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Alongside the Beach Road by the hotel proved to be better for butterflies than birds, though I got several of each! 🙂 Here’s 20 different species, and maybe 3 to 5 are “lifers” or first time seen butterflies – my new passion with the slow-down of birds here.
¡Pura Vida!
Cloudy & stormy in the east and I ‘m leaving early for Gandoca-Manzanillo. But I caught a little color.
¡Pura Vida!
Not a spectacular sunrise this morning, but lots of activity! 🙂
Here’s activity shots of 3 birds and 3 people . . .
I photographed many butterflies today and still haven’t processed all the photos, so I decided to feature just this one colorful and ragged fellow. You can read about them on Butterflies and Moths and see a map there of where they have been seen or look at my collection in the gallery: Tropical Buckeye. Here’s three photos from today’s walk.
This morning it went from blue & yellow to gray & pink and then to a bright orange & yellow! All while talking to a new friend from North Carolina who is thinking about retirement in Costa Rica. 🙂 Nice morning!
¡Pura Vida!
And my gallery: VISTAS, BEACHES, SUNRISES, SUNSETS Costa Rica
I’m seeing a lot more birds here than at home these days and I got photos of only one butterfly today here at the hotel. 🙂 The butterfly garden I was to visit has closed – not enough tourists! Much of tourism has been similarly hurt by the two-year pandemic. So I explored more around here and pleased with all my several bird shots, but especially these two, one of which is a “lifer” or first-time seen bird for me, the Brown Noddy, a rare seabird on the hotel beach. And though I’ve seen lots of Common Black Hawks, I’m particularly pleased with this shot and some other similar shots before he flew off. They don’t always pose for you like this! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
I now have a new Brown Noddy Gallery with some more shots in it! 🙂
And my Common Black Hawk Gallery is growing! 🙂
I arrived later that usual, in the afternoon, and was personally greeted by the manager at my taxi and he carried my luggage in himself! 🙂 I gave him his gift photo book for this year and he treated me to a steak dinner tonight. Wow! Being nice pays off in more ways than one! 🙂
Caribe Fun Tours got their photo book gift also and have arranged a driver to the new Butterfly Garden in Cahuita (their first request) where I will be their first to report back on it, plus I will also take a walk in Cahuita National Park after the butterfly house, which is nearby. They are also finding me a guide for Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge which is wilder and less visited than Cahuita with more wildlife. The only other place I may visit is a nearby organic farm and botanical gardens for the butterflies I remember seeing last time I was there. Otherwise I stay around this friendly hotel and their rainforest beach road looking for things to photograph! I’ve already seen more birds than I’ve been having at home and I’m very relaxed, having gotten the best relaxation massage in Costa Rica! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Most years in September I make a week relaxation adventure in the “Caribe South” which refers to the southern half of the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica around Puerto Viejo de Talamanca and the smaller town of Manzanillo where I explore two national parks/refuges (Cahuita & Gandoca-Manzanillo) for birds, butterflies, monkeys, sloths and other nature, visit some of the Bribri indigenous villages, botanical gardens, and maybe this year a new butterfly garden (if my tour people say it is okay). 🙂
And not to ignore the northern Caribbean side of Costa Rica or Limón Province; that’s where the provincial capital and port city of Limón is located and then above that a favorite national park, Tortuguero, which I hope to return to in 2023! It’s “The Amazon of Costa Rica” or a river and beach based jungle rainforest full of incredible wildlife and other nature! I can’t wait to get back there! 🙂 So much to see and do here!
But this trip is mostly relaxing in the beachside Hotel Banana Azul, walking a forested beachside road (for sloths, birds, butterflies) and walks or just relaxation on the beach (I don’t swim or surf in the ocean anymore) and this is the only place I’ve found that gives a “Relaxation Massage” that is actually relaxing. 🙂 So it is my only get-a-way that is not totally inside a dense rain or cloud forest (though Cahuita & Gandoca-Manzanillo are dense rainforests), yet still nature-centered and very relaxing. I missed it in 2020 due to Covid and no flights there, but here’s a couple of photos from last year’s post-cancer retreat in the “Howler Suite” or Room #1. 🙂
And just one more of the many things I look forward to each year that I’m “Retired in Costa Rica,” from rainforest and cloud forest photo trips to cultural activities and enjoying my little flower garden in Atenas! I have achieved my idea of pure life in paradise! And this December I will celebrate 8 years of living here! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
And that linked title takes you to this week’s Tico Times article about a community-wide band and dance team from Zarcero which will represent Costa Rica a second time in the Rose Parade, Pasadena, California.
Zarcero is a town (called pueblo here) that is a little smaller than Atenas and north of us. It is known for topiaries in their Central Park, cheese-making and this large and professional community band of all ages. If you are one of those Americans who always watch the Rose Parade on TV, be sure to watch for the Costa Rica band! 🙂
More photo views of “My Costa Rica” in
🙂
Because I wasn’t running around on my usual side-trips this past week (in my over-80 slow mode now) 🙂 I got started on and have now finished the “CR TRIP GALLERY” for this 2021 Banana Azul Caribe South week (link is to the gallery).
There’s a lot more to photograph when not leaving a hotel than I thought. Now granted, there are fewer photos of birds and other wildlife and none from national parks, wildlife refuges, waterfalls, indigenous reserves, or wildlife rescue centers (all of which I’ve “toured” from this very hotel in the past). This week became my “quiet mode” focus. I just stayed put and photographed the little things in nature all around me on the hotel grounds, plus some fun shots from the small plane flight there! There are 9 sub-galleries! 🙂 Just click the first page of the gallery below and ENJOY! 🙂
“Photography is an austere and blazing poetry of the real.”
– Ansel Adams
¡Pura Vida!
And if you are interested in some of those great “side-trips” I’ve made from this same hotel, check out the galleries from other trips to South Caribe:
Continue reading “TRIP GALLERY is Ready”