Category: Costa Rica

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Little Theater in San Jose

Frank Z had better photos than me, so I’m leading with his!
I know! I’m always talking! And usually on the front row!
Frank capture part of the group very well.
There is another smaller wing of seating.
Little Theater, San Jose

For more photos, see my Little Theater photo gallery.
The play this time was actually 4 monologues titled “True Reflections” written by British Playwright Alan Bennett and acted by 4 professional actresses from England living here. They covered 4 serious subjects about aging with both seriousness and that subtle British humor. Very well done as they dealt with alzheimer’s, death of spouse, change in living situation, and a sort of an affair. 
This was my 3rd time to see one of the Little Theater plays and all have been exceptionally well done or very professional. It is one of the regular “trips” for our Atenas expat’s group. 
Retired in Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
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Costa Rica Pineapples

Display of Pineapples in Supermarket in Centro Atenas
Priced at ₡374 a kilo which in dollars today is about 65¢
Atenas, Costa Rica

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Buyers of Costa Rican Pineapples Can Understand How Producers Are Handling Environmental Impact

The Costa Rica Star online English-language newspaper
How Costa Rica farmers are working to avoid deforestation that plagues the industry around the world. Each farm is given a rating by the United Nations to guide wholesale buyers in their environmental impact. Important!

Fast Facts About Sustainable Pineapple Production in Costa Rica    United Nations

Pineapple Production in Costa Rica Provides Over 30,000 Jobs   The Costa Rica Star

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And since most of our pineapples are grown on the Caribbean side of the country, I’ll add this article about their airport that I use some:
Airport in Limon, Costa Rica Will Receive an Investment of Over $2.6 million  The Costa Rica Star online English-language newspaper
Basically this means a larger terminal building on the beach-side landing strip. They already have an indoor terminal, but tiny with little more than a waiting room and restrooms. Hopefully this will encourage the tourism on the caribbean side of the country that I like to visit at least once a year.
Here is my photo gallery of Small Plane Flight to Limon last September for my stay at Banana Azul. And here are my photo of the current Limon Airport Terminal: 
The current terminal at 
Limon Airport, Costa Rica
I photographed last September.

And the current landing strip on the beach
Yeah,that blacktop road is the landing strip.
Limon Airport, Costa Rica
For more of my photos of Costa Rica see galleries: Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA
-o-
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Tarcoles River The Place

Nice Trees and Plants Along the River
from mangroves to forests and plains
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Surrounded by Mountains and the Pacific Ocean
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Tarcoles Teens Headed for School at 7:30 AM
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Welcome to Our Tour Boat
Jungle Crocodile Safari
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

A Fishing Village, Thus Boats Everywhere! 
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Mangrove Trees
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Lone Boat Anchored in Mouth of River
That’s ocean waves just beyond the boat.
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Why do I want to photograph every boat I see?
Low tide on a tidal river close to its mouth
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Other Tour Boats Going Out
You have several choices, but ours is the best for birding.
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Our Guide Explaining Something to John
Like me, he talks with his hands 🙂
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica
Just being on the river is a great nature experience even if you did not see a single bird! And the little village is an interesting place too. See some of my past village shots.
And the Trip Gallery for this is called 2018-February-27–Tarcoles River Trip
For all of my BIRDS photos. that gallery or 
Link to the Google Map Location of Tarcoles & our Jungle Crocodile Safari
My other trips on TARCOLES RIVER 
and their photos (all different!): 
2016 December:   

2015 July:   

2015 March:   

2015 February:   
2011 May Cruise Ship Excursion:
And a sub-gallery for all the birds
Yeh, I kind of like it! And have been here more than any other place birding in Costa Rica. 
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More Birds from Tarcoles River

The balance of bird photos I will share here from yesterday’s visit to Tarcoles River: 
Wood Stork
 Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

White Ibis 
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Yellow-crowned Night Heron  
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Boat-billed Heron 
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Roseate Spoonbill  
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Panama Flycatcher 
 Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Great Blue Heron  
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Lesser Nighthawk
 Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Common Black Hawk  
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Green Kingfisher female  
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

 Yellow Warbler 
 Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Mangrove Cuckoo  
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Tropical Kingbird  
Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

This two days of about 20 bird photos are with thanks to the boat facility we used, Jungle Crocodile Safari, my favorite because they emphasis the birds rather than the crocs! I recommend them if in the Jaco area or west-central Costa Rica. And it was only 20 photos, but we saw more like 30 species! I simply cannot get a useable photo of all birds seen on any of my trips!

¡Pura Vida!


