Central Park Update

Well, everything stopped two weeks before Christmas and seems to have only recently gotten back up to speed with Christmas lights still strung overhead. No hurry! Tranquilo. ¡Pura vida!   🙂

What they seem to be working on mainly now is what I call the “Sitting Walls” along all 8 of the spoke-wheel sidewalks from the center kiosk. By around Christmas or the end of December they finished those walls on the walkway to the church, the feature photo. I’m assuming that the sidewalks will be more brick-pavers like now and as shown in the architect drawings – none started yet.

They are now working on the opposite side of park at the NE corner on the sidewalk with the most slope to the lowest point, thus under which the main storm water drain pipe will flow and has already been installed or buried.

CLICK A PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Looking at the Architect Drawings, I see that some of these “Sitting Walls” will have to have gaps or openings in them to get to the exercise activities, playground areas, picnic tables, etc. I’ll record how that develops!

And the 4 photos above have been added to my Central Park Remodeling Photo Gallery showing the only time line of progress on the park renovations.

¡Pura Vida!

Red-billed Pigeon

A bird I have photographed on several of my trips and here he is in front of my house! For more information on this bird, see Neotropical Birds where you will see that he lives only in Central America & Mexico, not the big city pest the word “pigeon” brings to mind. And for some of my other photos of this bird, including last week at Xandari, see my Costa Rica Red-billed Pigeon Gallery with some better shots than these! Or the whole Costa Rica BIRDS Gallery for sub-galleries of 13 different species of pigeons and doves I’ve photographed here! An interesting & colorful family of birds!

No better way is there to learn to love Nature than to understand Art. It dignifies every flower of the field. And, the boy who sees the thing of beauty which a bird on the wing becomes when transferred to wood or canvas will probably not throw the customary stone.

~Oscar Wilde

¡Pura Vida!

My Windows – My World

As Frank Lloyd Wright said,

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”

And as he created his magnificent houses always integrated with nature – I have tried to create views through all my windows & doors that bring nature in and take me out! I love traveling in the nature places of Costa Rica, but living in nature day to day keeps me going! The luckiest guy in the world!

Look through My Pura Vida Windows on life!

Terrace – My Biggest Window

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Garden Door View

This garden greets me upon every departure and arrival!   🙂

 

Living Room Window

A Strangler Fig Tree – shades from afternoon sun.

 

Kitchen Window

Kitchen view garden.

 

Laundry Room Window

Slope with interesting tree!

 

Office-Guest Room Window

I planted a row of palms for privacy from street

 

Bedroom Window

Pot plant in front of the outside palms.

 

“Dormer windows” above my bed in the jungle!

 

Bathroom Windows

Above sink & toilet – my beautiful hill!

 

I shower in the jungle!

I am Rich in Nature!

 

He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.     ~Socrates

 

For the wealth of nature surrounding me in Costa Rica, see my photo galleries:  “Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA.”

See why I love it here!

¡Pura Vida!

Xandari Scenery

Okay – my last post for Xandari! You may get tired of seeing photos from there, but hopefully they reveal why it is one of my favorite hotels in Costa Rica! I never tire of it and hope to keep going back! And like other great places, the friendliness and helpfulness of the people there is one great reason I may not have mentioned much! And that has nothing to do with my photography library being there – they treat everyone like royalty! I highly recommend Xandari Costa Rica anytime you are here and need a hotel near the airport or better yet for a luxurious nature experience over a longer period of time. You need several days to hike, see, photograph, and do all there is to do in this hotel!

And one of my many reasons for liking it is the beautiful scenery I have grouped here in two categories. As always, click a photo to see it larger and then you can return or take the option to see the photos in that gallery as a manual slide show. Enjoy!

Xandari Vistas

 

 

Xandari Trails & Grounds

And in case you wondered why no flowers here, I did a Xandari Flowers post last week or for those from all my trips there, see the photo gallery Xandari Flowers. 

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”     ~Rachel Carson

¡Pura Vida!

Xandari Costa Rica    (hotel website)

For the photo report on my latest and third trip to Xandari see my CR Trips Gallery 2020 Xandari Nature Resort, AlajuelaNOW READY! And includes for the first time my visit to the Starbucks Alsacia Coffee Farm.:

Photo gallery of my latest visit to Xandari Resort

Or if researching Xandari, see photos from my 2 earlier trips in both galleries and in books:

2019 Xandari Birthday Week Celebration:  GALLERY   –or–   BOOK

2018 July Xandari First Visit:   GALLERY   –or–   BOOK

 

My Xandari Villa

My third time to visit one of the most expensive hotels that I like in Costa Rica gives me a third different and bigger room/villa. I rarely show this many photos of a room, but because it is unique, I decided to this time along with the Art in My Villa, yesterday’s post.

This “room”  is called a “King Junior Suite” meaning just one king size bed in multiple rooms or spaces, a large suite or villa. They call all their rooms villas because most are in separate buildings and all are large.

From the lobby and restaurant main building, you walk through the gardens on a beautiful winding, paved path to the entrance of #5 in this case:

Private Entrance Compound

Kitchenette by front Terrace

 

Living Room

 

Valley-View Terrace

 

Bedroom

 

Bathroom

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Shower behind blue wall overlooking private garden. Toilet in separate room behind me.

This exceptional hotel is just 20 minutes from the San Jose Airport, thus a starting and ending location for many international tourists coming here, like the people I visited with this time from England, Germany, France, Canada and the U.S.

