Category: Waterfalls

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Nauyaca Waterfalls

Wow! Nothing like it anywhere! The featured photo above is the Upper Nauyaca Falls and the one below is the Lower Nauyaca Falls & Swim Hole with my new friends from Portugal in the water before the crowds arrived.

LOWER Nauyaca Falls, Costa Rica

 

Below is a brief slide show of people in the swim hole and the truck ride up the mountain dirt road to the falls which is alone is quite an experience while others road horses or walked uphill for an hour and a half. Truck for me!    🙂

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Nauyaca Waterfalls  &  Cristal Ballena Hotel  official websites.

This trip gallery:  2019-September 13-21–Cristal Ballena, Uvita

 

“There’s no better place to find yourself than sitting by a waterfall and listening to it’s music”
― Roland R Kemler

¡Pura Vida!

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Preparing for Sunday the 15th

All the Schools Prepare for Independence Day Parade

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Escuela Central, the large main Public Elementary School’s band practices for Sunday’s parade. 

The high school bands have been practicing too with the same monotonous drum beat that it seems all the bands use. Note in the photo above two interesting facts that tell about the culture or a small town:   (1) The band director is almost a kid himself, first job out of college as a low-paid music teacher in rural elementary school.  (2) All the girls play a xylophone and all the boys play a drum, either snare or bass.   🙂   I regret that I will miss this year’s parade, but I’ve seen it several times!   🙂

My Friday Night Treat

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Every Friday night I have my one steak a week at Parrillada Androvetto which has a big platform deck overlooking the surrounding hills and the Public Cemetery above. Tonight the clouds hung low on the hills, but still no rain. Yes, it is now a semi-drought for rainy season. Met a nice young couple at Androvetto from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I like the “Small World” effect of living in Costa Rica!

Whale-Watching Starts Sunday

Sunday morning I fly to Palmar Sur and check in to the Cristal Ballena Hotel  in Uvita for the week where I will go Whale Watching on Monday for the first time in my long life and if satisfied (get whale photos) I will use the rest of the week to photo birds and a very special Nauyaca Waterfalls one day.  I drove through Uvita on the 2014 Relocation Tour and have flown over its famous “Whale’s Tail Beach” in my photo below from a Carcovado trip.

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My hotel is in this little South Pacific town and the whaling boat will probably deport at Dominical, a nearby larger town. The waterfall is up the mountain & birds everywhere!

🙂

Retired in Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Jaco-Carara -THE BOOK!

From expansive beaches to overpowering vistas and sunsets dotted with colorful tropical birds – my newest photo book captures the magic of where I live as well as any! With it my photos show the adventure of birding in three hotels just an hour from Atenas — Punta Leona Resort,  the Macaw Lodge and my recent visit to Villa Caletas, all with easy access to beaches, Carara National Park and Tarcoles River plus each having their own private forest reserve and trails. Nature at its best! All in one beautiful photo book!

You can preview the entire book electronically online at:

https://www.blurb.com/b/9601292-jaco-carara-birding-hotels

Or click the image of the book cover below:

Jaco-Carara

And if interested is purchasing a copy, Get 40% OFF through Monday 12 August by using the Discount Code LAZYDAYS4T at checkout.

Retired in Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Brilliant! The Book

Because it was a special week, I’m doing a second book on Xandari where I celebrated my birthday last week. It was such a colorful week, I titled it “Brilliant!” Follow the link to a free online preview of the book showing 82 of my photos. Or click this smaller image of the book cover below:

Brilliant Book cover
Click cover to Preview the book online.

Also see the 2019 Trip Gallery for this week. 

Or the older 2018 Xandari Trip Gallery

And my photo book for that year’s visit titled Xandari Enchanted by Nature

A truly amazing place!

Xandari Nature Resort

¡Pura Vida!

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Macaw Lodge Photo Gallery

I completed my “Trip Gallery” of the 6 nights at Macaw Lodge, Carara National Park, Costa Rica. It is another fabulous nature retreat in Costa Rica and I hope you check out some of the photos I have posted. You can click the print screen image below or this web address:  https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2019-06-18-24-Macaw-Lodge

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Click gallery page above to visit it.

“A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels.”
— Ansel Adams

Macaw Lodge Website

¡Pura Vida!

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Waterfall & Natural Spa

This morning after breakfast I hiked to the waterfall and “Natural Spa” on the lodge property. Tonight I only report on that. You never get many bird photos on thick forest trails like that one, but I did get an unusual frog that I will share later plus a lot more birds today in lodge gardens plus a fleeing Sunbittern at the waterfall! There is Wifi only in the dining room, so I’m doing one post a day just before dinner. And tonight after dinner I’m going on the night hike for probably more frogs!  🙂   Pura vida!

Trail to the Waterfall

Waterfall Slideshow

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Natural Spa

“The waterfall winks at every passerby.” 
― Marty Rubin

Macaw Lodge

¡Pura Vida!

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“3 Little Things”

Yesterday morning as I started to walk to town it was raining, thus I took a taxi. So I had to walk back from town since that is my only exercise here! With only a tiny sprinkle occasionally, I enjoyed these wet “3 little things” along the way and here are my shots of one day’s “eye candy” in little Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.

Wet Passion Flower in someone’s yard
Nasty Storm Sewer Waterfall along the way – But sort of pretty!   🙂
Central Park Progress? They keep welding more pieces to the future band shell. But now the rainy season will slow progress even more. In the meantime my landlord has nearly completed a whole house! 🙂   Our government at work! Slowly!    🙂 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Monteverde: The Book

IMG_9570-A-WEBI finished it last week but was waiting for Blurb to offer one of their discounts before I ordered my copies since I have to buy at least one copy to offer it for sale. That’s business!  🙂  I usually get about 4 copies, sending one to my host lodge/hotel and one to the birding guide I used and I’m saving a copy for some local library here in Atenas but I haven’t found the right one yet. Long story.

By including some photos from my 2016 visit to Monteverde the book has 123 photos on 78 pages with about 45 species of birds plus other animals and nature. I’m pleased with this photo book available in my bookstore at:

https://www.blurb.com/b/9427058-monteverde

FREE PAGE-BY-PAGE PREVIEW ELECTRONICALLY

Or click this cover image:

Monteverde

“My wish is to stay always like this, living quietly in a corner of nature.”
~Claude Monet

Thanks to Monet for my subtitle inspiration!

¡Pura Vida!

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For My New Hampshire Friends

New Hampshire Fall Trip, October 5, 2004
Kancamagus Highway October 5, 2004

One section of my photo gallery was recently added as Pre-Costa Rica Travel. I am slowly adding one trip at a time until it is finished, starting with my Latin American travels since that is where I live now.  🙂

But one couple living in snowy New Hampshire just left their winter visit to Atenas to return home until their trip next January which will be longer or two months next year. They are not sure yet about retiring here, but wrote to say that my blog keeps them looking forward to their annual trek here.

Well, their message reminded me of my only trip to New Hampshire which was a fall color photography trip in 2004. including lots of vistas and 22 covered bridges along with many of my other interests!  So I just got motivated (by new friends) and added this photo gallery ahead of schedule with some of my favorite fall color shots. See this “New” old travel gallery now included here – CLICK Linked Title Below:

2004 October – New Hampshire

A part of the joy of being “Retired in Costa Rica” is occasionally remembering old times and places which is something my photography and Gallery provide, along with the personal pages of my Blog/Website on the top menu above (still being developed). And of course I continue my regular reports on Costa Rica!   🙂   My first love now!

“What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.”
― Karl Lagerfeld

¡Pura Vida!