Rooftop Iguana

This young Black Spiny-tailed Iguana growing up in my garden frequently pitter-patters across the plastic fake tile roof, sounding like those squirrels back in Tennessee! 🙂 The roof makes a nice bridge between the Cecropia Tree at on end and the Nance Tree at the other. Here’s two shots, one showing the roof and the other a little roof-top portrait with me zooming in on him.

Black Spiny-tailed Iguana, Atenas, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Rooftop Iguana”

Sports Park Roofs

I have been reporting on the very slow progress the city of Atenas is making on the renovation of our Central Park, but have not mentioned they are working a little faster on an improvement of two areas of the Sports Park in front of Escuela Central (the elementary school). They are installing roofs over the child-sized football (soccer) field AND over the adult-sized basketball court. I guess these shields from both sun and rain will help both sports to be used more by both school and the community at large.

20200330_105635_001-WEB
The child-sized football field is getting posts for its roof!

20200330_105700_001-WEB
The beams that will hold up the roof over football field.

20200330_105740_001-WEB
In the opposite corner of park behind graffiti-clad skateboard ramp is basketball court.

20200330_105951_001-WEB
The super-structure is up for roof over basketball court.

 

“Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play.”    -Mike Singletary

¡Pura Vida!

Tarcoles Village

Dog on Porch Roof, Tarcoles, Costa Rica

Tarcoles Village is where the Tarcoles River goes into the Pacific Ocean near Jaco and Carara National Park. It is where I have taken four boat trips on the river including the one today. It is where we got our good photos of Scarlet Macaws yesterday morning before going into the park where they are even more difficult to photograph. (Sharing those photos in tomorrow’s post.) And it is just a typical Tico small town, quiet, lazy, hot, and humid with sights like above and below before you get on your boat for the cruise. 

A boy brings in part of the morning catch at 8:30.
You can buy fresh fish along the road.
He caught those fish in a boat like this.
Then repair the nets for tomorrow’s catch.

The main road through Tarcoles.

And the only sign seen more than Coca Cola,
Costa Rica’s own, locally made, Imperial Beer.

For you Nashville readers, Kevin Hunter has ridden through this village with me for our birding/croc cruise. I came here two mornings on this trip; Friday for Macaw photos and Saturday for photos of other birds from a private boat. Someday I will just come and photograph the village. 

Growing up in a small, hot, humid town like this in South Arkansas near Louisiana and Mississippi brings me to a quote by Harper Lee in To Kill a Mockingbird.  Life in Tarcoles is like this:
“Maycomb was a tired old town, even in 1932 when I first knew it. Somehow, it was hotter then. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon after their three o’clock naps. And by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting from sweating and sweet talcum. The day was twenty-four hours long, but it seemed longer. There’s no hurry, for there’s nowhere to go and nothing to buy…and no money to buy it with.” 
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird