pasture. Well I was quite troubled the other day when I heard a chain saw continuing most of the day Monday and continuing on Tuesday and went over to see what was happening, fearing they would take down that beautiful tree to build another ugly house, which is what they seem to be doing.
Well, below are my photos of the following 2 days of their chainsaw massacre. Will they leave the ugly stub or eventually level it?
Continue reading “Chainsaw Massacre Across the Street”
The TRIP GALLERY for last week’s Waterfalls Day Trip is completed and I’m now focused on my middle of February trip for a 3rd stay in one of the Treehouses of Maquenque Eco-Lodge & Reserve in Boca Tapada. Click the gallery image below or go to: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2022-January-19-Waterfalls-Day-Trip
¡Pura Vida!