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| Rain dripping off my Guarumo or Cecropia Tree |
I’m experiencing a wonderful afternoon rain as I post this. After a sunny morning.
See also my photo galleries on:
Tropical Blossom Haiku
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| In My Home Garden Atenas, Costa Rica |
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INTERESTING NEWS FROM COSTA RICA:
Environmental agency orders suspension of pineapple farming project
which means that the American imperialists (Del Monte) cannot destroy any more of our wetlands and forests. Yay! I’m glad that the government here is defending our environment. This particular case is on the Osa Peninsula near Corcovado where I just traveled. Costa Rica is recognized internationally for protecting its land and environment and has 25% of the land set aside as national parks or reserves. And don’t feel sorry for Del Monte. There is plenty of legal land they can build pineapple farms on with plenty of cheap labor to make them rich!
which means that the American imperialists (Del Monte) cannot destroy any more of our wetlands and forests. Yay! I’m glad that the government here is defending our environment. This particular case is on the Osa Peninsula near Corcovado where I just traveled. Costa Rica is recognized internationally for protecting its land and environment and has 25% of the land set aside as national parks or reserves. And don’t feel sorry for Del Monte. There is plenty of legal land they can build pineapple farms on with plenty of cheap labor to make them rich!
The Dollar is at its highest value in Costa Rica right now, meaning a good time for U.S. people to visit or vacation or buy property here when you get more colones for the dollar, as much as C581 this article says. It had been at around 530 for a long time which was good, but this is better! 🙂 Best in the last 7 years says the article!
Maracas are Flourishing!
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| Maraca Plant or Shampoo Ginger My Garden, Atenas, Costa As always: Click Image to Enlarge |
I had the gardeners clean out my garden today, cutting back the plumbago which was taking over everything like a plant-eating monster and this is part of what was opened up. New surprises every day in a garden! And I used to be happy with one or two of these flowers! 20+ now! This sure is different from gardening in Tennessee! 🙂
See also My Garden Photo Gallery or the bigger FLORA & FORESTS gallery
Blue-Gray Tanager Haiku
Farewell Aguila & Links to Articles About Me :-)
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| About noon I take boat from here to “wet landing” (barefoot through surf) in the little village of Drake Bay. Then a taxi with a Canadian family who were in another hotel, going to the Drake Bay Airport (photos below). Then less than an hour flight to San Jose Airport in Alajuela and my personal taxi prescheduled to take me home where I ordered pizza delivered, started laundry and a few other chores before collapsing! |
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| Drake Bay Airport Terminal, Ticket Office & Gift Shop Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| Bording Gate, complete with attendant & fire extinguisher! Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| Drake Bay Airport Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| The Thrill of the Cockpit Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| Goodbye Drake Bay, a bay off the Pacific Ocean at Corcovado Park Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| Crossing the Mountains to San Jose in 45 minutes! (All day on bus) Talamanca Mountains, Costa Rica |
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| Main Terminal, San Jose Airport – But Sansa has its own little terminal. Alajuela, Costa Rica |
My TRIPS Photo Gallery on this Drake Bay Trip
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TWO WEB ARTICLES ABOUT MY PHOTOGRAPHY HOBBY & LATEST BOOK:
Enchanting Costa Rica, a tourism promotion website
And a reprint of the same article on a real estate website:
Atenas Real Estate for Pure Life Development
Pre-parade Dancing is Most Colorful!
In some ways this was my favorite part of the parade today because it was so colorful and new! We did not have this during the last two years’ parades. I love latin music and dance and the color! Nice!
