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I generally walk to town three or four days a week, 3-4 km+, and love every step of the way. On the same walk I photographed that new building in yesterday’s post, I also phone-snapped these two flowers in the yards of houses that have not yet been torn down for a new modern building! 🙂
My Flora & Forest Gallery
¡Pura Vida!
In some cases the berries are the buds for the flower and in other cases they seem to be separate from the flower. So I snapped these two flower plants in my garden with berries right now.
¡Pura Vida!
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And then there is my Photo Gallery Flora & Forest CR
After breakfast on the terrace 2 juvenile Chachalacas were playing in my Guarumo Tree, so I got up and retrieved my camera, coming back to empty tree limbs – they flew away! 🙂 And that was to be today’s post, but you can see lots of them in my Chachalaca Gallery. 🙂
So then I walked through the main part of my garden looking for butterflies and the one I saw would never stop for a photo, so as happens so often, I photographed flowers. I love the tropical flowers here! And yes, all are repeats but today’s flowers were each a delight to me this morning anyway and a lot prettier than Chachalacas! 🙂
More flowers in my Flora & Forest Gallery!
¡Pura Vida!
I’m happy to announce that the trip report photo book from my visit to El Silencio Lodge is finished and now available for you to preview electronically for free or order a copy if you like! 🙂 It’s 60 pages with 97 photos of a truly incredible place! See it in my Blurb Bookstore at https://www.blurb.com/b/10309436-el-silencio.
Feature photo is front cover and the back cover is below:
“God is the friend of Silence. See how nature — trees, flowers, grass — grows in silence . . .
We need silence . . . to touch souls.”
~Mother Teresa
¡Pura Vida!
The El Silencio Lodge & Reserve is a very special and unique place! And I say that having spent nights in more than 45 lodges & hotels in Costa Rica. For service, food, room quality, and the natural surroundings it is definitely now in my top 3 favorite lodges and maybe even my #1 favorite! (Remember – different lodges have different priorities!) And also it is my most expensive! 🙂 But with waterfalls like La Promesa at right near your cabin, it is worth almost any price! 🙂 And of course nothing is perfect . . .
My only two complaints at checkout were that the bathroom sink drained slowly because the stopper was installed incorrectly (CR is not famous for great plumbers) and the gourmet chef who served great food served me limp, lightly cooked bacon. Bacon must be crisp in my book! 🙂 Though, in his defense, the night I asked for a well-done steak, he did that very well! 🙂 And I had not specifically asked for the bacon to be crispy! (Had I, it probably would have been! Never assume nothin’!))
I mainly walked, but they have golf carts and drivers who will pick you up anytime, day or night and take you anywhere on campus free of charge! They also have two fleets of bicycles you can use for free, with a handful actually electric! Then they have several vans to take you off-campus to outside waterfalls or other attractions like Poas Volcano, two national parks, birding trips as far as Cañon Negro included with the cost of a guide for the trip. But believe me – there’s enough to do on campus to fill a week easily and their 3 beautiful waterfalls are as good or better than the two outside ones I paid extra to see! But still glad I saw them!
With nature my focus, I don’t get a lot of hotel shots, but here are a few with a separate gallery for my room or villa shots . . .
Going to the mountains is like going home.
—John Muir
My Trip Gallery: 2020 El Silencio Lodge & Reserve
¡Pura Vida!
Silent at El Silencio Lodge & Reserve in Costa Rica and all are wild flowers with only 3 of these having been planted and cultivated near the buildings. CLICK an image to enlarge.
“A flower does not use words to announce its arrival to the world; it just blooms.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
My Gallery FLORA & FOREST
Or see THIS TRIP GALLERY: 2020 El Silencio Lodge & Reserve
¡Pura Vida!
“To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.” – Mary Davis
Just a few shots of walking around El Silencio Lodge & Reserve, Bajos del Toro Amarillo, Costa Rica.
By discovering nature, you discover yourself. ~Maxime Lagacé
¡Pura Vida!
See my other Costa Rica Vistas and/or my 2020 El Silencio Trip Gallery.
The El Silencio Hummingbird Garden is like mine, no feeders, just flowers. And also like mine, there is a dominant hummingbird species that chases many of the others away from the garden and they just go to other flowers on the grounds. I only found three species in the official Hummingbird Garden, though I saw, but did not photograph, others around the grounds. Their dominant bird here is the Purple-throated Mountain Gem, but the tiny Scintillant and the Black-bellied Hummingbirds seem to hang in there with the Mountain Gems! And I photographed bees here! 🙂
CLICK an image to see larger:
I still have 10 other bird species I photographed and hope to post soon. See also my CR Birds photo gallery for all I have photographed here in 5.5 years. The Black-bellied Hummingbird and Scintillant are “lifers” for me and I got 2 other lifers in the next batch of 10 birds I will post soon. 4 lifers in one trip is very good now with my CR count up to 349! 🙂
Or see THIS TRIP GALLERY: 2020 El Silencio Lodge & Reserve.
¡Pura Vida!
With the Hummingbird Garden here dominated by two species of hummingbirds (at home, just one now), it was nice to see these bees in that garden. I’ll share hummers later.
¡Pura Vida!
See my Bees Gallery.
Or see THIS TRIP GALLERY: 2020 El Silencio Lodge & Reserve.
Okay, for you Spanish readers, yes, that says “The Twins” Waterfall and thus you may ask, “Where is the second one?” Well . . . sometimes my better judgement overrules my sense of adventure. We had already hiked about 4 km and waded across the ice cold, rock-strewn river with Bryan, my personal guide, helping me wade across the slippery rocks just to get this photo of the biggest of the twins. To see the other one we would have had to wade up a separate stream of slippery rocks to the left of the bottom of this falls maybe 50 meters. Bryan had already said “I can’t believe I’m helping an 80 year old do this hike!” He was doubting the wisdom of going further and after nearly slipping down more than once. I did too! But I was thankful that I could make the hike solo with my excellent young masked guide who was perfect for me in every way! Most of the holiday weekend crowd have gone. We have a max of 9 guests the rest of the week, so very tranquilo! Which I prefer! 🙂 And yes, I love this place! Already another favorite and I have so many favorites in Costa Rica. Here’s just a few shots of the Las Gemelas Falls Hike and notice that weird V-shaped bridge over one of the streams, like none I’ve seen before:
See my Waterfalls Gallery for more Costa Rica Waterfalls.
Or see THIS TRIP GALLERY: 2020 El Silencio Lodge & Reserve.
¡Pura Vida!
