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By name and by color, the rainforest sparkles with these emeralds . . .
My Gallery of Emerald Basilisks (lots of good shots!)
My Gallery of Emerald Toucanets. (lots of good shots!)
EMERALD
Signifying nature and new beginnings,
Emerald stands for renewal and health,
its powerful attributes help to ground us,
refreshing and regenerating our minds.
from the internet
¡Pura Vida!
“If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.”
― Hal Borland
¡Pura Vida!
And more of my December 2020 at Caño Negro Reserva:
The Landscapes! – AND – The Birds!
HEALTH UPDATE: Yesterday morning I had my Covid Test and by last night an email report that it is negative as required – my last pre-operation requirement completed until leaving my house at 5:15 AM Monday morning. 🙂
To be in a forest may be my favorite activity in Costa Rica, like looking out over the forest below at Arenal Volcano National Park . . .
Or seeing the inter-connectedness of everything in the forest like Jane Goodall says in this minute and a half YouTube Video:
Or to know that I’ve helped save an endangered globe by Planting One Tree! Check out that link for how you can plant a tree in parts of the world needing them most, OR go plant one in your own backyard or nearby park! 🙂
🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Check out this National Geographic Traveler Article online listing Costa Rica as #2 on their list of Best of the World: eight sustainable destinations for 2021 and beyond.
The above photo is one of mine from Drake Bay since Nat Geo used their Drake Bay photo and I think mine is just about as good! 🙂 It’s sunrise from Aguila de Osa Lodge and the full post online also has my Drake Bay snorkeling photo. 🙂
And for those email recipients who won’t click the magazine link above, I copied the CR part of the article into my full blog post on my site, just click below . . .
Continue reading “Costa Rica: “Best of the World!””
Just in time! The night before I leave on another trip I finished my photos from the Christmas 2020 trip to Arenal Observatory Lodge with more than 50 species of birds! And 5 are lifers for me! Plus a whole lot of other photos from this favorite lodge. For now the birds are presented alphabetically by their English Common Name. Later I will make time to arrange by species families according to my birding guide book. Overall I’m pleased with this collection of photos and moving on to the next collection! 🙂 To see gallery CLICK above link or the image below:
¡Pura Vida!
The several swinging bridges at Arenal Observatory Lodge connecting the many trails are a lot more secure than those rope bridges we made in Boy Scouts, but just as thrilling! 🙂 Here’s some shots of two of the hanging bridges I hiked over during my Arenal Visit Christmas Week. CLICK an image to see larger . . .
“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.”
― Douglas Adams
I don’t plan or intend to have trips just 3 weeks apart! It takes me longer than that to process the photos! 🙂
But because I had to reschedule this next trip, originally set for a March-April overlap week, just as the Pandemic was taking over . . . Soooo I told them to “reschedule it around the middle of January, not thinking about my Christmas trip – But anyway . . . I’m shifting gears from a rainforest at the base of a volcano to a cooler Cloud Forest in San Gerardo de Dota, starting tomorrow at the Savegre Hotel and Nature Reserve. (NOTE: their website is under reconstruction and only the home page shows for now.
This is one of the lodges I stayed in on my first trip to Costa Rica in 2009. It’s the best place in the world to see and photograph the Resplendent Quetzal bird. And the coldest place I’ve been in Costa Rica with fireplaces used at night. Since no rain in January, it is a little warmer at 13° C or 54° F average low to high of 27°C or 81°F, but hey guys! I freeze to death here in Atenas when it gets down in the 60’s F. 🙂
The new lodge website linked above is under construction, so instead of their photos, you can see my photo galleries of 3 previous visits, all a very long time ago 🙂 . . .
¡Pura Vida!
I enjoy photographing all of nature so much that it is difficult to stop or reduce the number of photos I share on this blog and I know that fewer can be better and simpler but here I go again, with only one more blog post on Arenal tomorrow, then I will begin another photo adventure – so get ready for more but different nature! 🙂 And the above feature photo is the morning walk guide explaining the Breadfruit Tree with a close-up of a breadfruit in “Other Nature Shots” below. And yes, it is edible, mostly by monkeys but some humans cook it and use with other more tasty foods. 🙂
“Choose only one master—nature.”
~Rembrandt
My Related Photo Galleries: Flora & Forest or inside it Lichens, Leaves & Nature Things! 🙂
And the LODGE WEBSITE for Arenal Observatory Lodge.
¡Pura Vida!
Towering above me, ever-present, at Arenal Observatory Lodge – TREES! – – – Just one of so many reasons I love the Observatory! I still haven’t mastered how to photograph the beauty and grandeur of trees, but will keep trying. Here’s a few of my shots and you might be interested also in their own website/blog article The Rainbow Trees of Arenal by my friend & fellow Atenas resident, Shannon Farley. Rainbow Eucalyptus trees (Eucalyptus deglupta) were a part of the award-winning sustainable hotel’s reforestation program along with many more native trees in this natural rainforest area.
“A tree is our most intimate contact with nature.”
― George Nakashima
¡Pura Vida!
And maybe My CR Trees Gallery for many more!
Part of my bigger Flora & Forest Gallery
Here’s a few views of the big lake below Arenal Volcano. There is a boat taxi that will take you across the lake to a car taxi that will take you up that mountain to Monteverde. The lake is also a favorite for local fishermen. My May 2018 trip here gave me better sunset photos of the lake – time of year does make a difference!
CLICK an image to see larger:
¡Pura Vida!
I thought I had more different views than this but it is no longer new to me, so didn’t take as many photos and the one I took from the butterfly garden didn’t take so here’s 2 from my room, one from a hotel garden and one from the road in front of the Butterfly Conservatory.
¡Pura Vida!
