¡Pura Vida!
Photo made by Charlie Doggett on a Samsung J8 Cellphone during dinner in the restaurant of Tortuga Lodge & Gardens, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica, September 8, 2025.
Infinite Beauty
Goodnight from a Rainforest
Dark, damp, misting rain with no sunset as such but a trace of color as I eat my dinner at Playa Cativo overlooking the Gulf of Dulce on the Pacific coast of southern Costa Rica, while north of us Hurricane Bonnie is rushing across northern Costa Rica and Nicaragua and the handful of us here are thankful it didn’t veer south! 🙂
I saw and did a lot the first afternoon, but too tired to curate more photos now, so this rainforest report begins with a dark sky that will surely brighten as the week goes by. If not raining, I go on my birding hike at 5:30 in the morning and I got a head start with two pretty good photos today in the low light of a Great Curassow and a Scarlet-rumped Tanager.
And Of course I already like this place! 🙂 Later I’ll tell you about my beachside cabin and share photos from this nature-rich forest.
¡Pura Vida!
Park Sign at Night + Other New Views
Here are more views of the new Central Park Sign including a selfie and what it looks like at night and from behind! 🙂 My earlier reports on the sign did not include the finished product at night or from behind! 🙂
Flower Garden at Night
I’m not often in my garden or even out of my house at night, but with late watering tonight I saw how different it looks and tried to photograph it, though a photo can’t capture the magic of night in a garden. The blue flowers are Plumbago.
“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in–what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
Bats Empty Feeders at Night
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| Many bats surrounding feeder until my flash goes off! They are really fast! |
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| Without flash you can see one blurry bat drinking nectar. |
I read somewhere that only long-tongued bats can do this and they are rare, so it is good to feed them. But that means refilling feeder every morning! Other option is to bring feeders in at night and to wipe them with oil of citronella to keep ants and other insects out of them sitting in kitchen sink or in frig. And my third option is to plant more flowers and let them feed off flowers alone. That is sounding better! 🙂 For now, I have decided I will bring in at night. I’m tired of boiling sugar water! 🙂
Tope Tonight
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| Washing a Horse in the street . . . That, cowboy hats and boots, means it is “Tope Time!” A tope is a horse parade & this year at night, 1st in 3 years! |
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| It is suppose to be about horses, but is mostly about partying & beer! Lots of beer! |
The last time Atenas had a night Tope was three years ago (before I came) and the story is they trashed downtown Atenas so much they had to take a 3-year break. The later it gets the drunker people get I’ve been told and it is not pretty.
I had an early dinner downtown with Anthony and got just these two “pre-Tope” shots before we walked back home. I am not participating in the Tope tonight. I went to the afternoon Tope in Mercedes two years ago and it was pretty bad in the daylight! So I chose not to participate tonight. But I am hearing the music, noise, band, and an announcer from my house. I may sleep with ear plugs tonight.
And an announcement about Anthony, my artist friend who lives next door: He is moving back to the states the end of May. He cannot get the art supplies and support he needs here and is missing some of the opportunities he will have living in Chicago. He is retired from a corporate job, but does not want to retire from being a professional artist which he can simply do better in the states! (And he never learned to speak Spanish!) Living in Costa Rica is not for everyone! Pura vida!
And on top of that I just learned today that my landlord has put his house or compound up for sale of which my house is a part. I have to wait and see who buys it to know what happens to me. Possibly nothing will change. Or the new owner could want my house as a guest house or “Mother-in-law Apartment.” Either way, life goes on. 🙂 And maybe some new adventures. 🙂 ¡Tenga Paz!
Stay tuned for the continuing saga of “Retired in Costa Rica.” Every day an adventure!