Category: Atenas

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Maraca Plant Blooming

My “Maraca” plant as it is called in Costa Rica or “Shampoo Ginger” in Asia and the states in English has greatly grown with many multiple plants and now a first bloom for this year. Both photos are from the hill above my garden because the bloom is difficult to see from the walkway. I expect more blooms soon. This one was hidden by my ground-cover and spreading ferns until the gardeners cleaned them out (mixed feelings about that!).    Zingiber Spectablis

Maraca Plant zoomed in at 300 mm

Maraca Plant zoomed out at 75 mm

The following description is from:
https://livingfarmacy.wordpress.com/herb-identification/the-gingers/

Maracas

Shampoo Ginger, Zingiber zerumbet

Pharacology: carminative, digestive aid

In Hawaii the spicy-smelling fresh rhizomes was at one time pounded and used as medicine for indigestion and other ailments. To ease a stomach ache, the ground and strained rhizome material was mixed with water and drunk.  External: In traditional medicine, the rhizome was ground in a stone mortar with a stone pestle and mixed with a ripe Noni fruit to treat severe sprains. The pulp was placed in a cloth and loosely bound around the injured area.  For a toothache or a cavity, the cooked and softened rhizome was pressed into the hollow and left for as long as was needed. Perhaps the most common use of the plant is as a shampoo and conditioner for the hair. The clear slimy juice present in the mature flower heads is excellent for softening and bringing shininess to the hair. It can be left in the hair or rinsed out.  Hawaiian women often pick or cut the flowerheads of this plant in the forest, as they approach a pool or waterfall for a refreshing summer bath, leave the flowers atop a nearby rock, and then squeeze the sweet juices into their hair and over their bodies when the swim is completed .
And a better photo on Project Noah at http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/77046013
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Chrysina Beetle

Chrysina Beetle
On my terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

Chrysina Beetle
On my terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

The identification is not certain but the closest name I could find for this guy who was dead for my morning sweep of the terrace. He appears to be one of the Scarab Beetles and the closest match photo online was a Chrysina. They also get upside-down or on their back when they are alive and it is funny to watch them try so hard to turn over. Sometimes they never make it. If I have the porch light on very long I get a lot of these and other beetles and other kinds of bugs. Beetles are the most numerous category of insects in Costa Rica.  
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Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo
My Garden in Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

Yellow-billed Cuckoo
My Garden in Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

This is another “first” bird for me which I saw today in a Yellow Bell Tree by my terrace. I had to share it first! Tomorrow I will explain why I went a week without a post. Then some more catch up!

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Smashed Fer-de-Lance in My Street

The markings are very similar to a deadly Fer de Lance snake. Not positive.
On a walk through the neighborhood we saw this on street in front of my house.

Thought you would like this post the day after my”Al fresco Living” post!   🙂

Panic over a snake does not help anyone. Generally they are more afraid of people than we are of them is my belief. This is only the 4th snake I have seen anywhere in Costa Rica in 18 months! And I have been in several national parks where they are known to be more common. Common sense caution is my preferred way to react to something like this. So far no problem! Hope never! And if one ever does get in my house I will be asking the landlord for a screen door on my garden door.  🙂

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Alfresco Living

Simple Definition of alfresco
·     : in the open air
Source: Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary

And that is how I live in Costa Rica – in the open air all of the time! 

The terrace is my favorite room, totally outside with roof, so good in rain!

Living Room Dining Room is always open air during the day.
The sliding glass doors stay open all day when at home. I close at night. 

Inside all windows stay open all the time day and night, They have screens.
Every room in the house is like living outside.
And my “front door” or really garden door stays open during the day.
There is no screen on it. The sliding doors have sliding screens, seldom used
except at night, after dark to before bed when I lock both outside doors. 

Yes, I get lots of bugs! You learn to live with them if you like alfresco living! I’ve had three birds inside the house and they eventually fly out. No other animals yet and I will not worry about snakes. Neighbor dogs are a bigger nuisance! And I have had two of those come in my house.

