charliedoggett.net
Cloudy Four-thirty Dark soon
“The sun always shines above the clouds.”
~Paul F. Davis
¡Pura Vida!
For reading my blog! One of my host services just informed me that last month, July, I had over 2,000 views, 89 comments and 157 “Likes” with only other WordPress Bloggers having a “Like” button. So thank you for paying attention to an old man’s ramblings while retired in the natural paradise of Costa Rica! ¡Pura Vida!
Not sure why I didn’t shoot the road! 🙂 But I guess the surrounding farmland and hills captivated me too much. Here’ a few favorite vistas:
I must admit that I was more focused on butterflies than birds when we walked Calle Balsilla last week, plus we were later getting there which means fewer birds, but I did get these 4 bird species along with my 11 species of butterflies! 🙂
Interesting that the above dove is the only bird I photographed that was not totally black in color! 🙂
Continue reading “Calle Balsilla Birds”
Judith LaBelle introduced me to a new “country road” in Atenas the other day that is likely better for birding! But, because of car trouble, we got there later than planned, with not as many birds photographed (only 4) which I will share tomorrow, but I was wowed by the butterflies flitting along the side of the road when no farmer riding a horse was going by. 🙂
It’s on the other side of Ruta 27 by the Tarcoles River after the dam or after Rio Grande has become Rio Tarcoles. There is a small rural community known as Balsilla de Mora, centered around a church by that name in Atenas Canton that includes some people living over the nearby province line in San Jose Province adjacent to our Alajuela Province. Farming people don’t pay much attention to canton and province lines! 🙂
I’m featuring this neat unidentified butterfly that was our trip target and then 10 more butterflies below it for a total of 11, including 4 new species for me! 🙂 And I’m thankful to Judy who saw this same butterfly on her last trip there and took me back looking for it. There is never a guarantee of repeat sightings of birds or butterflies, but, just as we were leaving, we saw it! I still can’t find it in my books or on the internet, but will keep trying for an ID! 🙂 There’s 1,500+ butterfly species in Costa Rica!
I can’t seem to quit photographing the clouds on the hills opposite my terrace! 🙂 See many other better vistas from my terrace in my gallery titled: From My Roca Verde Terrace! The vistas from my terrace are just one of the many blessings I have from my decision to color my sunset years “Retired in Costa Rica.” The two shown here were made on different days, June 2 & 15, one zoomed in on the distant clouds with my Tamron zoom lens and the second one with my cell phone camera. 🙂
Go to the top of my GALLERY and browse through many topics including especially my TRIPS galleries (my favorites) to see many more reasons I enjoy Costa Rica beyond the vistas!
“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”
~Rabindranath Tagore
¡Pura Vida!
I’ve decided that two weeks of posts on this lodge may be enough, so I’m referring everyone to the gallery which has been ready awhile. Because of so many amazing flowers in their gardens, I may someday go back to more posts on them, but for now other photos from my life in nature in Costa Rica. You may click the image of gallery to go to the gallery or use this link:
https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2022-April-3-8-Guayabo-Lodge
¡Pura Vida!
Or check out ALL MY COSTA RICA TRAVELS.
Because it is actively erupting now you cannot go in the park near the craters, but my driver took me and Stijn the high road from Irazú to near the top of Turrialba and then around through the farms to the bottom and back to Guayabo Lodge. The big thing to me was how many vegetable gardens or fields of vegetables were growing on the side of the volcano with the rich volcanic ash. I noticed especially a lot of onions, carrots, squash and leafy green vegetables – and I’m sure there’s many others.
Yes – that’s rather surprising! Especially this Irazú Volcano, the highest in Costa Rica and usually above the clouds as seen in one of the following photos or the feature photo at top. As the highest, it is the only volcano from which you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on a clear day, though not a clear day while I was there. 🙂
Irazú has two craters, one inactive and one occasionally mildly active, with sometimes both craters filling with water in the rainy season (not now) to form beautiful lakes. But the biggest surprise to me was the number and variety of flowers and other plants, even trees around both craters and “the beach,” a large, flat sandy, desert-like area above both craters with hills going above that, all with plants growing on them!
And as I will denote tomorrow in my post on the neighboring Turrialba Volcano, the land below an active volcano grows great vegetables with the soil enriched by the regular deposits of the rich volcanic ash! 🙂 When it erupts during the windy dry season (Dec-Mar) I get some of that rich ash on my garden and even as dust all over my furniture at less than a hundred air miles away! 🙂
With over 2000 species of spiders in Costa Rica, it is hard to identify many of them and my internet search did not help find an ID for this guy that I photographed at the Guayabo Lodge, Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica. There are many kinds of Tarantulas and I’m reasonably sure he is in that family. He was a little smaller than the palm of my hand, so not a large Tarantula.
¡Pura Vida!
And I’ll get to my bird photos eventually, just too many photos to process. 🙂 And of course I have a Spiders Gallery! 🙂
Three different bees that I have not tried to identify yet from my time at Guayabo Lodge, near Turrialba, Costa Rica through yesterday.
And for those who have written about my health, I went to Clinica Linea Vital for a checkup yesterday and an added visit to Santa Sophia Clinic for x-rays. Plus I got two shots and Rx’s for inflammation, swelling and something else she noted that will relieve my pains. So I do try to take care of myself, even if clumsy in my old age! 🙂
ON THE LODGE’S FARM . . .
AND . . .
Continue reading “Bees at Irazú & Guayabo Lodge”