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Felt Like Driving in Africa Again!

Just a gravel road you say? Well rainy season has made it a pot-holed rub board!
Driving a rent car on this to my hotel reminded me of driving in The Gambia.
Only we have mountains here!  los bosques en las montañas

From the road I snapped this view on cell phone of Tarcoles River dumping into the Pacific Ocean on a cloudy day.
But no views like this from Hotel Villa Lapas which is deep in the forest on the edge of Parque Nacional Carara.
Part of this little simple mountain lodge is made into a Spanish Colonial Village.
I’m sleeping in a tile-roofed hacienda with plaster walls and a musty smell.
Español colonial hotel de estilo

To make the colonial village complete, they have a little church (for weddings they say).
Old and simple but just right for a birder with the forest up against the backs of buildings.
The food was okay for dinner. You go to the beach town of Jaco for modern hotels.
con la iglesia

I’ve heard birds and seen a bat but the only wildlife I’ve photographed on the arrival afternoon are the leaf-cutter ants at right.

I did drive 6 km up the dirt road to Pura Vida Gardens which are simply beautiful in a hard to get to place with beautiful vistas and flowers and a view of what they call the tallest waterfall in Costa Rica. They also call it “Pura Vida Waterfalls,” but it is better know by “Bijagual Waterfalls” (name of nearby town) and “Manantial de Agua Viva Waterfalls.” I’m going with this last name.

I will do a separate post on the gardens tomorrow. Then tomorrow’s tour in the park is when I hope to collect a lot of bird photos. We’ll see! I trusted the hotel to get me a guide, so “proof’s in the pudding!”

I’m still reading Don Quiote and picking up Sancho’s habit of quoting truisms! 🙂  And I would love to hear from someone who has read it with your opinions, feelings, or meaning of the book. I’ve nearly quit reading it several times, saying “This is stupid!” But know how historically significant it is, so I keep trudging on through it at about 70% now.

Expect several more days of blogging from this trip. 🙂

“Blogging is like work, but without coworkers thwarting you at every turn.”

~Scott Adams  (Dilbert creator)

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Why Not Mopt instead of Mopped?

LICEO ENGLISH CLASSES “SPELLING BEE” CELL PHONE PHOTOGRAPHS
LICEO CLASES DE INGLÉS FOTOS “Spelling Bee”:

These two seniors stayed through last several rounds until girl on the right spelled
“Mopped” as “Mopt” to be eliminated. Wow! English is a difficult language!
Inglés es difícil de aprender.

A few of the early arrival participants. Orange shirts are seniors and
blue shirts are 9th through 11th grades. They were all so nice and polite.
Los estudiantes son muy simpaticas.

The 3 other “Native English Speakers” as judges besides me. Mainly record keeping!
But good to have several because I could not understand some of the kids at times.
The man and woman at other end of table are from Australia.
Gringos ayudan.

And another Expat read the words and definitions or examples when requested.
The girl in blue is spelling one of the words.
This expat lady also does the free lending library at La Carreta Restaurant.
Estoy feliz de ayudar.
We had several breaks in the three hour spelling bee when students showed
some of their other English language work. Here some students put on a
puppet show of “Little Red Riding Hood” in English of course! Cute!
Linda!

I was there at 8:15 and left a little after 11:00 for my jungle adventure which will be storied in other posts. Maybe one more tonight. 🙂    And note that I am back to including Spanish language words and phrases in red so you will know what is Spanish AND because my Spanish teacher wants me to use more Spanish all day every day and include a Spanish section to my blog or just some Spanish lines like I have done with this post.

❝If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.❞
‒Nelson Mandela

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Spelling Bee and Carara National Park

All the students walk to and from
school, are clean cut, polite, friendly

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT SPELLING BEE
Tomorrow, Thursday, 30 July 2015, I’m starting the day as a “Native English Speaker” at Colegio Liceo de Atenas, the big high school near where I live, to serve as a judge and maybe to pronounce the English words for their English Language Classes Spelling Bee. They have 3 full-time English Teachers in a Spanish-speaking school! A big high school!

