Sun Setting on 2018 & My Celebration Begins!

The above photo is one of my sunsets at Manuel Antonio National Park in 2015, my first year here! I go back to celebrate 4 years living here! Photographing new birds and other animals, walking forest trails and one of the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica, getting one or more relaxation massages, and eating gourmet food every day for a week as I create more Costa Rica Nature Photos! That is my kind of Christmas Celebration and I anticipate a fabulous week! Here’s one of the resort’s several videos:

Or browse the Si Como No Website   —   This is living!   🙂

3-toed Sloth I photographed there in 2015.

Retired in Costa Rica 4 Years Christmas Celebration

Starts Tomorrow, 21 December 2018

¡Pura Vida!

Merry Christmas!

Keel-billed Toucan visiting for breakfast – my home terrace one morning.

HAPPY, HAPPY – – – to you and your family, friends, and communities this Christmas! While some of you enjoy a White Christmas, I will be enjoying the beaches and rainforests of Manuel Antonio National Park and the private Wildlife Refuge of Si Como No Resort there.   – – – HAPPY, HAPPY!    🙂

¡Pura Vida!

New “Murals Parking Lot”

Earlier I showed a photo of one side that was being painted as a mural, but had no idea it would become like this and it appears to be nearly finished. Click an image to see it larger and/or start a manual slide show:

Atenas is a small rural town where people expect to park on the street, but as it has grown and gained a lot of rich foreigners with multiple cars, parking lots are becoming necessary, though people everywhere are slow to adapt. This colorful place to park should help those not wanting to change and pay to park. It is colorful like our beautiful little town. See also the “old town” in the video below in the right column, titled “Atenas: Best Weather in the World.”  A cool place to live!

¡Pura Vida!

 

Book of Haiku Poetry

Click image or address below for electronic preview for free.

http://www.blurb.com/b/9093011-costa-rica-haiku

I have been playing around with writing Haiku about Costa Rica Nature for nearly 3 years now and this is my little collection of poems, each printed on one of my photos. I’m not a poet, but it was fun to do and I may continue trying from time to time. I write the American 2-3-2 syllables style of Haiku but like the original Japanese Haiku they only describe nature.

¡Pura Vida!

Rancho Humo: The Book

Check out the free electronic preview of all pages of my latest Costa Rica photo book at: http://www.blurb.com/b/9079446-rancho-humo  or click the book cover image below. Use “full screen mode” to best see these photo pages. I think my books & photos are getting a little better.  🙂

Front Cover of Book  –  click for preview
Back Cover of Book  –  click to see larger

 

Charlie Doggett – Retired in Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Last Morning Walk at Rancho

Thursday the 15th my driver drove back from Atenas to Rancho Humo and joined me for lunch before we drove back to Atenas. Before breakfast I caught the sunrise, el amanecer, then walked around the ranch one more time. Here are some of the photos I made on my last morning walk there as a slideshow.

Morning Walk 15 November 2018, Rancho Humo, Costa Rica

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Sunrise from my room, 15 November 2018

 

Hotel’s 2 Minute Video Says it All!

¡Pura Vida!

Another day of “Retired in Costa Rica” with Charlie Doggett!

Why would anyone retire anywhere else?   🙂

Palo Verde National Park Visit

There is plenty to see and photograph on the 5,000+ acres of Rancho Humo, birds, other wildlife, and scenery! But across the river from the ranch is another wonderful and large Costa Rica park: Palo Verde National Park.

Costa Rica is blessed with many national parks and wildlife reserves, more than 25% of country’s total land!  This park is a combination of Tropical Dry Forest, the Tempisque River and its surrounding wetlands which bloom with wildlife.

 

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I float down the river for a different experience in the park. But here are 3 slideshows for what was seen on Tuesday on a 6 km hike and posting here on Wednesday. Will post boat trip later today or tomorrow.

Birds in Palo Verde National Park

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Other Wildlife in Palo Verde National Park

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Views Surrounding Us in Palo Verde National Park

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New Friends on My Afternoon Walk

My 4 pm afternoon walk ended up being partly with a young couple from Germany who checked in the hotel today along with a separate American couple, so I no longer get all the attention of the staff!   🙂    This German couple are going with me on the hike into the national park tomorrow morning.

My other new friends were a group of Yellow-naped Parrots that live only in the Northwest of Costa Rica and thus my first time to see. They are also popular for pets and thus now endangered, so a really good photo find and a “Lifer” for me. Click the name link above for Cornell University’s Neotropical Birds article with map of the few places they still live in the wild and a recording of their sounds which I heard live today. This kind of wildness is going to disappear one of these days if humans don’t change their ways.

Yellow-naped Parrot, Rancho Humo Estancia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Yellow-naped Parrot, Rancho Humo Estancia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!