Category: Places

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Chisos Banded Skipper

My Central America Butterfly book has 119 pages of Skippers, some barely differentiated by the size or shape of a dot or dash on the wing, meaning that I am seldom 100% sure of my identifications and I have a whole folder of photos labeled unidentified skippers and another of unidentified other butterflies, but this is the closest match in the book and online plus I’ve photographed him before in my garden and given this same ID, so I will stick with it or be consistent! 🙂 See all my butterfly photos in CR Butterflies Gallery OR more of my photos of this Chisos Banded Skipper.

This is my last post from home before going to Bajos del Toro (Reviews of town and area on Go Visit CR site, My Tan Feet an expat couple’s folksy site and travel site Anywhere Costa Rica) & where I stay at El Silencio Lodge tomorrow, when/where I hope to post something from there tomorrow night and at least once a day during this week. The nature adventures continue! 🙂

In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful. –Alice Walker

¡Pura Vida!

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More Waterfalls Next Week

After my love of birds & butterflies it just might be waterfalls next for me! I love to see and photograph them and there are oh so many in costa Rica! The above Feature Photo is mine of the San Fernando Waterfall in Cinchona, Alajuela Province which is kind of similar to the Bajos del Toro Waterfall I will see next week along with a bunch more.

And if you like waterfalls too, see my Costa Rica Waterfalls Gallery with 38 waterfalls I’ve already seen and photographed here! And that gallery’s about to grow! 🙂

I’m quite excited about wandering north of here about an hour’s drive for the mountains, the falls, and what has been called a luxury lodge by my fellow-traveler doctor friend – we will see! I’m staying at the El Silencio Lodge that has 7 waterfalls on its own property (4 just for repelling which I will not do! but maybe photograph) plus it’s located near several other big waterfalls that attract tourists (when we have them) 🙂 but I will get to see without too many other people around – just us local Ticos! 🙂 In addition to the biggest, Del Toro, I plan to photograph Blue Hole Waterfall and a smaller one called Las Gemelas Waterfall. Plus I’ve heard there are several smaller ones near these two. We will see. I’m going with a masked hotel guide.

I may have already told you, but this is a “replacement trip” for my originally scheduled week on the Caribbean Beach, our east coast, at Puerto Viejo, Hotel Banana Azul where I usually go every September (their lowest rain month), but Sansa Air cancelled both my flights and it is too far to go in a public bus now with the virus and too expensive to use my driver. So . . . I postponed it until next September (2021) and by paying ahead got a good discount while helping their current low cash flow. Teamwork! 🙂 Pura vida!

And if you wonder about Coronavirus in such places, see the El Silencio Health Protocol. This is similar to the many things all hotels/lodges in Costa Rica are doing for protection from COVID-19. We have a lot of cases in country now, but mainly in the big cities, especially in San Jose where I never go now, and I feel safe traveling solo in outdoor places like this. Plus I wear both a mask and face shield now everywhere I go outside my house or hotel room. Plus I’m helping the local economy. 🙂

3 of the El Silencio Falls on lodge property that I can hike to on my on, solo!

Or see THIS TRIP GALLERY: 2020 El Silencio Lodge & Reserve. (Link added here after the trip.)

¡Pura Vida!

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The Happy Wanderer

It was my favorite song growing up, or at least while in Boy Scouts and hiking a lot, which we sang as a group then (Boy Scouts love the “Ha, ha, ha, ha” part), now I only sing when alone. 🙂

“The Happy Wanderer” (“Der fröhliche Wanderer” or “Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann”) is a popular song. The original text was written (in German of course) by Florenz Friedrich Sigismund (1791–1877). It was made famous by the Obernkirchen Children’s Choir, in Germany named Schaumburger Märchensänger. ~Wikipedia (for more info) + Lyrics below.

Off and on I threaten to write a biography of just words – stories, feelings, and challenges (unlike my current photo biographies of mostly pictures) and when done I hope to call it “The Happy Wander” which describes much of my life (even during the difficulties) and especially now being Retired in Costa Rica! Tomorrow I will tell you about my next planned wandering – it’s to a new place for me next week, but for now enjoy the lyrics of my favorite song, then go hiking! 🙂

The Happy Wanderer

I love to go a-wandering,
Along the mountain track,
And as I go, I love to sing,
My knapsack on my back.

Chorus:
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra-
Val-de-ri–Val-de ha ha ha ha ha ha
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra.
My knapsack on my back.

I love to wander by the stream
That dances in the sun,
So joyously it calls to me,
“Come! Join my happy song!”

Chorus:
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra-
Val-de-ri–Val-de ha ha ha ha ha ha
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra.
My knapsack on my back.

I wave my hat to all I meet,
And they wave back to me,
And blackbirds call so loud and sweet
From ev’ry green-wood tree.

Chorus:
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra-
Val-de-ri–Val-de ha ha ha ha ha ha
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra.
My knapsack on my back.

High overhead, the skylarks wing,
They never rest at home,
But just like me, they love to sing,
As o’er the world we roam.

Chorus:
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra-
Val-de-ri–Val-de ha ha ha ha ha ha
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra.
My knapsack on my back.

Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die!
Oh may I always laugh and sing
Beneath God’s clear blue sky!

Chorus:
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra-
Val-de-ri–Val-de ha ha ha ha ha ha
Val-de-ri–Val-de-ra.
My knapsack on my back

My Boy Scouts pages tell you when and how my wanderings all began! 🙂 And more walking links on my Hiking & Camping Page.

Photo Galleries of my Costa Rica TRIPS (6+ years of wanderings here)

Photo Galleries of Pre-Costa Rica TENNESSEE Travel (Every state park & lots more)

Photo Galleries of my Pre-Costa Rica WORLDWIDE Travel (17 countries & most U.S. states)

“Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die!
Oh may I always laugh and sing
Beneath God’s clear blue sky!”

🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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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 PocoLoco(1)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.” 

– Thich Nhat Hanh

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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
There could be a closed bud before this but not one today.

“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.”

– Zen Shin

¡Pura vida!

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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!