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| Music is the best cure for a sorrowing mind. Latin Proverb |
2017 Atenas Oxcart Parade
Just a sample of nearly 300 cart entries:
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| Most cart are filled with family members! Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Errrrrr, hmmmmm, son, this is an oxcart parade! Kids pushing their limits everywhere! 🙂 And here, people just say “¡Pura Vida!” |
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| And the line goes on and on! Three years of these and I’ve had enough, leaving early for lunch! They used to all be so unique, now they all look the same! 🙂 |
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| Hey! You need to get in the spirit of the parade! Cowboy hats and belts! |
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| As with all fiestas here, the Central Park is filled with venders selling everything from food to arts & crafts and even kitchen utensils! I had a caramel-filled churro and a Churchill to drink. See below. |
Costa Rica Churchill, is sort of a drink and a dessert found in lots of fiestas across the country, but mainly associated with Punterenas, the port city on the Pacific. Click the title to read an article about them and started in my birth year, 1940. Mine here was a little different than the one he describes. It was about 1/3 vanilla ice cream, 1/3 red snow cone (strawberry I think), and 1/3 canned fruit cocktail, not the fresh fruit in the article. Needless to say, Ticos love sugar! Me too! Like, would you ever find a churro in Mexico that is relleno with caramel? Costa Rica is just a sweeter place! 🙂
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| And little town kiddie thrills! A bouncy house too! |
Blog Post on 2016 Atenas Oxcart Parade some of my favorite photos made last year
Blog Post on 2015 Atenas Oxcart Parade
Photo gallery of past oxcart parades in Atenas
This Morning in the Garden
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| White-winged Dove In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Blue-gray Tanager In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
One of my favorite things to do is to sleep until I wake up, shower, eat a liesurely breakfast on my terrace admiring flowers and the visiting birds. So, after a busy, early, hard day hiking yesterday, I had one of my relaxed mornings today (23rd) and recorded part of it in the above photos. There were other birds and more flowers, but this is a good sample for today.
Enjoying Retirement in Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
Seeing Costa Rica from Atenas
If you are going to stay in Atenas awhile or live here and want to see the sights of Costa Rica from this central location, I personally recommend Walter’s Day Tours and hope you will give him a consideration if living or visiting here. And if you want to stay several nights in a particular location, he can get you there and back again and you avoid the scary option of driving in Costa Rica! 🙂 He is not the cheapest transportation, but you really don’t want that! He is the best! And he is even a licensed pilot if you want to fly somewhere, though local commercial flights are good here. Click his name above for his website and contact him if interested. And pardon a little advertising for a friend.
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| Shot of his brochure. |
For more info go to:
Walter’s Tours Website
And Coming in 2020: Discovery Costa Rica, a billion dollar “discovery park” that a chain of international parks is bringing to the Guanecaste or northwest area of Costa Rica near the airport town of Liberia. Their last one just opened in China. I am not excited, since it sounds like a big amusement park trying to take advantage of the nature and adventure of Costa Rica. What next? A Disneyland Costa Rica? This kind of commercialization is what I don’t like about some of Guanecaste I’ve seen, like Tamarindo and unfortuately it is also taking over the wonderful national park Manuel Antonio on the central Pacific, like Gatlinburg and Cherokee ruined the Great Smoky Mountains Park in the states. Oh well . . . progress! It was bound to happen! And I should reserve my judgement, they might really make it ecological, though I doubt it. 🙂
My House Location
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| My House Location (Red arrow) The big orange roof above & to left is my landlord from Montreal. Little orange to right & down is Anthony of Indiana. Big gray house is Richard from England. Towards mountains is downtown Atenas, white church steeple seen, top center-right. I walk this whole valley almost daily, one great advantage of not owning a car! Life in a rural small town. Pura vida! |
Note that it is the end of dry season which is therefore the wildfire season, But we are starting to get some rain. Had a shower early this evening. Happy days are here again! (Rainy Season! May-Nov.)
Note to my relatives in Warren, Arkansas (Where I was born): Atenas is the same size town as Warren with about the same population (6,000 +/-), farming community, county seat, 4 supermarkets, 2 or 3 hardware stores, and only small shops for other needs with a 45 minute drive to Alajuela or hour drive to San Jose for big shopping and hospitals. Small towns are a lot alike around the world! Though we have a different kind of immigrants here than does Warren. Never thought I would be an immigrant in a small farm town! Life is full of surprises! And I did not consciously have this in mine when I chose Atenas.
See my photo gallery of Public Art & Graffiti in Atenas
Or the general gallery on Atenas, or Walking in Atenas (flowers/trees),
Or the People & Fiestas of Atenas
Or the general gallery on Atenas, or Walking in Atenas (flowers/trees),
Or the People & Fiestas of Atenas