Category: Places

Posted on

Church Group Cancels & I Add Monteverde!

Anytime you are dealing with groups of people there are complications and changes and this happened with the First Baptist Nashville group that were coming back to Atenas to work again in the Hogar de Vida Children’s Home this April. Pam told me yesterday that it did not work out, so instead of a week with them I now have scheduled a week in the Quaker town of Monteverde in April and already scheduling guided birding hikes while there.   🙂

IMG_1732-A-WEB
Rare Three-wattled Bellbird I photographed at Selvatura Monteverde in 2016

I limit myself to one birding trip a month and somehow for 2 years now I have not been able to get back to Monteverde where I had only 2.5 days back in 2016 on a Birding Club Trip that I added an extra night to but still did not have enough time for all the reserves and other places for nature. I’ll stay 6 nights this time with my first priorities guided birding hikes in three reserves: Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (or Official Site in English), Santa Elena Reserve (or Official Site in Spanish), and Curi-Cancha Reserve. That’s three days! Then a really good commercial nature reserve there called Selvatura that has the longest canopy hanging-bridges in the country plus a fabulous butterfly garden & hummingbird garden and more! That will be another full day, to which I will then add shorter trips like one of the best night hikes in the country, the excellent Monteverde Butterfly Garden, not to mention the trails and gardens at the Monteverde Lodge & Gardens where I will be staying. A full and fulfilling week!   🙂   So Nashville guys, I will miss you, but not be bored!   🙂

And I change my 2019 Trips Map with #4 (April) moved from Atenas to Monteverde.

Click to enlarge

 

 

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

A Blog-reader Stops By for ZooAve

My Visitor at Zoo Ave

Yes, I actually have some regular readers of my blog and several I have never met, some of whom are contemplating retiring in Costa Rica. One from Texas, a bigger birder than me, has visited several times and is possibly going to move somewhere in Central Valley here next year in retirement, with Atenas one option. One “Retired in Costa Rica” Wannabe from California has been planning a nature photography trip here for months, writing me for advice and with questions. She arrived today with a local flight to the Osa Peninsula in the morning but needed something to do today. I took her to Animal Rescate Zoo Ave in La Garita today with her hotel reasonably close to the airport for her flight out in the morning.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In 2020 this facility has been “rebranded” to eliminate the zoo concept and is now called Rescate Wildlife Rescue Center.

We did not finish our walk through the zoo because her camera battery went dead with her other one left in the hotel, but I got a few photos shown below. Note that 4 of the animals in today’s animal gallery or slideshow below were “wild” or not part of the zoo collection!   🙂

Animal Photos

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

More of My Photos at Zoo Ave

One of many flowers at zoo

Part of a magnificent bamboo grove at Zoo Ave
Posted on

My 2019 Nature Adventures

A different hotel/lodge every month except April when a gang from Nashville come to volunteer in the children’s home here in Atenas. 4 lodges are repeats but such great places they will be totally new experiences! I start this month near the Nicaragua border sleeping 5 nights in a treehouse and from there it is everything from Whale Watching to Tapirs and of course lots of birds! There will be new wildlife this year and also its the year I expect to top 300 bird species that I will have photographed in Costa Rica! What a life!   🙂

And you may wonder why I am planning so far ahead? Well, it was not far enough for some places I wanted to visit, especially for next Christmas when my first two choices were already booked. Costa Rica and its best lodges and hotels are very popular and stay booked more than a year in advance.

The links on the hotel/lodge name is to that hotel’s website, if you are interested. And the map gives the approximate location of each visit this year using the month number for when I visit that spot and listing indicates lodge or national park visited that month.

  1. Maquenque Eco Lodge, Boca Tapada
  2. Doubletree San Jose & Turtle Beach Lodge Tortuguero
  3. Hotel Punta Leona, Jaco Beach
  4. Hogar de Vida Children’s Home, Atenas
  5. Selva Verde Lodge, Sarapiqui  *
  6. Macaw Lodge (Nat Geo), Carara National Park
  7. Xandari Nature Resort, Alajuela  *
  8. Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Caribe (Carnival Week)  *
  9. Cristal Ballena Hotel, Uvita (Whale Watching) Ballena NP
  10. Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin, Rincón de la Vieja National Park
  11. Arenal Observatory Lodge, Arenal Volcano National Park  *
  12. Tapirus Lodge, Braulio Carrillo National Park

*The 4 starred hotels are repeats for me, meaning I really like them!  🙂  And this is what it is like to be Retired in Costa Rica, the name of my blog! Pura vida!

For those who know Costa Rica the map helps understand where I’m traveling this year, my first to not go to Osa Peninsula, as I explore new places.

CLICK MAP TO ENLARGE  
Posted on

Breakfast Flowers

So much is blooming with the beginning of “Dry Season” or our Spring and Summer that as I prepared breakfast this morning I decided to take my camera around the garden for few shots before eating, AND, as maybe God intended, two birds got into the photo areas while I did this. I live in a beautiful garden!   🙂

Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.       ~Song of Songs 2:12  NIV

The Flowers  —  Click to Enlarge

See My Garden Gallery

See All my FLOWER Galleries

The 2 Birds  —  Click to Enlarge

 

See my Costa Rica Birds Gallery

See all my BIRDS Galleries including other countries

 

The Joys of being Retired in Costa Rica!

Posted on

2018 in Review – Photo A Month

One favorite photo from each month of 2018 – And I had trouble picking just one! Thus the header photo above is an extra one from October and the only one here from Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Piedras Blancas National Park, my #1 lodge this year. 

