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| Bougainvillea Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Yellow Bells Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Triquitraque Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Once de Abril Atenas, Costa Rica |
And for more flowers, see my Flora & Forest photo galleries! Beauty year around here!
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| Bougainvillea Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Yellow Bells Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Triquitraque Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Once de Abril Atenas, Costa Rica |
As of today ICE (electric company) broke past record of number of days without using any fossil fuels to produce electricity country-wide. Most comes from hydro-electric, then wind, thermal, and solar in that order. We also broke a record on how much wind energy produced so far this year. Read the above linked article in the English online newspaper.
| Atenas as seen from higher up the hill from me in the morning fog. This nice photo was made by Tom & Jessica, here for a couple of months on their trip around the world. See their blog http://www.worldwidewaftage.com/ Like most places you pay more for better view! Of course they zoomed in on the church with camera – they aren’t this close! Atenas, Costa Rica |
BLOG STATS
I have now written more than 1,000 posts that have received more than 100.000 pageviews online from more than 20 countries. I guess there is a lot of random viewing of blogs by some people. 🙂
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| Two Gray-headed Chachalacas in the Guarumo Tree at my Terrace My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica Note that the orange blooming tree is more than 100 yards away on a hill. |
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| Closer view of one Gray-headed Chachalaca My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| The lady I use as my seamstress got a new sign this week. The old one I posted in June is shown below. Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Somehow this old sign seemed to have more “character,” whatever that means! |
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| And a little closer. |
See my photo gallery: Flora & Forest
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| The meat and some vegetables were cooked ahead of time The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| First, some of our Su Espacio class member ground fresh corn to prepare fresh tortillas for our coffee break The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Felix, one of the twin boys from Germany hand-grinding yellow corn The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Cecelia’s family members made these scrumptious corn tortillas which we ate with coffee grown on their farm. Delicioso! The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| All morning people worked on cutting and cleaning banana leaves to later wrap our tamales in. The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| As with families preparing for Navidad, everyone including kids had a job to do. The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Washing cilantro & other spices from the garden outside The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Cutting up vegetables The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Cutting up freshly cooked pork The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Cutting up freshly cooked pork The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Using a grater and sieve to make fresh tomato juice for the recipe The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Listening to instructions from Corinna The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Felix & Jon take turns stirring the white cornmeal batter for tamale base The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| We all worked and visited all morning – A great together time! The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Finally we start putting them together! The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| A family member shows us how to wrap the final tamale. The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Soon the tables were filled with tamales! The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| And we looked like a tamale factory! 🙂 The kitchen of Sra. Cecelia, Atenas, Costa Rica |
This was an activity sponsored by David & Corinna of Su Espacio as a total immersion Spanish activity. It was totally in Spanish, a lot of fun, cultural learning, tasty, and good use of the Spanish language! I loved it even though my leg was hurting.
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| “Peace Dove” by an artist in El Salvador Now hanging on my year around Christmas Tree |
In my living room last Christmas I added a tree on which I hung crafted birds from all over Central America. Some I bought locally and others came from UNICEF. Every purchase from them helps care for children all around the world! I encourage you to consider buying a new tree ornament or other hand-crafted Christmas gift from:
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| Front Entrance to Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Tile Paintings of Farm Life on outside walls Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| A tile painting depicting farm life on outside walls Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Don Quixote Tiles Next Door Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Private House Next Door to Hotel Don Carlos San Jose, Costa Rica |
Or my San Jose Gallery with photos from several trips to the capital.
And a separate gallery for Costa Rica Churches, most in San Jose
AND A FUN EXTRA:
10 Great Reasons for Living Abroad an article on internations.org
LO SIENTO
I did not intend to post 3 articles on one day! But here they are and now I’m finished with all my posts on two trips, Villa Blanca and San Jose. Back to the boring daily stuff! 🙂
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| Statue honoring women who fought in Battle of Rivas, Nicaragua which kept American William Walker from making us a slave state. National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Tour guide Michael Miller explaining the statue. National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Great-tailed Grackle male National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Zoom on statue on a cloudy day. National Park Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica |
Or my San Jose Gallery with photos from several trips to the capital.
And a separate gallery for Costa Rica Churches, most in San Jose