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.
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:
- Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Piedras Blancas National Park, north of Golfito
- Danta Corcovado Lodge, Corcovado National Park, Los Patos Ranger Station
- Arenal Observatory Lodge, Arenal Volcano National Park, inside the park
- Rancho Humo, Palo Verde National Park in Guanacaste
- Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo
- Tranquilo Bay, Bocas del Toro, Panama
- Xandari Nature Resort, Alajuela
¡Pura Vida!
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
-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!
Wonderful Weather
One 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!
Manuel Antonio-Quepos, THE BOOK
It is finished and is the best summary of my most recent trip which you can thumb through electronically for free in my bookstore or click the cover image below:
“Flagship Hotel” Okay but Not the Best
This morning I left Si Como No Hotel in Manuel Antonio after 6 nights at Christmas time. They call it their “Flagship Hotel” of the Greentique chain of 4 eco-hotels in Costa Rica. Their marketing department or ad agency is doing a fabulous job with websites (which hooked me) and other advertising, but they touted so much that the actual experience was a let down at Si Como No.
I had two other experiences with Greentique which were very positive, so I got here more because of those experiences than their marketing of this location. Back in May 2017 at Drake Bay (link to my photos) I stayed in the Aguila de Osa Hotel (link to hotel site) which was pricey but not as expensive as Manuel Antonio’s Si Como No. I loved Aguila better in every way! I got all the nature tours I wanted and did not here. The room was bigger and better with equal ocean view and the food was so much better there!
Then in November 2017 at Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort (link to my photos) nearer me at San Ramon, I was one of few guests still in the low season and got fabulous service and nature experiences and again much better food! Villa Blanca (link to hotel site) is on an old farm and is a much quieter, relaxed setting than either of the other two, but again I liked it better and felt like it was worth what I paid. Si Como No is way overpriced for what you get!
Now, with all of that said and maybe only the second time for me to be negative (I didn’t like a B&B in Orosi), let me show you some photos of my room and the grounds of this old but nice hotel or you can see my total experience at 2018 Christmas at Si Como No trip photo gallery. And I must say this was maybe my best ocean view anywhere and one of the better sunsets anywhere. Just bad service and food!
My Room at Si Como No
Hotel Grounds at Si Como No
All good hotels tend to lead people to do things they wouldn’t necessarily do at home.
~Andre Balazs
See my Trip Gallery for this 2018 Christmas at Si Como No Hotel
Next to Last Sunset Here
I have really enjoyed the sunsets here from my room and try to be there between 5 & 5:30 every evening when our sun sets here pretty much year around. Tonight I used a real camera instead of the cell phone and it does make a difference I think, though I did not try to make the trees green tonight but let them silhouette into black. That is another difference with more contrast.
See this TRIP GALLERY 2018 December Si Como No.
Birds at Hotel & Park
That’s a Fiery-billed Aracari in above feature photo which is the rarest bird yet for me here, shot from the deck of my room. I’m doing this as a separate birds post from what I will see tomorrow on:
Damas Island Estuary Boat Trip
Discover the complex estuary system of Damas Island. From your covered boat, you’ll wind you way through coastal mangroves for up-close looks at the abundant wildlife, including a variety of sea birds and tropical birds, reptiles, and monkeys. ~from the hotel website Tours descriptions
Note, that even with their own “Wildlife Refuge” at this hotel, I have seen fewer birds here than most of the lodges I visit and in this national park the only bird photo I got was of the stationary Hermit Hummingbird nest. I did see a Kingfisher and Woodrail on the hotel night hike but no photos. I expect my most bird photos tomorrow in the mangroves.
Si Como No Birds:
Birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain.
~Douglas Coupland
I have started my TRIP Gallery for this 2018 December Si Como No trip.
Night Hike
This was last night’s hike at Si Como No Greentique Wildlife Refuge and as with all night hikes, photography was difficult and our conscientious guide would not let us shine lights on sleeping birds or a couple of other animals. I would loved to have gotten a photo of the sleeping Kingfisher and the sleeping Gray-necked Wood Rail. We saw but could not photo a sloth and a Kinkajou (too high in tree & moving). None of these pix are particularly good, but they give an idea of what you see on night hikes all over Costa Rica. Though I think my Red-eyed Tree Frog, Glass Frog, & Bullfrog are pretty good. There were also a lot of insects, especially spiders & scorpions of which I got no useable photos.
Night Hike Slideshow
“I often think that the night is more alive
and more richly colored than the day.”
~Vincent Van Gogh
¡Pura Vida!
See this TRIP GALLERY 2018 December Si Como No.
Manuel Antonio National Park Tour
Yesterday, 23rd, was a full day with tour of the park and the night hike here at hotel wildlife refuge – thus I did not get photos all processed until today, the 24th, the anniversary of me living in Costa Rica four years now.
I think I have said this before in the blog, but I will repeat that Manuel Antonio National Park is the most visited of all 28 or so national parks in Costa Rica and thus generally my least favorite because it is “loved to death” with too many people (think Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the states with the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge mess). My last time here was in 2015 with Kevin Hunter and the park tour was different in that we saw some different animals and probably had a better guide who grew up in the area. We saw squirrel monkeys then which we did not this time nor the parrot snake I photographed on that visit, but otherwise similar. And this time we went to all three beaches in the park, while only going to the one main beach last time.
And this time there are now more trails and a really nice series of bridges or elevated walkways through the mangrove swamp, handicap accessible with braille signs! Though behind the U.S. in handicap accessibility, Costa Rica is moving fast in that direction!
I go mainly for the wildlife, so that is the main slideshow below, but many people come here for the three different beaches inside the park and pay the $16 admission just to spend the day on one of the beaches, so a shot of each of the three beaches is in the second slideshow. Overall, Manuel Antonio is just too “touristy” for me and I have no desire to return here. The hotel with its own wildlife refuge is nice and I love the views from the hillside, but it too is rather “touristy” and overpriced, so I don’t see myself returning here either. But glad I’ve had all these experiences! The Costa Rica tourists see.
Manuel Antonio Wildlife
Beaches of Manuel Antonio
“Adventure is worthwhile.”
-Aesop
See this TRIP GALLERY 2018 December Si Como No.