How fun this will be! Even though I was going to leave early on my birding adventure, I can’t turn down an opportunity like this to relate to the community! I’m trying hard to not be like most of the segregated expats who only associate with each other. I didn’t move to Central America to spend all my time with North Americans! I’m here to get away from them! 🙂 (No offense now! I still like some of you! But I sure like the culture down here better.) So I will leave for Carara at 11:00 after the Spelling Bee! FYI the school Facebook Page.    or  School Video   and    Google Images  of the school or just Google the school and you will see pages for the students to do homework, etc. You will get a report from me on this for sure!

Hope to get a better shot than this one on
my 2011 Tarcoles River Cruise as a day trip
from the Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship,
our FBN Panama Canal Cruise

CARARA NATIONAL PARK
Now for the planned trip: I have a rent car and I’m spending two nights at Hotel Villa Lapas at
Tarcoles, the closest one to the Carara Park and have scheduled a 5-hour guided tour of the park with hopes of Scarlet Macaw photos. This is mating season in the second most populous Scarlet Macaw forest of the country, so maybe some cute, cuddly couples to photograph!  🙂 But regardless, there will be many birds and much else to photograph! And if not raining too much, I will hike to the tallest waterfall in the country or at least see it from a distance at a nearby botanical gardens. I’ve done the nearby Tarcoles River cruise 3 times, but that is always another option if I get bored – ha, ha!

Tico Times article on Carara National Park

Costa Rica Bureau Page on park (not sure if it is official park page, if any)

One National Parks Page on the park (maybe not official)

A Guide Service Page     and the Wikipedia Page is good

And hopefully more than overfly shots like this one I made in 2009 at
Corcovado National Park in the South on Osa Peninsula. 

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” ― John Muir, Our National Parks

And my PHOTO GALLERY of Costa Rica Birds if you want more!  🙂

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Little Yellow Sulphur

Little Yellow Sulphur is one of many yellow ones all around now.
Note that this is different than the other two yellow butterflies I’ve shown.
On my Plumbago flower, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun.
And find your shoulder to light on.
To bring you luck, happiness and riches.
Today, tomorrow and beyond.
An Irish Blessing

And I have a PHOTO GALLERY of Costa Rica Butterflies that you might enjoy. Peace & Love!

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Humidity and the DampRid Discovery

It is rainy season (though less rain this year)
and that means high humidity, even in your house.
So I discover this interesting product at PriceSmart.
DampRid

I hang it in my closet and it absorbs the moisture
from my clothing and the surrounding air. The
crystals in the upper bag collect water and put
it in the lower silver bag until full or crystals used.

By holding up to light you can see the water in lower bag and some of the
crystals that are dissolving down there. A bag lasts about a month so far. 

Because my windows stay open at all times and there are often breezes, the air in the rooms does not seem to be as humid and I haven’t felt the need for a dehumidifier yet. September and October are when the heavy rains come and it may be different then, though being on a hill with good cross-venting air flow, it will probably be fine.

By the way, it is one of the driest rainy seasons in years here with half the quantity of rain this June as last June. Global warming and El Nino are already affecting this part of Costa Rica. While the Caribbean side has had too much rain and flooding. Go figure! 
Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
~Anthony J. D’Angelo


🙂

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Dobsonfly

Dobsonfly at La Casa CATUCA, The Atenas Chamber of Commerce (sort of)
in a historic old house that includes arts, crafts, Tico food, and tourist assistance.
My picture framer has a shop in here and the Tico food is great! I recommend it!
You never know where a cool bug will show up! So have cell phone camera ready!

Read about the Dobsonfly on Wikipedia.

And for more of my insect photos, see Costa Rica Insects PHOTO GALLERY

or the separate Costa Rica Butterflies PHOTO GALLERY, a much larger collection.

We hope that, when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics.  ~Bill Vaughan
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Common Rain Frog

Common Rain Frog (probably), though similar to Wet Forest Toad and
Rain Forest Toad. There are more frogs/toads here than anywhere, ID is difficult!
This one from my garden is waiting at my front door! About 3-5 inches, 10 cm. +/-
Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
Click to enlarge photo.  A third the size of Giant Toad shown earlier.
Why are frogs so happy?
They eat whatever bugs them!
Ribbit, Ribbit

See also my “just beginning” Costa Rica Amphibians PHOTO GALLERY
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Life is Short and Life is Long, But Not in That Order! PURA VIDA!