I sleep at night with two windows open in my bedroom with screens. I have ceiling fans, but do not need at night. They feel good in warm afternoons but not needed when raining. In Fahrenheit it is in the 60’s every night year around and in 70’s and low 80’s in the daytime year around, one reason I chose Central Valley over the coasts. It is always hot and humid on both coasts! We never need air conditioning which I do not have, but on the coast you really need it! The apartments I was in for 4 months had a/c but really not needed. Most houses here do not have air conditioning. ¡Mejor Clima del Mundo! The best weather in the world, the PR slogan for Atenas. A perfect place for alfresco living!

“I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.” –Henry David Thoreau


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One of 270+ Species of Dragonflies Here!

Dragonfly resting on my terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica.
I looked through hundreds of photos online and could not identify.

“Costa Rica is home to more than 500,000 species, which represents nearly 4% of the total species estimated worldwide, making Costa Rica one of the 20 countries with the highest biodiversity in the world. Of these 500,000 species, a little more than 300,000 are insects.

“Costa Rica is considered to possess the highest density of biodiversity of any country worldwide.[3] While encompassing just one third of a percent of Earth’s landmass, approximately the size of West Virginia, Costa Rica contains four percent of species estimated to exist on the planet.[4] Hundreds of these species are endemic to Costa Rica, meaning they exist nowhere else on earth. These endemic species include frogs, snakes, lizards, finches, hummingbirds, gophers, mice, cichlids, and gobies among many more.[5]

“Costa Rica’s biodiversity can be attributed to the variety of ecosystems within the country. Tropical rainforests, deciduous forests, Atlantic and Pacific coastline, cloud forests, and mangrove forests are all represented throughout the 19,730 square miles of Costa Rica’s landmass.[6] The ecological regions are twelve climatic zones. This variation provides numerous niches which are filled by a diversity of species.”
Copied from Wikipedia      (Emphasis in red is mine.)

“In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows.”   –Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Wednesday with The Lehning’s!

The Lehning’s and Charlie at El Restaurante La Carreta, Atenas, Costa Rica

Finally I get a photo of Tim & Joan Lehning with children Hank, Maggie and David plus me included thanks to our friendly waiter at La Carreta. Tonight, Wednesday Dinner in town at one of my favorite restaurants. 

This morning they did not have breakfast at their hotel (long story) and so I met them at El Balcon del Cafe in town for breakfast at another favorite cafe. Then we walked for about two hours through town seeing what life is like in a small coffee farming town including Joan finding a couple of items she needed at my pharmacy, Don Juan Farmacia. We walked by shops, through the central farmer’s market, bus station, by two schools two parks, through a Catholic Church and on to my house. There my friend Michael had lunch just about ready where we feasted on catered Tico Mexican food: Aztec Soup, Quesadillas, cheese sticks, chicken sticks, nachos, chips and salsas, and assorted drinks. It was fun and I think they like my house and my new cook! And gardens!
Just for their arrival today, my neighbor and artist friend Anthony Jeroski finished the bird nest for my garden that lovingly holds the glass egg created by another artist friend in Nashville, Kevin Hunter. It goes well with the bird sculpture at the opposite end of the same garden. Is my garden developing a theme?
After the kids got a little swim in before the afternoon rain, they rested and met me at La Carreta for dinner and the group photo. Then we walked a block over for ice cream at POPS. A fun and tasty Wednesday with the Lehning’s! It was a joy to have them stop by after their Machu Pichu and Costa Rica surfing trips! Tomorrow morning their taxi picks them up at 4 for the trip to airport and return to Nashville. Thanks for the visit guys!  It was great fun having you! Another good memory in Costa Rica!
Pura Vida!

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Waiting Patiently . . .

. . . for the sun to bring out their new leaves. Two trees seen from my terrace.
The fog always passes. The leaves always return.

Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting. 
~Joyce Meyer


And I’m working on patience as I do the paperwork and legwork to get my CAJA health insurance applied for. Wednesday week I go to the U.S. Embassy SS Department to get my proof of SS income. Then I take it and all my other paperwork and filled in form to the other side of San Jose and Jose Pablo Carter, my attorney, to collect my residency card and make sure I have all my paperwork correct in preparation for my July 8 CAJA appointment. Then I will see what else is needed!  🙂  It has not been easy but it will be worth it to have 100% health care coverage through my new government. Then all I will lack is a CR Driver License to get a rental car occasionally. Then no more new tourist visas every 90 days! But I am doing it at least one more time the end of June.