Well, we had a real sunset tonight, so that will be a separate post a little later. Here’s the representatives of daytime today . . .
Later tonight I will have some sunset photos to share.
¡Pura Vida!
A Bird, A Bug & A Bouquet
Second Day Report
I woke up to rain this morning which continued until after breakfast when it cleared off and was mostly a hot, sunny day as you can expect some of the time on the coast. 🙂 The below photo is what the ocean view looked like just AFTER breakfast. All afternoon I hoped for a clear skies sunset but around 4pm the clouds and rain starting moving in. Below this ocean image is a gallery with a couple of birds (12 species today!), one butterfly and one tree from a wonderful walk in the rainforest this morning plus my effort at a sunset photo again this evening in the rain. 🙂
A Cloudy-Rainy Start
When I got here about 11 this morning it was cloudy and lightly raining and it stayed that way all day as you can see in the photos below, but at sunset I managed to capture a little bit of light through the clouds and by saturating the color in the photo it almost looks like a sunset! 🙂
Flight Photos
One of the fun things about some of my trips is getting to fly in a small plane. Though I almost had to hire a taxi to drive down today because yesterday I got an email from Sansa Airlines telling me my flight to Palmar Sur was canceled. But fortunately when I called Sansa they had one seat left on the 9 am to Quepos which is a little bit further from Uvita, but okay – an hour taxi drive which is better than 4 hours drive from Atenas. 🙂
I always keep my cellphone camera busy on these little short 30 minute flights. Here’s 5 of the many shots I made:
Why I’m Traveling with Covid Up?
With the huge increase of Covid Omicron engulfing the U.S. and other parts of the world, you may wonder why I risk traveling here in Costa Rica? At least 7 reasons:
- Covid is not increasing here but down to near nothing.
- We have a VACCINATION MANDATE for all of Costa Rica (Biden tried, Republicans said no). I have a cool code on my phone showing proof of vaccination + a printed version & my vaccination card.
- All our adults and teens are vaccinated now and the children in process and adults are in process for their 3rd or booster shot, with no one allowed in the country without proof of vaccination (2 shots minimum) or into some business here and in all after Jan. 8.
- MASK MANDATE is still in effect for anywhere outside your home!
- HAND WASHING is required to enter any business anywhere in Costa Rica.
- 1.8 METER DISTANCING (6 feet) is required anywhere outside your home!
- Costa Ricans listen to science and do what our Health Ministry says to do with no stupid American Republican Party fighting it. What a great place to live! 🙂
My Christmas Treat
Tomorrow morning early I fly Sansa south to the Palmar Sur Airport south of Uvita and then back north by car to Uvita where I’m doing a repeat visit to the Hotel Cristal Ballena (Hotel site link) on a hill overlooking Uvita’s Whale-watching bay on the Pacific Coast (feature photo & one below). I will not be quite as active as I was on my last trip there: 2019-September 13-21–Cristal Ballena, Uvita (link to my trip gallery). The photos from then will show you what a wonderful place it is to just hang out at the hotel and hike in their private rainforest not to mention all the nearby sights! December-February is the time for Humpback Whales from South America to be there, so I might get to see & photo one! 🙂
And here’s just two of the wildlife I photographed from my room terrace last time . . .
Continue reading “My Christmas Treat”Bye to My Garden for a Few Days
The Yellow Bells have started blooming and maybe the Triquitraque will be when I return with two little blooms already. My stone indigenous guard will watch over all while I’m gone! 🙂 It is always a pleasure to return to my own garden, a different pleasure than the adventure of travel. I love both!
Church Christmas Décor
At the Catholic Church Central Park, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
There is an inside manger scene to the right of altar, but people were praying in that area and I did not want to disturb them.
My Atenas Catholic Church GALLERY.
My 2021 Christmas Photos GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!
Strangler Fig
I daily encounter the huge Strangler Fig Tree by my house and almost daily the one on the road in front of my house by the cow pasture. The Wikipedia article gives the broader information about the many different tropical ficus trees with the common name of “Strangler Fig.” I am not able to identify which ficus tree it is in my yard and down the road by the cow pasture. They both seem to be typical of others I’ve seen on my travels across the country, but I will not try to guess the species and online searches only confuses me inf my ID effort! 🙂
The feature photo at top is the horizontal view of the one in my yard as seen from the corner of my terrace and below is a vertical shot from my terrace and another from within my yard closer. Though you cannot see it in these photos, it, like all this species, strangled a smaller tree that now has just one limb living. It will likely also overtake another little tree between it and the street.
Costa Rica Brown Skipper
Or one of the many other brown skippers! 🙂 This one was on the glass-top table on my terrace this morning and I snapped him/her with my cellphone. Interesting and my first for this particular species.