See also my BIRDS Photo Gallery

And tonight I will be setting up a new “Trip Gallery” on this Tarcoles River trip at:
2018-February-27–Tarcoles River

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ICE Builds Handicap Accessible Trail at Manuel Antonio National Park.
Online article in English about a new elevated trail in the Mangrove area of park that is wheelchair accessible and all signs include braille for the blind. This is real progress for Costa Rica since most of our tourist activities are not handicap accessible. 

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Sleet or Hail – In Costa Rica !?

Sleet or Hail !
The fact that it was raining a second afternoon in a row is amazing in February!
But ICE is unheard of in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, at any time! (only at tops of a few high mountains)
I increased the contrast of photo a little – all the white spots are bits of ice – sleet or hail. (cell phone photo)
Ticos were trying to photograph something they had never seen before! It melted fast!
Atenas, Costa Rica

Okay, so you have had some strange weather in the states too! Weather seems to be out of the ordinary everywhere in the world now. And there are still people who don’t believe in climate change or global warming. Wow! Saturday and Sunday afternoon were the first two rains we have had in this calendar year, unusual even without the ice! It is Dry Season here! Shocked tourists?

I was eating a late lunch of fish at Colinas del Sol Hotel Restaurant near my house when it started raining with the first minute or so including ice. Above shot on concrete sidewalk outside restaurant.
¡Pura Vida!


5.2 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Costa Rica This Monday Morning  This was way down south where I will be in two weeks, near Puerto Jimenez and Corcovado National Park. We did have a smaller tremor in Atenas Saturday which strangely I did not feel but “heard!” Mejor clima del mundo?  🙂


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Walking Over my “Jungle Hill” This Morning

I love walking by the gardens of my neighbors
Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

Lots of flowers are always blooming, like this Bougainvillea
Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica 

This morning a toucan flew into that top tree
Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

I got as close as I could and zoomed in with only my cell phone camera
Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
Yellow-throated Toucan
I then cropped in further at home and mainly have just a silhouette, oh well.
My 300mm lens would have done better, but always hard as they usually stay high in the trees.
Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

A view of central Atenas from above a different house than I’ve shown before (125).
Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

And another neighbor house on top of hill I don’t think I’ve shown before.
Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
Before I moved to Costa Rica, I said that I would never live in a rich gated community, so I need to be careful about using that word “never” since after 4 months of searching for a rental house I could afford that also met my needs, this is where I found it! And since most of these big mansions have “casitas” (“little houses” like mine) that they rent out or use for “mother-in-law cottages” or servants, I am certainly not alone living among the rich as a renter and 40% of the owners here are Ticos, so not just all foreigners. Plus it is the only really nice development like this within easy walking distance of Central Atenas; in fact most realtors say Roca Verde is in “Central Atenas” (loosely defined). 
With the Atenas public water system having many shutdown problems and unfulfilled promises from politicians, we are fortunate to have our own water system within Roca Verde that is almost never down, and if that is not enough, my landlord has his own private well and pump right here on our lot!  🙂  That is a bigger deal here than it may sound! I always have good water and good pressure. 
My landlord is one of the best and even though he has this property for sale, it hasn’t sold yet and that can take years here! A German man visited 2 days ago as a prospective buyer and assured me I could continue renting at the same price if he becomes my new landlord. I am not worried. My landlord, Jean-Luc, was also the developer of all of Roca Verde and with his partner in charge of the development maintenance, etc. until this year when a new homeowners’ association took over and they seem to be doing a good job so far and have even increased the security of the property. If you drive in the front gate to visit me, expect to show your ID and have your trunk inspected upon leaving and they may even call me to verify that you are really coming to see me. Interesting. 
I think I have already shared reasons for choosing the “Central Valley” as my place to live, like medical and shopping proximity, plus from here I can easily travel on my many adventures to parks and forests all over Costa Rica and further into Central America. And it will be easy to expand my travels into South America later. As “the next best place to heaven,” Costa Rica is the perfect place for me to live the final years of my life before the real heaven. ¡Perfecto!


¡Pura Vida!

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The Great Kiskadee Sings in a Good Rain!

Great Kiskadee
He was singling loudly on the edge of my terrace today before the rain started.
Sorry that it was shot through both glass and screen of my sliding glass door.
When I opened it, he flew away!
He sang his loudest just before we got a very unusual big February rain!
Atenas, Costa Rica
To hear what his song sounds like (hint: his name), click on the below reference and a button there that says “Listen” to hear him sing: 
And see more in my photo gallery BIRDS
¡Pura Vida!

