My morning walk to town Wednesday, like all walks, rejuvenated me. Peaceful!
See also my gallery VISTAS, BEACHES, SUNRISES, SUNSETS CR
“All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
¡Pura Vida!
Peaceful Morning Walk
Garden Walk
Blooms, smiles – Greeting me – Happy!
¡Pura Vida!
See photo gallery More of My Garden or . . .
The Flora & Forest – more Costa Rica flowers
Haiku Clouds
Mountains – Mist, fog, cloud – Shrouding
2 Old Friends on the Walk
The Giant White and Banded Peacock were seen on my last walk.
¡Pura Vida!
Perils of COVID19
I do not know a single person here in Costa Rica who has or has had the Coronavirus or died of it, but I keep seeing death of small businesses. The featured photo is of small shops closed in Alajuela on my trip there today. Typical of all over the country.
And this week I sadly report the permanent closing of one of my two favorite 
restaurants, Poco Loco (“A Little Crazy” in Spanish). He seldom had big crowds, but steady customers until the pandemic came and now there simply is not enough business (even with home delivery & “take-out” orders) to pay the expenses and he has permanently closed much to my dismay.
It was my favorite place for soup and salad (fabulous!) or almost any kind of sandwich as the best in town and he made the best Sangria in Atenas! But no more. Poco Loco is gone due people being afraid to get out of their houses now. My other favorite, Parillada Androvetto (my Friday night steak place), is still hanging on but just barely with one brother supplementing their income driving a taxi. Likewise an old favorite, Donde Bocha, is hanging on and I ate there yesterday. It’s hard for a lot of people right now. But they all keep their spirits high here and continue to say . . .
¡Pura Vida!
“Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.”
El bastón de emperador
Yeah, that’s the Spanish name which I like better than the English name of Torch Ginger – but by either name this morning I noticed that one plant off my terrace had flowers in three stages and I liked that picture of progression. There could actually be an earlier stage with a tighter bud, but not this morning. 🙂
Tropical flowers continue to be a part of the magic of my retiree life in Costa Rica, both in my own gardens surrounding my little rental house and in my travels around the country. Click either above link for more of my flower photos – what a joy to live in paradise! 🙂
Torch Ginger Bud 
Torch Ginger Opening Torch Ginger Fully Opened
“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.”
– Zen Shin
¡Pura vida!
Banded Peacock
As I continue to see more butterflies than birds in my garden, I found this one yesterday morning after breakfast which I haven’t seen in awhile, the Banded Peacock. He is very common all over Costa Rica and I was seeing more in May and June here. I do have better photos than these in my Banded Peacock Gallery, if interested.
And if you like to read more about butterflies, here’s a Wikipedia article: Anartia fatima, Banded Peacock and/or the Butterflies & Moths.org Map shows them mostly in Central America and Mexico.
Remember to CLICK image to see larger:
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
-Maya Angelou
¡Pura Vida!
Common Melwhite?
Or is it another type of White? Yellow? Sulphur? You butterfly enthusiasts, especially in Costa Rica, let me know if you know for sure. It was in my garden in Atenas this morning. The closest match in my Swift Guide is the Common Melwhite (though the yellow-white color placement seems a little different), while the flying photo looks a little bit like the White-angled Sulphur, the yellow is greatly different and it doesn’t have the four brown spots, eliminating that option. For now I’m sticking with Common Melwhite (Melete lycimnia isandra) (Butterflies of America link). Whew! Butterfly ID is hard sometimes! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Breakfast Butterflies
This was yesterday at breakfast and today I will be leaving by noon today for Xandari where I expect a lot of different types of butterflies along with the birds.
I apologize that I cannot give an exact ID on all these guys, but as frequently happens there is not an exact match in my two butterfly books and the Skippers are particularly difficult, but still fun to watch! 🙂 CLICK image to enlarge.
Brown or Teleus Longtail Skipper 
Ridens Skipper Maybe 
Banded Peacock 
Green or Emerald Flasher Giant White 
Unidentified Skipper
Expect some “X-factor” Xandari Nature as Art the next few days! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
2 minute introduction to Xandari, my “Oasis!”
GALLERIES FOR MY 3 PREVIOUS VISITS TO XANDARI:
AND MY TWO PHOTO BOOKS ON XANDARI:
Find out why I like Xandari so much – check out the above video, galleries & books.
Thankful for small blessings!
I had to go to the bank this morning for two items of business and they were really busy because it was closed Monday for Mother’s Day (which was really Saturday but banks and government offices celebrate all holidays on Mondays here now.)
My small blessing is that the banks here have a special line for us old people, “adultos mayores.” There was only one lady ahead of me in that line while the regular line would have meant waiting an hour or more. My little blessing of the day! 🙂 Still took 20 minutes+. They are also slow here! 🙂
And oh yeah, they are now taking your temperature before you can go in the bank in addition to requiring a mask. Taking the virus seriously is paying off here! Masks are required everywhere now, country-wide.
¡Pura Vida!
P.S.
I picked up my “Permanent” Residency card today. more than a year after I turned in the paperwork. It lasts 3 years instead of 2 like the pensionado (not 5 like someone told me) and is supposedly easier to renew. We will see! 🙂