 

January 2018 – My Discovery of Calle Nueva in my own neighborhood!
Calle Nueva Photo Gallery
February 2018 – Visiting Orosi Valley & this Mirador de Ujarras along with Tapanti National Park & more!
Orosi–Tapanti Photo Gallery
March 2018 – Red-eyed Tree Frog, Danta Corcovado Lodge, Corcovado National Park, Los Patos
Danta Corcovado Photo Gallery
April 2018 – A group from First Baptist Nashville on my front porch. They came a volunteers working in the Hogar de Vida Children’s Home for a week. I’m not allowed to show children faces, thus picked this photo.
Hogar de Vida Photo Gallery
May 2018 – Mantled Howler Monkey, just one of many great shots from Arenal Observatory Lodge, Arenal Volcano National Park.
Arenal Observatory Photo Gallery
June 2018 – Golden Collared Manakin at Tranquilo Bay Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama.
Tranquilo Bay Photo Gallery
July 2018 – Xandari Nature Resort, Alajuela for nature hikes, art and spa!
Xandari Photo Gallery
August 2018 – Emerald Toucanet, Soda y Mirador Cinchona, Alajuela Province
Soda y Mirador Cinchona Photo Gallery
September 2018 – 3-Toed Sloth, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica Caribbean.
Banana Azul Puerto Viejo 2018
Banana Azul Puerto Viejo 2017
October 2018 – Keel-billed Toucan on my Terrace for Breakfast, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
All My BIRDS Photo Gallery
Just COSTA RICA BIRDS  Photo Gallery
November 2018 – Snow Egrets’ Ballet, Rancho Humo, Palo Verde National Park on the Tempisque River
Rancho Humo  Photo Gallery
December 2018 – Blue Morpho Butterfly, Si como No Resort, Manuel Antonio National Park & Quepos
Si Como No Resort  Photo Gallery

Wow! This was too hard to do! My very best photos were probably all in 3 or 4 months, so I will try something different next year, like maybe my top 5 or so favorite photos. I think I will also try to rank the hotels/lodges/parks I visited this year.

Ranking My Top 7 Lodges in 2018

I rank for all aspects of the lodge for a birder and/or nature lover, not necessarily in this order: number of birds and other wildlife seen, quality of guides, quality of overall service, restfulness of room, quality meals, overall ecology consciousness and sometimes the extra services, depending on the place and situation. My 2018 Top 7 lodges and hotels in order of my preference or enjoyment:

  1. Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Piedras Blancas National Park, north of Golfito
  2. Danta Corcovado Lodge, Corcovado National Park, Los Patos Ranger Station
  3. Arenal Observatory Lodge, Arenal Volcano National Park, inside the park
  4. Rancho Humo, Palo Verde National Park in Guanacaste
  5. Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo
  6. Tranquilo Bay, Bocas del Toro, Panama
  7. Xandari Nature Resort, Alajuela

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Manuel Antonio Flowers

Everywhere I go in Costa Rica I’m captivated by the flowers! Here’s a few from my recent visit to Manuel Antonio, park, hotel grounds, and other locations, Click an image to enlarge it or start a manual slideshow:


Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.

~Gerard De Nerval

See My Manuel Antonio Trip Gallery

-o-

NOTE TO OTHER WP BLOGGERS : This is my first post with the new WP5 Editing Software called “Guttenberg.” For now I’m staying with the Theme “Twenty Seventeen” which means my pages still look about the same. Their new recommended default Theme is called “Twenty Nineteen” and designed for the new editor, but does not have the right column I’m used to, so debating over that change, but may try it. The biggest difference on this post now is that the “Quotation Block” looks different and is very nice though it doesn’t seem to allow color typeface like I was using with dark red. But I like the softer quote look. And the “Button” to click for a link to my gallery (or other places) is new and I like that very much. All our different worlds are constantly changing! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Wonderful Weather

IMG_9607 -Blog-WEBOne reason for choosing the “Central Valley” area to live in my retirement in Costa Rica was the weather and more specifically Atenas is the weather, which averages around 72° year around and a National Geographic article writer once stated that Atenas has “the best weather in the world.” Thus on the back of all our buses is the slogan: “Viste Atenas – Mejor Clima del Mundo.” (Visit Atenas – Best Weather in the World)  No one here has air conditioner or heater in their house! I sleep under just a sheet or one blanket with all my windows open, year around. Header photo is view from my house terrace. 

For example, today’s AccuWeather forecast has Atenas with a high of 79° and low of 64°:  https://www.accuweather.com/en/cr/atenas/111860/weather-forecast/111860     I formatted it for U.S. English and Farenheit temps but if it comes up Spanish and Centigrade you can change at top of page. Compare that to the U.S. weather forecast! (Rain, snow, ice)  Or here to other expat communities like cold & rainy San Ramon and Grecia or hot & humid coastal areas or smoggy San Jose .

I enjoyed visiting the ocean Christmas Week, but would not want to live there because it is very hot and humid year around. But some prefer that. And most expats who move to the coast have air conditioning in their house, a big additional expense, year around! Plus generally everything else is much more expensive there (think tourist prices) AND they are further away from the best medical care and the best shopping options.

Christopher Howard today posted on his “Live in Costa Rica” Blog an article that says even more than this about the weather here:

ONE OF THE BEST REASONS TO RETIRE OR RELOCATE TO COSTA RICA IS ITS INCREDIBLE WEATHER

¡Pura Vida!