charliedoggett.net
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| Gary from Quebec grilled 1 inch thick pork chops and sausages! Delicious! |
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| The rest of us brought side dishes. |
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| Our Tico couple brought the birthday cake. an old family recipe for a Caramel Cake – One of the best cakes I’ve ever tasted! Yum! |
AND ABOUT THE BUSES I RIDE . . .
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| Here I’m waiting in line to board a bus to Atenas from Alajuela. 23 km, 15 miles. Buses go everywhere cheaply, just don’t be in a hurry! This one is $1.43 USD, or 715 Colones, and as a “collectivo” making local stops, takes about 45 minutes. Nice vehicles, made in China, window for air & curtain to shield the sunshine. One trip I had a large package and driver put it under the bus at no extra charge. |
If I go to Alajuela to pick up mail at Aerocasillas or shop at Walmart, that is one day’s activity, usually just one or two things accomplished per day. That trip is usually a half day or more if I eat lunch in Alajuela. San Jose trips can take longer and I have combined the two cities for most of a day. Below is photo of bus schedule in Atenas for Alajuela & San Jose. I have this printed and on my refrigerator to check for when the next bus leaves:
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| Bus Schedule from Atenas to San Jose & Alajuela. First column is Mon-Fri, Second Saturdays & Holidays, Third Sundays Most buses are packed full to standing room only. The most popular way to travel. |
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| Apartment Front Gate |
The gate is not bad looking, but the compound wall is ugly and I hope with all the improvements they are making, they will paint the walls soon. We all now have a clicker for the drive-through gate which means we can have a taxi take us up the hill to the apartments at night.You can barely see them through the trees in upper left, about 300 meters uphill! In addition to the clicker for the big gate we each got a key to the pedestrian gate in the green tower in the photo below. I use it more as a walker. They were locking the big gate only at night, but say they will start locking it all day, we’ll see.
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| Walk-through Gate in tower. First building is complex office, Hours: 7-4. |
BANK SECURITY TOO!
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| Crimson-fronted Parakeet |
Okay, this one was not photographed from my balcony, but on the powerline along the road in front of our apartments. It is actually as big as a parrot (there are many kinds) but it is officially a Crimson-fronted Parakeet, the very largest of all parakeets! For those who know parrots, there is a Red-lored Parrot, I know, with red on his forehead like this, but, the eye is different, he has a more narrow strip of red on forehead with blue above that. Details keep identification fun and challenging! My earlier post of parakeets flying over was a smaller and different Sulphur-winged Parakeet. Parrots and parakeets generally stay together in flocks, but this fellow seems to be a loner or at least this afternoon for awhile. I heard him sing as I walked under him, stopped and snapped on my way home from lunch.
And I did not do a post last night because internet connection was too weak when I tried. But I’m trying to stick with one photo and one subject a day and this not great quality, zoomed-in phone photo is my choice today because it is a new bird for me.
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| Cell Phone Capture of Alajuela House that is now a Cardiologist Office. |
At first glance I thought it was some kind of government building! Why? Because all government buildings are two-tone blue and white. But most have a lot more white than this one. The sign is for a cardiologist, Dr. Luis Fernando Valerio Soto. Yet he could work for the government as part of the universal health plan and it may be a government building after all.
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| An unusual Dry Season Rain moves over the mountains this afternoon. It was the first rain in my nearly 8 weeks here. Rainy Season starts in May. |
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| Sunset Saturday Night – No two Are alike! |
All my maintenance issues were solved over a week ago and the management is really looking good for the apartment complex – but you know – even if they weren’t, I might want to stay here just for the views from my front porch! I’ve never had front porch views like this!
And if you start comparing and doubt they are all made from the same balcony, remember that I zoom in and out a lot AND occasionally use 3 photos merged, like the rain one at top here. For example, the large lone tree on the left in the top photo is the same tree barely protruding the skyline in the bottom photo, just smaller below. 🙂 Fun! Pura Vida!
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| Billboard at entrance and in town advertising Atenas Chili Fiesta. |
This gringo-sponsored fund-raiser for Hogar de Vida children’s home is in its 8th year and a big help for the Christian home for abused and abandoned children in Atenas, down the road from my apartments. The chili cook off is a major event of the day, but as a parking and traffic cop I did not get to taste, vote or participate in the chili, the multiple concerts or the many vendors, games, raffles, bingo, etc. But I’m glad I got to be a volunteer helper and thoroughly learn one more Spanish phrase, “Directo y a la derecha.” (Straight ahead and to the right.) as I sent people to the parking lot or “parqueo.”
I did get a lunch break and tried Costa Rica BBQ Pork with coleslaw and baked beans, none of which is like we had in Tennessee, but good. The slaw was tangy and delicious, the beans so so, the BBQ sauce sweet and good, and the pork very good.
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| A Motorcycle Club Came to the Fiesta And a lot of those dreaded Rich American’s SUVs. |
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| The Famous Painted Oxcarts Add Color to Many Events Here Most Are Made & Painted in Nearby Sarchi Village And lots of taxis at left! |
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| Red Ginger Flowers Along One of the Perimeter Roads I Worked Today. In someone’s yard! I frequently photograph yard flowers. |
This is one of, if not the biggest gringo event in Atenas each year. Though a lot of Ticos participated in producing it and attending, it was definitely a gringo event with Texans trying to dominate the Chili Cook Off and old white people in charge of everything. I finally met a lady from Nashville, Tennessee yesterday, my first to meet from anywhere in Tennessee. Fun! But I’ve already forgot her name! And I’m probably known for more for my accent than anything else here, at least among the gringos. At events like this I see people I know from all my circles now: the apartments, church, Spanish Class, and local Tico friends. So it was fun to be in the middle of it and start becoming a part of the Atenas community! There is a good chance I will stay here long-term.
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| Front Drive from My Balcony – Fountain by Manager’s House & Pool |
Today I stayed home and did laundry except for a training meeting for volunteers at the Atenas Chili Fiesta tomorrow. It started as a small chili cookoff by expats here in Atenas 8 years ago to raise money for Hogar de Vida, a Christian children’s home (orphanage) for abandoned and abused children just one block from our apartments. How neat!
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| Some Roofs of New Summit Academy behind My Apartment seen through our Bamboo Forest & Where I Photograph Birds! |
Another good day in Atenas, Costa Rica, where I keep finding good things happening in the land of Pura Vida! Pure Life!
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| David Salas Castillo, My Spanish Teacher in Atenas |
“Dah-veed” is how you pronounce my Spanish teacher’s name, David, in Spanish. All A’s are short and all I’s are like long E.
I’m in Beginner Spanish of course and we are going over much of the same material we went over in the TFL Beginner Spanish in Nashville, though he is introducing a lot more vocabulary and I have a lot more opportunity to practice here – but that is easier said than done! I speak so slow and without enough vocabulary to really communicate well.
Yesterday I ran into David near Central Park at lunch time, and we tried to talk in Spanish. Of course most other locals speak so fast I have trouble understanding. This will be a slow process for me. But in time I will be able to communicate – I hope!
We have had large flocks of these guys and gals on our grounds for several days now.
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| Great-tailed Grackle MALE: iridescent blue back, large black tail, yellow eye. |
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| Great-tailed Grackle FEMALE: brownish, same big tail and yellow eyes. |
As most of the bird photos in this blog the were photographed from my apartment balcony. How fortunate I am! And you enlarge by clicking the image.