Yet they are immersed in a tropical rainforest with hiking trails, 5 waterfalls on the river, wildlife, both wild and cultivated flowers, a small farm for the kitchen, a wonderful Spa and restaurant. Some things are worth paying more for!   🙂   I do this occasionally here while other times I “rough it” in the wilderness to be closer to nature. I like both experiences! And the way Xandari combines both luxury AND nature! Plus now they house the Charlie Doggett Photography Library!   🙂   That alone makes the visit worthwhile!   🙂

Luxury is attention to detail, originality, exclusivity and above all quality.
~Angelo Bonati

¡Pura Vida!

Xandari Costa Rica

Art in My Villa

Yes, the rooms at Xandari are actually villas or little houses, even for one person! My one-bedroom villa was larger this time and as big as my house in Atenas, with smaller kitchen but everything else bigger – but I will share photos of that tomorrow.

Now, here are some cell phone shots of most of the art displayed in my villa. Most date back to another era of art when the original artist-owners, the Broudy’s (now deceased), built the place. It is kind of a mixture of “folk art,” maybe “hippie art,” woodcraft, stained glass, pottery, and some other styles I can’t label – just unique and colorful and thus, along with the immersion in nature, gives this place its own personality.  And remember, this is just the art in my one room out of thirty-something rooms/villas (many bigger)! Plus art in the gardens & restaurant!   🙂   And I realize that a lot of people today will not like this art, but I find it refreshing & creative!   🙂

One Villa’s ART

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”

~Thomas Merton

Xandari Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Dragonfly & Squirrel

Dragonfly

This dragonfly and squirrel round out my photos of wildlife at Xandari, having already done posts on Birds and Butterflies. The latter giving me 4 new species! Dragonflies seem to interest everyone almost as if magical or “fairy-like” as butterflies, though the larger ones are easier to photograph than these tiny blue ones. See my separate photo galleries for Costa Rica Dragonflies and for Costa Rica Damselflies for more of this magic!

IMG_9526-A-WEB

 

Variegated Squirrel

IMG_9155-A-WEBAnd finally, every man’s pest, the squirrel, in this case the Variegated Squirrel, the most common in Costa Rica. But there are other species of squirrels and I have galleries on 3 of them:

 

An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.

~Martin Buber

 

¡Pura Vida!

Xandari Costa Rica

Xandari Birds

I’ve seen more birds at Xandari in the past, but 15+ is not bad for this close to the city on very windy days! No new birds for me though this second time to photograph a Rose-breasted Grosbeak shows up the “rose” color more than my earlier shots in Monteverde. And I love the way the Yellow-throated Euphonia appears to be hollering at me in the feature photo! 

Otherwise most of these are pretty bad photos which I will blame on the wind and the dense dark forest, making birds most difficult to photograph. The pair of Lesson’s Motmots are more interesting than my usual solo shots of them and that blue tail maybe the best motmot tail yet for me!   🙂

My main reason for going to Xandari this time was to install my “Charlie Doggett Photo Books Library” in the lobby of the hotel for guests from around the world to enjoy and I even got to observe some guests using the books already! Plus I just love this little nature retreat with 5 waterfalls, 4 miles of nature trails, some of the best flower gardens anywhere along with spacious villas for rooms and super-good food and private jacuzzis! A very relaxing retreat again!

Xandari Birds 2020

 

Xandari Nature Resort

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”

― Robert Lynd

¡Pura Vida!

My Costa Rica Birds Gallery

Butterflies

January is not considered the best month for butterflies like June and July but I seem to always see a lot at Xandari and this week is no exception! Only 6 species this time, BUT 4 ARE LIFERS! That is 4 new species I have not photographed before, so not bad!   🙂   Maybe it is the different time of year that gives me new species – whatever, I’m glad! I am now up to 95 butterfly species in Costa Rica! See my CR Butterfly Gallery.

I will try to do a birds at Xandari post tomorrow, my leaving day, or the following day. Just not as many as in the past, being very windy in January!

This Week’s Butterflies

See my Costa Rica Butterfly Gallery

 

Butterflies are God’s confetti, thrown upon the Earth in celebration of His love.     – K. D’Angelo

¡Pura Vida!

Xandari Costa Rica

My Photos in an Art Gallery

One reason I was happy that Xandari would house my library of Photo Books is that the entire hotel is an art gallery with art literally everywhere, inside and outside. It was built by an Artist/Architect and his wife an Art Teacher. In another post I will display the art in my villa this time – different every visit!

The above stained glass window is in the reading room of the lobby and my photo books are on a book shelf at the entrance to that reading room. In earlier Tennessee days I tried to sell photos at art fairs calling them “Nature as Art” which fits this arty nature retreat very well. I’m happy to be a part of Xandari!

 

Today was my very full day with an early morning birding hike with excellent guide Jose and a lovely couple from England, followed by breakfast and a tour of the only Starbucks-owned coffee farm in the world which I will tell you more about later, then an afternoon late lunch, relaxation massage, a desert at dinner time and I’m ready for bed! With lots of photos to process tomorrow, my last full day here.

¡Pura Vida!

Xandari 2018-Enchanted by Nature
Just one of 29 books in the library!
Brilliant Book cover
And the other one about Xandari!  Plus all of my other Costa Rica photo books!

To see all of my Costa Rica Photo books, go to My Bookstore at Blurb where you can preview any of the books for free electronically! Best if viewed in full screen mode of course!   🙂