Category: Culture

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FAVE BIRDS: The Next Blog Series + Health Update

Starting tomorrow I am going to share some of my favorite bird photos out of literally thousands of over 350 species of birds here. It has been very difficult to choose just a few favorites. I started with 40 and whittled it down to 21 and gave up after that, so over the next three weeks I’ll be sharing 21 bird photos of 21 different species of birds found here, introducing the species, including a link to the eBird description, a link to my gallery on that species, and I’m writing a “Backstory” about each particular photo I’m sharing. It seems that there is a story behind every photo! 🙂 I hope you will find it interesting and revealing about Costa Rica for both nature lovers and birders! And oh yes, the two bird photos in this post did not make the cut for a feature, so they decorate this post! 🙂

I’m working ahead on the series and trying to make each blog post a visual work of art as well as a valuable chunk of information about a bird species in Costa Rica, including where I found it and which lodge I stayed it. I trust they will become valuable tools for future visitors and new expat residents of Cost Rica, starting tomorrow with the beautiful Resplendent Quetzal!

Yellow-throated Euphonia & the Feature Photo at Top is a Gray-cowled Woodrail

Update on My Health and Latest Cancer Report

First, I recently had the same CAT Scan (called TAC here) they did to diagnose the cancer and it shows me totally cancer-free after the surgery and 7 weeks of radiation. That is good news!

Now the effects of the radiation still have not all gone away and usually do not for about a year for most patients, meaning I may be “normal” by next July. 🙂 The left side of my face & neck + the left ear are all still swollen or enlarged somewhat. That is normal the first year. My smile is almost “normal” now, not totally lopsided on right side only as after surgery. I will always have to deal with my left eye not blinking or being able to fully close. I use eye drops two or three times a day and wear an eye patch most of the time except for about 3 hours in the morning.

I am still low on energy or tired a lot, wanting to sleep more and that is normal for the first year they say. My taste has partially recovered though not totally and they say that can take as much as 6 months to a year to fully recover, so I’m much closer to normal there! Though my appetite is still not high and my weight is still lower than before. I drink an Ensure protein shake once a day to help keep me healthy and otherwise try to eat healthy.

Mentally/emotionally I am fine and generally have a positive attitude about life regardless what is happening. So in short, I’ve made great improvements and I’m overall feeling very well, just not planning as many activities as before. Plus at 81 I needed to slow down anyway! 🙂 And these new series of blog posts using past photos is one example of how I’m slowing down while remaining creative. But I will be adding new trips and new photos, just not as frequently now! 🙂

¿Cómo estás? – ¡Total bien! 🙂 That’s how most people answer here regardless how they really feel! 🙂 The positive and helpful attitudes of Costa Ricans is also healing to me! I’m so glad I live here now!

¡Pura Vida!

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STREET ART: Nashville

My last post in this Street Art series will be from my last hometown in the states before moving to Costa Rica: Nashville, Tennessee USA (where I lived from 1977-2014 less 3 of those years in The Gambia). As in other places, Street Art was not my focus as a nature photographer, but this is a sampling with some commissioned art I’m sure.

There is so much “purposed” Street Art in Nashville that it leaves not much demand for “graffiti-style” art as you can see in my gallery: Pre-Costa Rica NASHVILLE Photos 1977-2014 within which you can find statues and architectural art along with art projects like the 2010 Bike Rack Sculptures, 2005 Guitars, and 2003 Catfish art objects found all over Nashville! Those are really a type of “Planned Street Art” as are some beautiful special installations like at Music Circle and Riverfront Park included in another gallery Public Art & Statues. Nashville is worth exploring by the art lover! Not to mention some great art museums & galleries! 🙂

Nashville Street Art
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STREET ART: The Gambia, West Africa

These photos were made in 1999-2002 in the Banjul and Serekunda areas of The Gambia, plus two in Albreda at the Slavery Museum near Juffre, the home of Kunta Kente of Roots book & movie. I believe these are the work of 4 different Gambia artists and most likely all were commissioned to do these public paintings.

