It takes me a while to process the many photos I usually take and then label and get into galleries – but it is done! for the November 10 & 17-22 Visit by the Gary Eaton’s. Linked to the gallery or click on the image of first page below . . .
CLICK ABOVE IMAGE to go to the gallery.
I placed it in my “CR TRIP GALLERIES” because it was their trip and much like a trip for me with a variety of photos, many of which are okay even if not my best! 🙂 After all, I had cancer surgery on my nose in the middle that week and was dealing with feet & leg inflammation from the new blood pressure medicine, but in spite of all that, I had great time Gary & Kenna! And I hope you are able to return to Costa Rica in the future to see other areas and different National Parks! I love it all! 🙂
I had surgery Tuesday morning to remove another skin cancer, this one from my nose! 🙂 So the Eaton’s hung out at their hotel until about 10 when I took them on a walk through Central Atenas but I was not motivated to make many photos for some reason, so I got only the spreading tree in the courtyard of Mercado Central and the vista from Casita del Café the next morning (where with a clear sky you see the Pacific, but not that morning), with all the other Atenas photos in gallery linked from earlier photos I’ve made. Sorry. We ate out for lunch in Crema y Nata Tuesday and other Atenas restaurants the next two nights.
Wednesday we had breakfast on the mountain top and I took a taxi home while Walter took them to a Punta Leona beach to photograph monkeys and other nature and I rested. Click the above link for an idea of what they saw in Atenas. Just the first two photos I made on those two days here. The feature photo at top of post is of the vista from Casita del Café during breakfast there Wednesday morning and the tree photo is from Mercado Central de Atenas on our Tuesday walk.
Tree in Courtyard of the Central Market of Atenas, Costa Rica
The inside exhibits this time were all paintings by Costa Ricans and somehow I lacked the motivation to photograph any. Sorry. Here’s just a few of my photos of both the Eaton’s & Huskey’s and of some outside art. To see more of my photos of that gallery see my gallery from an earlier visit: January 2024 Museum of Costa Rican Art with better photos of the museum. It was a tour from the Art House of Atenas I participated in and was feeling better then.
Museum of Cost Rican Artists, in the old 1940’s downtown airport terminal building.
Below is a gallery of 6 shots from that day & lunch at Jalapeños . . .
Old friends from Nashville, Gary & Kenna Eaton and their traveling companions, the Huskey’s, recently visited Costa Rica and I had the privilege of sharing some bits of my adopted country both before and after their 8-day CARAVAN “Costa Rica Natural Paradise” TOUR!
Walter does a “Selfie” with our group between the Jade and National Museums of Costa Rica.
They arrived on November 9, a day early for the tour, and my driver, Walter, and I took them to two favorite museums in San Jose on the 10th, mentioned as a postscript in my post that day. We toured both the Jade Museum and the National Museum that gave them an overview of the country they were about to tour. See the very few photos I made that day in the gallery: Nov 10, Jade & National Museums. To be honest, I’m beginning to be too old and feeble to be a very good host! 🙂 But they were very patient with me and Walter was a wonderful host!
They concluded their tour on the 17th and we saw an art museum before taking the Huskey’s to the airport. Then 5 days with the Eaton’s, which the next few posts will summarize. And eventually I will complete the photo gallery of their visit. 🙂
The green mountains of Atenas, Costa Rica seen from my terrace.
You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain;
I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care.
As the peach-blossom flows downstream and is gone into the unknown,
I have a world apart that is not among men.
~Li Bai, 8th Century Chinese Poet
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That is sort of my response to the U.S. election and what has been going on there for many years now. And as I finish my life retired in Costa Rica, I will continue, as long as able, to photograph and write about birds, butterflies and flowers! 🙂
The photo is of the green hills of Atenas, Costa Rica as seen from my terrace at breakfast.