Why time really does seem to go faster when you get older is an interesting article about the

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately.
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.”
~Henry David Thoreau 

logarithm of time perception over the years. Hopefully this link to the Washington Post article will work if not a subscriber. Don’t miss the cool video clip in the article! And yes, time seems to be flying by for me here in Costa Rica! Been here 7 months today and I never look back! Loving life here! And the Tico people!

I’m also learning to live in the moment more (like we did as little kids) and enjoying the simple things of life like a tropical rain or a butterfly flitting over my balcony. While still anticipating new adventures, like the three day trip next week to the Carara National Park to hopefully photograph Scarlet Macaws, yet knowing there will be a serendipity of some kind, with or without a macaw! Pura vida!

Pura vida. Pronounced POO-rah VEE-dah, in English means, “Pure Life”. However, these two words have much more meaning throughout the Costa Rican culture.

But where did Costa Ricans take this phrase from? According to a study of the expression, a film called Pura vida came to Costa Rica from Mexico in 1956, directed by Gilberto Martinez Solares. In the movie, “Pura vida” is the expression of eternal optimism used by a comic character, played by the actor Antonio Espino, who unfortunately can’t seem to do anything right. While a small population used it then, the phrase “Pura vida” was used nationwide by 1970.

Associated with many different English interpretations like “pure life”, “take it easy”, “enjoy life”, “all good”, “purity in life”, “hello”, “goodbye”, “this is life!” and many many more. The point is that foreigners truly don’t have a true grasp of the meaning of “pura vida” as they are not Costa Ricans themselves.

Pura vida! Means that no matter what your current situation is, life for someone else can always be less fortunate than your own. So you need to consider that maybe…just maybe, your situation isn’t all that bad and that no matter how little or how much you have in life, we are all here together and life is short…so start living it “pura vida style”.

Beginning to understand now, the true meaning of the uniquely Costa Rican term, “Pura Vida”? We feel that the more “foreigners” who truly grasp the concept, the better the world would be. Imagine if countries like the USA or Canada or in Europe started to live life like the Costa Ricans and adopted the pura vida lifestyle? Because honestly folks…no matter how much of a mess your life may seem, there is always someone else who’s life would make yours look like a vacation in paradise.

Pura vida description copied from:  http://www.bestcostaricantours.com/about/puravida.html

I am not necessarily recommending this travel agent and have not personally experienced them yet, but like I their description of Pura Vida better than others I found!   🙂   I do plan to try them for one of my future adventures because I like their approach to nature tours.

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. 
We have only today. Let us begin.” 
― Mother Teresa

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Iglesia La Soledad

Iglesia La Soledad, Alajuela
A Simple Elegance

And a young church for Costa Rica!
Many are dated to the 1500’s!

When I took Anthony for his going away lunch at his favorite restaurant in San Jose (Tin Jo), we saw this nearby church and made a brief visit. In Latin cities there is a church in almost every barrio or neighborhood. This is one of those. A simple beauty that I like and part of my “Costa Rica Churches” photo collection that is bound to begin soon!  🙂

I never weary of great churches. It is my favorite kind of mountain scenery. Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral.
~Robert Louis Stevenson
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Maraca Plant Added to Garden

Zerumbet
Zerumbet Ginger, Maraca Plant in Costa Rica, and in other places
Shampoo Ginger or Pine Cone Ginger (links are to Google photos of flowers)
It is the tall plant, two spears now with the
little yellow flower on ground at base.
They grow 7 to 8 feet tall and can have
a large cluster of flowers at base.
Click photo links under top image.

I’m really excited about this addition to my garden which I requested in the beginning, but they are very difficult to find. They surprised me the other day! In a year or two it will be developed more with multiple shoots and multiple flowers. The flower starts small and yellow like this one and by October will be more like a pine cone and will have turned red or sometimes orange. This may be the neatest addition to my garden yet! A Heliconia plant was in that location and they moved it to my front yard for more color there! It is fun to live in a garden! Plus I start traveling next week.

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. ~Hanna Rion