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The Allure of Beaches

A Sample of My Beach Photos and Why I Don’t Live on a Beach . . .
My Beachside Hammock View
Manzanillo Beach, Costa Rica

Flying Over Many Beautiful Beaches
Tambor Bay, Costa Rica

Manuel Antonio Park Beach
Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

Corcovado South Beach
Corcovado National Park, Carate, Costa Rica

Hermosa Beach
Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Manzanillo Beach
South Caribbean, Costa Rica

Surfer
Manuel Antonio Public Beach, Costa Rica

Barefoot Beach Soccer
Manzanillo Beach, Costa Rica

Sunrise
Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Caribe South, Costa Rica

Ohhhhhh, this was difficult to choose, even as samples! There is that camping on the beach shot or the birders hiking up Corcovado Beach I wanted to include, and those horses in the evening fog along another beach, and the long slim Flamingo Beach or the couple picnicking under a tree on a beach! Though I do not swim in the ocean (I consider it dirty) and don’t surf or even boat much, I love to go to the beach and the photo ops are simply unlimited! I love photographing beaches!

Because it is hot and humid most of the time on the beach and the cost of living higher than Central Valley where I live, I am not likely to move to the beach, though never say “never!” Also most of the best medical services are in the Central Valley which is important for an old man!  🙂

But I will continue to make visits to both coasts as I just did for Christmas at Tambor Bay on the Pacific. This June I will be on an island in the Caribbean of Panama at Boca del Toro. In September I do a repeat stay at Banana Azul Hotel in Puerto Viejo, South Caribbean, and for Christmas this year I will spend a week at Si Como No Resort & Wildlife Refuge on the Pacific Coast at Manuel Antonio. Most of my in-between trips are to the mountains which I love equally well but find too cold much of the time for living, thus between trips I live in the perfect weather of 70’s farenheit in the central valley, the best of all worlds!

My two beaches photo galleries:  Caribbean Beaches  and  Pacific Beaches

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FOR YOU BEACH LOVERS (Read The Costa Rica Star newspaper articles):

One Costa Rican Beach Ranks Among Top 25 Beaches in the World
This is a little-known, seldom visited beach in our South Caribbean near Manzanillo where I have stayed, Punta Uva. It doesn’t get the attention (or advertising that Manuel Antonio or Guanacaste beaches, but I loved the beautiful nearby Manzanillo Beach and will try Punta Uva eventually.

As with most of the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, the hotels at Punta Uva are small and basic in the midst of nature.   (NOTE: This ranking of beaches is done each year by TripAdvisor based mostly on tourist rankings and certainly not scientific! Last year they included our Manuel Antonio Beach on this list.) Someday I will try visiting this beach,

Planet Hollywood Beach Resort to Open in Costa Rica Fall of 2018

This will be one of those all-inclusive expensive resorts where they entice you to never leave their hotel property and all activities are available says Travel Weekly magazine. It will be like some of the other all-inclusive Marriott’s, Hilton’s, and Barcelo’s in Costa Rica, with the theme of movies and movie stars whom they entice to visit there (part owners). More like going to Disney World! And another way American big businesses are making money off Costa Rica. And what some Americans want here!

We already have some Hard Rock Cafes here and I they are opening a beach hotel in Guanacaste sometime this year. These kinds of hotels are mostly on the northwest coast of Costa Rica in the Guanacaste desert or driest part of the country where you have to go further from the beach to see much else. A lot of Californians come down to stay on the beaches, flying into Liberia.

There is even talk of a big amusement park and there is already an automatron dinosaur park near Liberia. It is not my favorite part of the country, though there are still some more national parks I want to see in that area.

¡Pura Vida!


And Celebrate with Me! My Income Tax was filed & accepted today! Paid in full. 

Though it is disgusting how much tax I have to pay for no services from the states other than my SS Check (my money) and the Embassy here that I no longer need now that I’m a resident. And it is embarrassing to admit that I am a U.S. citizen as the whole world laughs at a country that would elect Trump and the NRA-owned Republicans while the most violent gun-toting country in the world watches it’s citizens kill off each other while demanding billions of dollars more for a bigger army to go kill people in other countries. How sad! 

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Aloe Vera Blooming?

Aloe Vera with Bloom
My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

This particular aloe plant was one of only 2 or 3 plants in my garden when I moved into this house 3 years ago this April. When I planted my big garden I moved this into a big pot, first on my terrace and then here at the end of the sidewalk of my wrap-around garden, the punctuation mark if you please! First the pot was here, then it outgrew the pot and I placed it in the ground and so maybe that is why it is blooming; it likes the ground better than a pot? Or it drains better and they do prefer dry soil. Anyway, I thought this was interesting because I have had aloe plants most of my adult life in TX, TN & FL and this is the first I have seen bloom! Reminds me of a cactus bloom and it may be a type of cactus. Of course it is also important to me as part of my medicine cabinet, my source of treatment of all burns, both physical and sunburn. There is nothing better on the market! And I have another aloe plant not quite this big, plus this one is growing babies! Stop by for a baby aloe!


an interesting article in

Joy Us garden

garden. create. make the world a more beautiful place.

¡Pura Vida!