Becoming world famous for hikers is the coast to coast (Atlantic to Pacific) hiking trail titled El Camino de Costa Rica (WEBSITE link), a 280 kilometer hike through forests, mountains, farms and small villages with many suggested overnight stays in homes, camping or even a few luxury hotels nearby. 🙂
I’m still planning on some more posts from this first week of October trip, but you can see all of my acceptable photos in the trip gallery by clicking this linked title or the image of first page below. 2024 October 1-6, Hotel Banana Azul, Caribe Sur
First page of my 2024 Caribe Sur Photo Gallery, CLICK image to go to the gallery.
¡Pura Vida!
And to learn more about Hotel Banana Azul, click that name link! Note that the header photo on their web page was made from “my room,” the one I get on each visit, called “The Howler Suite.” 🙂
There are no big chain hotels or resorts on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica (like the Pacific side). All are small, locally-owned, very friendly and helpful people (muy amable), with simplicity and tranquility. The Caribbean side is not for everyone, but I like it; both the laid back Jamaican atmosphere of the south or the Amazon Jungle atmosphere of the north Caribbean at Tortuguero National Park. The south has Cahuita National Park and Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, making the south also a great place for nature photographers in a different way than Tortuguero where you are mostly on the water. I encourage my fellow expats living in Costa Rica to give this side a try as something different from the Pacific Coast or the mountains. I love every area of Costa Rica because each is different! That is just the way I am! 🙂
The White House, I photographed on my 2013 visit to Washington, D.C. (year before CR move)
If ever a patriotic American should take a strong stand in an election, it is this year and with this presidential election, thus my once every 4 years political blog post.
It is beyond my understanding how this election could possibly be close, because I still believe that the majority of Americans are honest, patriotic, defend the constitution and what has been the strongest democracy in the world. Yet here we are! How could it be a close election?
The differences in the two candidates are like daylight and dark! I invite my Republican friends to follow the many other Republicans and denounce the convicted criminal, liar, rapist, racist, fascist, mean old rich man and vote, at least this once, for the democratic candidates, Harris-Walz!
I no longer identify with my lifelong church and work, Southern Baptists, or any of the related Evangelicals for what I consider “unChristian” support of Donald Trump and his Republican minions. But friends, I know that many of you want to follow Christ, so I ask you to simply ask yourself that old “WWJD” question from our youth – What Would Jesus Do? There is no doubt in my mind! Thus I vote Harris!
In 2013 when I visited D.C. I also wrote this poem for my July 4 birthday with photos from a 2005 Everglades National Park visit. 🙂
God bless you and God bless the United States of America!
All natural beaches around the world have driftwood, which usually changes during every tropical storm or other reason for big surf! 🙂 The exception is a rare few beaches near big rich corporate hotels that have driftwood removed to maintain their “pristine” beaches. 🙂
This particular piece of driftwood was on Playa Negra (“Black Beach,” named for the dark volcanic sand there) directly behind Hotel Banana Azul in Puerto Viejo and is more like a simple log, partially buried, but it had a nice glow in the early morning sunrise last Saturday along with the color and texture. Of course there are more interesting shapes of driftwood, usually older and often sun-bleached to a light gray, nearly white.
In some coastal towns people display large, unusually shaped pieces of driftwood as works of art in their homes, restaurants and other businesses, both here and in every other coastal area I’ve visited around the world. See the driftwood links below these 2 photos . . .
Driftwood at Sunrise, Playa Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa RicaDriftwood at Sunrise, Playa Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
Here’s some driftwood-related websites I found online:
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
No two are alike and none disappoint me! 🙂 And they may be the highlights of my time here this year as my aches and pains are keeping the beach road walks short and have caused me to cancel my planned hikes in the two national parks nearby. But the hotel manager said he would take me to the end of the beach road in his car tomorrow morning. 🙂 This morning’s short walk on the beach road gave me very few bird or butterfly photos, which I will share in another blog post tonight. Here’s a slide show of 8 sunrise shots from this morning (no 2 of them alike either!) and I will be sharing more from each morning plus non-blog photos will be in a gallery later.
SLIDE SHOW . . .
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
Sunrise Wed, 2 Oct 2024, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón
