Category: Culture

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Suggested ART PRINTS Gallery

Because I no longer print my images to sell through a galeria or seasonal shows here, I will make it a little easier for you to order Wall Art or other art image by narrowing down the possibilities some. Every image in every gallery is available but this new gallery includes both the images I’ve sold before and some I think would possibly make good art! And remember that in the buying process menu you can crop the images more or differently than I have.

SmugMug (my gallery host) uses the very best printers for each type of art and I recommend for wall art high gloss metal prints to stand out or for a softer look, try photos printed on canvas (and I prefer the wrap-around canvas). They have many other items you can print any of my photos on from greeting cards to coffee mugs, etc. Have fun exploring! Just click the shopping bag pix on any photo or the BUY PHOTO button on an enlarged photo and follow the menu! Easy! 🙂

And for COSTA RICA CUSTOMERS, you will need a shipping service that provides you a U.S. address like Atenas Webshop or Costa Rica Shipping with both getting the package to Atenas and if picking up in Alajuela is no problem, Aeropost is a little faster because they have their own daily planes. All three of these give you a Miami Address to use on your orders.

Check out the new: Suggested Images for ART PRINTS gallery:

CLICK IMAGE of this first page to go there!

¡Pura Vida!

A Humorous Article (in English) from Tico Times:

20 Things I Do Living in Costa Rica That I’d Never Do in the USA

Now it is not me writing, but it tells a lot about life for one expat from the states living here, and of course not everything applies to me! I do not have a car, I don’t drink alcohol, and though I like beans and rice I don’t eat them every morning for breakfast! 🙂 But it is still an interesting article supposedly about the life of one North American expat living here and the relaxed culture that many Americans adopt here! And one thing that is like him, I too live in T-shirt and shorts all day every day! 🙂

¡Retired in Costa Rica!

¡Pura Vida!

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U.S. & Other Countries’ Butterflies

It’s fun to “REDISCOVER” what you already have! A new collection of photo galleries has been created in my big main gallery, to display butterfly photos I made in other countries before moving to Costa Rica, especially during my last 10 years in the USA, where I found that I had old photos for 64 species! Not as many in other countries visited, particularly since I was not focused on butterflies back then! 🙂 There is a main “folder” Gallery for “other countries” with country galleries in that or in the case of the U.S., another folder with Taxonomy Family folders for a lot more butterflies! These new galleries are organized as follows . . .

CLICK this gallery image to go there!

Here’s three samples of the photos in these galleries . . .

Continue reading “U.S. & Other Countries’ Butterflies”
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2 Art Museums Saturday

This past Saturday I went on a van with a group from the Art House Atenas to visit two art museums in San Jose (and there are many more!). The first was the National Museum of Costa Rican Art where all the exhibits are rotating except for the statue garden. Then after a lunch in the city, we visited the world-famous Jade Museum in San Jose which of course has a lot of jade carvings, but is more about Pre-Columbian Art and culture.

I have a gallery completed of photos of some of the art with my cell phone camera which is allowed in both museum as long as you don’t use a flash. The feature photo is from the “Dark Valley” exhibit by Costa Rican Adrián Arguedas Ruano, mostly of traditional uses of masks here in the earlier indigenous cultures, though my favorite CR exhibit was “Dream World” by Costa Rican Flora Sáenz Langlois with her nature paintings of what she calls her “Magical Forests”(one below). And my favorite things in the Jade were the pottery or ceramic work and the human indigenous panoramas of pre-Columbian life.

I’ve seen both museums in the past, but there is always something new and enjoyable about any museum visit! 🙂

One of the “Magical Forest” paintings by Langlois at the National Costa Rican Art Museum.

See more photos in the gallery: 2024 Jan 17 – Two Museums or there are 3 more shots below as samples . . .

Continue reading “2 Art Museums Saturday”
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#1 Best Travel Destination AND #1 Best Place to Retire!

No big surprise for those of us who live here, but Costa Rica was named as the #1 Travel Destination for 2024 by Travel & Leisure Magazine AND the International Living Magazine and organization simultaneously named Costa Rica as the #1 Best Place to Retire in 2024! Read about it in Travel & Leisure. Or on International Living website.

View from my cabin at Playa Cativo Lodge, Piedras Blancas NP, Costa Rica. And feature photo is a Keel-billed Toucan in my garden in Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.

For someone who made what a few American friends back in Nashville thought was a radical or crazy decision to move here in 2014, these announcements confirm the good decision I made back then! :-)

And these rankings are a good celebration of my 9 years of living in Costa Rica (as of December 24, 2023 — 2+ weeks ago). And my survival of cancer a celebration of the excellent healthcare here! Plus there is no better place for a nature lover and nature photographer like me! Tell your nature-lover friends to follow my blog to see what it is like to be “Retired in Costa Rica!” :-)

¡Pura Vida!

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Madre Verde Butterflies!

Yesterday was the last morning birding hike with my friend from British Columbia and Walter took us to a new nature reserve for me, Reserva Madre Verde near Palmares which is north of Atenas, a 30 minute drive through beautiful mountains (or maybe hills). :-)

Our two hour hike up & down a hill had a 300 meter rise in altitude was good for us 80-somethings! We heard lots of birds but in a fairly thick forest we did not see as many as the other two birding hikes. I got photos of only 3 birds – BUT – I’m still happy because I got photos of 9 different species of butterflies, which took me all afternoon to identify and process the photos AND I got 3 new species for me! :-) So a very good 2-hour hike! Below is a gallery with one shot of each of the 9 butterflies after this one shot for the email version of post . . .

Tiger Mimic-White, Reserva Madre Verde, Palmares, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Madre Verde Butterflies!”
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Hotel Savegre Grounds & Gardens

Just one photo that is linked to my Trip Gallery Grounds & Gardens Sub-Gallery with more photos and then in a few days I will share some really beautiful flowers, but this week has become overwhelming and I will be a few days later processing my flower photos with a guest from Canada here, medical lab work tomorrow at the National Hospital de Geriatria in San Jose, a trip to a new nature reserve for me Thursday with my Canadian friend and removing all my stuff from the Galería on Saturday. A really full week! But I see tranquility in next week! :-)

Just one corner of many gardens! CLICK IMAGE for more photos.

¡Pura Vida!

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Going Out of Business Sale!

This is my last week (8-13 January) in the Galería Artenas in the Calle 2 Plaza next to Linea Vital Medical Plaza. Everything there is available below my cost and I will no longer be selling my photo art directly in Atenas or anywhere else except for awhile the photo greeting cards will be available at Hotel Colinas del Sol (after 13 January).

Everything else I have been selling will continue to be available online through links above on this website, charliedoggett.net, in my Gallery, Bookstore, and CafePress “Costa Rica Photo Art!” Happy shopping! :-)

And for the last time this week you can see and touch before you buy as you help me clear out my inventory at Galería Artenas! :-)

Floral Accent Pillows available now at Galería Artenas!
Wall Art Available Now at Galería Artenas!

Nature as Art

¡Pura Vida!