Murals in the Senegambia Hotel district of The Gambia–photographed in 2002

READ MORE for a slide show of 8 different Street Art paintings . . .

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STREET ART: Panama City, Panama

From my Caravan Tour of Panama Gallery and full Panama City Gallery is a sub-sub-gallery titled Casco Viejo Street Art, one of my favorites from that trip. “Casco Viejo” just means “old city” and is one of two such historic districts in Panama City, the one resettled in 1673 after the big fire. Here’s just 4 of the many photos in the above linked gallery . . .

Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama
Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama
Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama
Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama

There is a temptation for me to write my interpretation of each piece, but this kind of art is better left to the interpretation or meaning of the viewer.

DISCLAIMER: “Street Art” for this series is paintings and tile work along streets, usually on buildings, that may or may not have been commissioned or done “illegally” without permission. I have no way of knowing. I purposefully did not include public statues, fountains, etc. obviously sanctioned by the government.

“Art must not be concentrated in dead shrines called museums.
It must be spread everywhere – on the streets, in the trams, factories, workshops, and in the workers’ homes.”

~Vladimir Mayakovsky

¡Pura Vida!

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STREET ART: Granada, Nicaragua

The fear of the Police probably stops most graffiti and street art in Nicaragua, especially in Manaus, but in the little tourist town of Colonial Granada on Lake Nicaragua I found these two works of street art on the sides of buildings. See my Gallery of other shots in Granada, a beautiful, photogenic, colonial town or at bottom of post, links to all of my two trips photos.

Granada, Nicaragua
Granada, Nicaragua

DISCLAIMER: “Street Art” for this series is paintings and tile work along streets, usually on buildings, that may or may not have been commissioned or done “illegally” without permission. I have no way of knowing. I purposefully did not include public statues, fountains, etc. obviously sanctioned by the government.

“Speak softly, but carry a big can of paint.”

— Banksy

If interested in Nicaragua, see all of my photos from two trips there in 2016, mostly for birding, but other local photography included:

¡Pura Vida!

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STREET ART: Other Costa Rica Cities

Here’s only 3 shots from our capital city of San Jose, which of course has many more admirable Street Art works that I have just not discovered yet! I don’t hang out in the big city much! I’m a nature photographer! 🙂 Also included is one from Alajuela, my provincial capital, and one from nearby San Ramon. These are the last of my Street Art photos from Costa Rica. Tomorrow I share just 2 from Nicaragua and then around the world we go! 🙂

San Jose
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STREET ART: Tortuguero Village

Only a few hundred people live here but they have more interesting “Street Art” than many big cities! Of course it helps that they are in the middle of a National Park! 🙂 That link is to the official park website in Spanish and for my photo galleries of 3 park visits, use links at the end of this post.

DISCLAIMER: “Street Art” for this series is paintings and tile work along streets, usually on buildings, that may or may not have been commissioned or done “illegally” without permission. I have no way of knowing. I purposefully did not include public statues, fountains, etc. obviously sanctioned by the government.

Tortuguero, Costa Rica

Tortuguero village is reachable only by boat or plane in what is called “The Amazon of Costa Rica” along the country’s northeast coast or Caribbean side. The village is the heart of Tortuguero National Park adjacent the Park Visitors Center with transportation to all lodges by boat. One side is the Atlantic beach and the other a river/canal into the glades. Above is the one art pix for email notice of post and please click READ MORE for more photos of this nature-centric Street Art . . .

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STREET ART: Atenas, Costa Rica

This post begins a new series of “Photo Essays” that could become the new style of my blog, now that I’m not traveling as much. I’m starting with a “Street Art Series” of maybe a week’s worth of posts on places where I’ve lived or visited. The first is an unlikely art town, the little coffee farming town of Atenas where I now live . . .

“Graffiti is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.”

~Wikipedia

Here’s one street art in Atenas for the emailed post, then click & read on for more . . .

At Pachacuti Art Shop
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