Category: Atenas

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Crimson Patch & Semana Santa

One is a butterfly and the other maybe the busiest week in Costa Rica.

Crimson Patch Butterfly, Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica – A “Bokeh” Photo!

Crimson Patch Butterfly

This butterfly is one I photographed at Guayabo Lodge last week and my first time for it! I had earlier mistaken a Bordered Patch for this species, but the big difference is the two-toned orange on the underside of wing. 🙂 See my new Crimson Patched Gallery and to compare the two, my older Bordered Patch Gallery. Even though the photo above is of a damaged butterfly, I like that photo better than the next one below because of the better soft background which I just learned yesterday from another blog is called a “Bokeh” photo – “. . . defined as ‘the effect of a soft out-of-focus background that you get when shooting a subject, using a fast lens, at the widest aperture, such as f/2.8 or wider.’ Simply put, bokeh is the pleasing or aesthetic quality of out-of-focus blur in a photograph.” ~nikonusa.com

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A Break in Blogging

Yep! I just went 6 days without blogging which is not my usual habit which is to write posts 3 or 4 days ahead then break from the routine while posts keep coming out. No health problems or catastrophes, “just tired of blogging.” But with another trip coming tomorrow, I’m in the mood and here’s a few nature photos made during this “down time.”

Two Bee or Not Two Bee

I’m still not getting many butterflies in my garden yet other than the fast-moving Yellows that never seem to land for a photo. But here’s two bees in my garden this morning:

Unidentified Bee on Triquitraque
Green Orchid Bee on Porter Weed
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Iguanas Gaining Popularity

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!

Outdoor Patio area of Iguanas Restaurant, Atenas, Costa Rica.
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2nd Life of Triquitraque!

This Triquitraque or Flame Vine on my back wall usually blooms two months: January-February and that’s it! This January it did not have as many blooms, so I gave it a little plant food and started watering it more when wow! it started growing new vines and blooming much more than in January, so now I’m getting a “2nd Life” of it this year for hopefully all of March-April! 🙂 With more blooms! 🙂

Triquitraque or Flame Vine on my back wall, Atenas, Costa Rica.

And some other views . . .

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A Queenly Female Summer Tanager

I was impressed by the “Queenly” look of this female Summer Tanager in my garden the other day. She looks so stately and regal, holding her head up properly like Queen Elizabeth does. I keep seeing these females with no bright red males around. So I’m wondering if maybe she is a resident here and the migrants haven’t arrived yet? But then surely with resident females there would also be some resident males? 🙂

Summer Tanager female, Atenas, Costa Rica

And below she is looking straight at me, like she’s asking me, “Who are you and what do you think you’re doing?” 🙂 . . .

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Wasps at Nest

Last November I did a post on my first “Carton Wasp Nest” in my garden but there were no wasps anywhere around it. Again in December I saw another one in Uvita also with no wasps. The other day, there were a lot of wasps in and out and around my nest here! It is the first time I’ve seen wasps on one. I have no explanation as I know almost nothing about wasps. I just think the shape of this nest is pretty cool!

Carton Wasp Nest with Wasps, Atenas, Costa Rica

And how it looked last November with no wasps around . . .

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Nance for the Birds!

Between my casita and the driveway going to the top of our hill and the big house there is mainly a row of privacy palms, though right at the gate is a little spreading Nance Tree which is now flowering and those flowers will turn to Nance Berries. Different kinds of birds eat them in the different stages, some even now as flowers which are already turning into baby berries. The birds are coming! 🙂

Humans do eat the berries with a taste that’s only “so-so” for me and some people tell me that they make good marmalade or jelly, but doesn’t anything with enough sugar added? 🙂 Yet harvesting enough would be tricky with the competition of birds and some small animals like squirrels and iguanas! 🙂 The joy of living in a garden!

Nance Tree Flowers, Atenas, Costa Rica

And below are three more shots including one of the small tree . . .

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Dinner in a Shipping Container

You have probably heard of people turning a shipping container into a house, but this new restaurant in Atenas, Monsoon, is the first I have visited in a shipping container! 🙂 Actually I didn’t eat in it but on top of it! Their tables and chairs are on a covered patio (common here) and on top of the container as the “upstairs” dining room, which I chose for the view.

Monsoon Restaurant, Atenas, Costa Rica
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Cleaner View of Sun Sculpture

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. 🙂

Sun Sculpture seated between the E & N of ATENAS letters under black plastic.

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.

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Tropical Kingbird

This is another common bird that’s around here year-a-round. Though common, I still love him and still wishing for better light on the birds in my trees! Shot from my terrace at breakfast the other day.

Tropical Kingbird, Atenas, Costa Rica

And there is another shot . . .

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