¡Pura Vida!
Experiencing “Extreme Weather” here . . .
Continue reading “Palm Tree!”Palm Tree!
Cock in the Road
¡Pura Vida!
Beachside Rainforest?
Well – It has been and I hope that at least part of it will last! I’ve been coming here for 5 years and it is definitely deteriorating with development and now evidently a landfill somewhere on the peninsula north of the hotel due to truck loads of dirt and rocks and trash headed that way.
The main (only) highway runs parallel to the coast and thus most beaches but Banana Azul is on a peninsula of sorts with a narrow dirt road leading to it and a few other smaller hotels or B&Bs. Then alongside the beach are “tracks” in the dirt that I hike down into the forest with some old growth trees, marshes, and some small animals and birds. Locals come down these tracks to find a private spot on the beach and like all good things in nature it may be getting “loved to death” with too much use. My Gallery below includes a few of my shots from this trip along this beachside rainforest trail. Though the Caribbean is slower developing than other parts of Costa Rica, I’m afraid it too will go for “the progress of the area.”
Here’s a shot from the beach with forest on left going all the way to the end of that “point” or peninsula.
Walkin’ the Beach Road
This morning before going to the organic botanical gardens in Puerto Viejo, I walked a ways down the beach road behind Banana Azul along Playa Negra or Black Beach because of some black volcanic sand in places. Its a forest walk or drive and the trees are as impressive as the beach. Here’s a few shots.
Beach Road Walk
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.
¡Pura Vida!
New Bromeliads + A Favorite Road
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| Bromeliad Pink in a Shady Area of My Garden I think it will do very well here & I have 6 of them! Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Bromeliad Red which I really liked, but as you see it gets some sunlight thus I hope it makes it. I got only 1 of these. Bromeliads prefer shade. Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Road behind Banana Azul Hotel in the Caribbean of Costa Rica The photo & quote that I shared with the mission team today + a Scripture verse with their’s. Photo made in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Costa Rica |
¡Pura Vida!
A Country Adventure in My Front Yard – Calle Nueva
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| A pastoral vista like this sometimes requires a trip far away from a busy town, yet I found this one maybe 500 meters from my house as the crow flies and maybe twice as far walking the streets to this spot. Calle Nueva, Atenas Costa Rica |
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| The cow pasture across the street from my house. A stream runs under that row of trees on opposite side. On the other side of the stream and to the left is a little known street, Calle Nueva, Atenas Costa Rica |
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| First I walk into town on Avenida 8 and turn left on Calle 1 making another left turn at next street, Avenida 10 for 2 blocks where I walk past our technical high school above. The pavement stops just past the school and I’m on a gravel road called Calle Nueva, Atenas Costa Rica |
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| It is so cool to suddenly be in the country! Past Roca Verde it becomes a dirt road going on to Rio Grande village. Calle Nueva, Atenas Costa Rica |
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| After 200 or 300 meters on a rise you see Roca Verde up ahead, those roofs. Before I saw this, I saw the pastoral scene photo above, my opening photo. Calle Nueva, Atenas Costa Rica |
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| Then down that hill to a bridge behind the Roca Verde duplex facing the pasture. That house is about one block from my house! But seen here from behind on Calle Nueva, Atenas Costa Rica |
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| The little stream opposite the cow pasture in front of my house. Which the above bridge crosses over behind the duplex. Calle Nueva, Atenas Costa Rica |
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| At the foot of the bridge I snap this shot of the cow pasture in front of my house from the backside. The duplex and two single family houses are to the right of those shrubs, all facing the cow pasture. Calle Nueva, Atenas, Costa Rica |
It is fun to discover back roads anywhere and especially when they are this close to where you live! Eventually I will walk the entire road to the village of Rio Grande which is at the intersection of our Radial Atenas (Calle 0) and entrance to Ruta 27, the expressway that comes by Atenas. The day I walked this road (New Years Day) there were other walkers and several bicycles, so it is already a known recreational “greenway” if you please! 🙂 In the mountains or hills of Atenas.
I walked the road up past several Roca Verde houses and noticed at least 3 had back pedestrian gates into this greenway and even met a couple who walked out of one that they are renting for 6 weeks. I got as far as where the gravel turned to dirt and turned around because it was also uphill. But next time I will try to go all the way to Rio Grande and maybe get a taxi back. I like my newly discovered “greenway” which I had heard of earlier, but just now exploring for the first time.
It is impossible to overestimate the value of wild mountains
and mountain temples as places for people to grow in,
recreation grounds for soul and body.
–JOHN MUIR, US naturalist, 1838—1914
See the Photo Gallery Walking Calle nueva
If it the link works, here is the Google Map showing where I walked:
The Road to Montibelli
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| The road approaching Montibelli Nature Reserve in Nicaragua Talk about a “Road Less Traveled!” A wonderful place! In dirt walls along the road were holes/nests of Turquoise-browed Motmots |
And I now have my photo gallery up for my Nicaragua Birding Trip 2016 with all birds labeled and most of the other photos, though still working on the labels. The above image is one.