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| Cost Rica flag flying in front of the National Theater After Teatro Nacional we visited the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum next door |
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| The National Museum of Costa Rica |
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| Pre-columbian & Indian Cultures were prominent in the museum |
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| One of the mysterious stone spheres found in prehistoric Costa Rica’s south |
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| Downtown San Jose Graffiti |
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| Templo Falls one of five falls at La Paz |
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| Jaguar at La Paz, my favorite photo after the waterfall above. Though my arm was scratched by an Ocelot when I tried to photograph through bars of his cage. (That’s another story for later maybe!) |
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| Blue Morpho Butterfly at La Paz |
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| Poas Lake Caldron |
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| Active Portion of Poas Volcano that smelled like sulphur |
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| Tree Fern in tropical cloud forest of Poas Volcano |
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| Gabriel (our Juan Valdez) teaches us about the natural way to grow coffee at El Toledo Coffee Farm, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Beans go through roasting machine to become either light, medium, or dark roasted. We tasted each and chose our favorite before knowing which roast. |
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| The coffee farm pet Olive-throated Parakeets got my attention of course! Then a traditional Tico Lunch of beans, rice, veggies, salad, plantains, fish |
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| In Sarchi, Kevin got a taste of the rainforest after photographing some of the colorful oxcarts made here along with furniture, etc. |
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| A typical Costa Rican Oxcart made in Sarchi |
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| Sarchi Church |
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| Tico family in front of Grecia Church Made of metal in Belgium in 1800’s and reassembled in Grecia! |
We got a little further away from Atenas today and will go even further tomorrow as we head for Poas Volcano and La Paz Waterfalls.
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| Waking up to Yellow Bells blooming out my bedroom window Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica Yes, I really could see this while lying in my bed this morning! Same tree where I made some of those earlier bird photos. |
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| Kevin and I eat breakfast on top of a mountain and photograph the vista at La Casita del Cafe, Atenas, Costa Rica Pacific Ocean is on the far horizon |
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| Monumento del Boyero – National Monument to Oxcart Drivers Atenas, Costa Rica (Yeah, it was cloudy, but not a drop of rain yet!) |
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| “Adios Snowbirds” dinner party before Canadians and Europeans return north Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica |
Tomorrow we tour of Atenas’ El Toledo Coffee Farm and eat lunch in a family farm home there.
Kevin Hunter arrived today for his visit and brought good luck to my birding at the apartments. We went down to the river to see waterfall and howler monkeys and found a Blue-crowned Motmot, my first at the apartments! Thanks Kevin!
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| Blue-crowned Motmot Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Blue-crowned Motmot Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Kevin works on an email under the watchful eye of My Apartment Nude |
Kevin had a safe and uneventful trip to Costa Rica with his flight arriving 30 minutes early, but I checked online and knew and was there early to welcome him. We had a Tico lunch at La Carreta, walked around the central park and beautiful catholic church and he went with me for some business at ICE concerning my cell phone. Then to the apartments, settling in, going down to river to see the Mantled Howler Monkeys and the Blue-crowned Motmot. Then back up the hill to watch two Social Flycatchers chase a cat away from the tree they nest in. Then I served a tropical fruit plate for a lighter dinner with Robbie’s oatmeal cookies and some banana bread I got from an Atenas bakery. Then we both hit the computers.
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| The Social Flycatcher that chased the house cat in our front yard Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Funeral Train in downtown Atenas seen from Central Park |
I walked downtown for a light lunch around 1:00 and saw that a funeral was in process, leaving the Atenas Catholic Church facing the central park. Street width for a block+ was shoulder to shoulder people walking behind the flower-covered hearse. A big funeral this time!
This is the second funeral train I have come upon. I also posted a photo of the first which was much smaller and in a residential neighborhood.
And in spite of an occasional funeral, Costa Rica is still the Number 1 Happiest Country in the world. I just found another website listing of the happy that put us at #1:
http://www.earthporm.com/top-10-happiest-countries-world/?ts_pid=2
Thanks to Natalie for this one!
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| Atenas Catholic Church |
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| Purple-draped crosses also appear in front of many homes in Atenas. |
February 18 to April 2 is the Season of Lent this year and the color purple proclaims it in many places in Atenas, but none like the Catholic Church which also flies purple flags around the compound wall. The color of reconciliation is a fitting reminder of the mission of Christ we will celebrate on Easter Sunday, April 5.
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| Michael King & Berdelle Campbell at Breakfast this morning Vista Atenas B&B, Atenas Costa Rica |
A flight cancellation and great delay got them into Costa Rica after dark and cancelled our original plans of lunch on their arrival day. So Michael King (Monell’s Restaurant) and Burdelle Campbell (My former Germantown neighbor) came back from their stay in Uvita (With Craig & Marcia Jervis of Mad Platter Restaurant) a day before their flights to stop and visit with me. And they got to see their only Costa Rica monkey right here on the Hacienda La Jacaranda property, our new Mantled Howler Monkeys. We had lunch at El Balcon del Cafe and I showed Berdelle around Atenas & my apartment while Michael worked. We then had dinner at La Trocha del Boyero. Because I could not give two of them much room or privacy in my apartment, I arranged rooms for them at Vista Atenas B&B.
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| They stayed at Vista Atenas B&B with this nice view of Atenas Valley |
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| Berdelle Campbell in Central Park Atenas |
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| A bouquet of flowers Berdelle brought me from Craig & Marsha’s yard in Uvita, just a few typical Costa Rica flowers sitting on my breakfast bar! 🙂 |
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| Costa Rica’s National Bird – Clay-colored Thrush On Charlie’s apartment balcony, Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Golden Shower Tree or Cassia Fistula On Highway 3 east of Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| “Yellow Bells,” “Trumpet Bush” or officially Tecoma Stans Zoomed in on one of the mountain sides from my front balcony |
Earlier I showed orange-blooming Poro Tree around here, then the bright Pink Trumpet Tree, and there are now a bunch of yellow-blooming trees, two kinds! The first one above is an imported Asian ornamental tree that looks like a yellow lilac tree with delicate flowers hanging down, the one along the highway above. The other has clusters of bell-shaped flowers like this one off my back balcony. And remember, we are near the end of the dry season with no rain since November! Amazing!
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| Yellow Bells behind my apartment at Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas |