Category: Atenas

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Yellow Trees Now!

Golden Shower Tree or Cassia Fistula
On Highway 3 east of Atenas, Costa Rica

 

“Yellow Bells,” “Trumpet Bush” or officially Tecoma Stans
Zoomed in on one of the mountain sides from my front balcony

Earlier I showed orange-blooming Poro Tree around here, then the bright Pink Trumpet Tree, and there are now a bunch of yellow-blooming trees, two kinds! The first one above is an imported Asian ornamental tree that looks like a yellow lilac tree with delicate flowers hanging down, the one along the highway above. The other has clusters of bell-shaped flowers like this one off my back balcony. And remember, we are near the end of the dry season with no rain since November! Amazing!

 

Yellow Bells behind my apartment at Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas
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Clay-colored Thrush

Clay-colored Thrush
Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica

There was one of these down by the river with the howler monkeys yesterday afternoon, but this little guy landed on my balcony rail at sunset tonight. In earlier years he was called Clay-colored Robin. Yes, I posted a photo of this bird earlier, but just not as good as this one. Won’t do repeats often! Promise!

Drove the rent car to Alajuela today to pick up a letter, eat lunch at Jalapeno Central and do a test drive through the airport twice; once through the departure lane where I will deliver Berdelle and Michael Wednesday morning, then through the arrival lane for Kevin on Friday and found how to park for arrivals, so now I feel prepared and not nervous about driving there. But I still plan to avoid driving in downtown San Jose!

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Howler Monkeys Arrive!

Male Mantled Howler Monkey
Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica

And yes, that is his testicles showing above. Sorry! The Howlers arrived this morning early with their distinctive howl, like an African Lion’s growl – seriously! But I did not go out to photograph them until this evening’s howl which means shooting into the sun – not smart! Maybe I’ll get up early one morning when they start howling and get some better photos. They come on the apartments’ property every year about this time when some of the fruit starts getting ripe, though they were eating leaves this evening. We saw only two males and the female with her baby tonight.

Female and Baby Mantled Howler Monkeys
Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica

I did not photograph these from my balcony like the birds because they are down along the river in those trees which I will have to start watching more. I’ve been too busy to do as much nature photography as I thought I would do, but having fun with everything else too! I got my first tennis lesson yesterday and that might become a new activity.  🙂  Healthy!

Click to Hear the Howler Monkeys Howl.

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La Casita Vista

La Casita del Cafe Vista
On a clear day you can see the Pacific Ocean on right behind close hill.
 

I finally got to have breakfast at La Casita del Cafe, 8.7 km from my house (but with an Atenas address). It is a tiny little restaurant on the tallest mountain you can see from my balcony. It was a typical Tico breakfast of beans and rice with eggs and I added ham and chose the scrambled eggs with tomatoes and onions in them, almost as good as I make. I made the trip as my first trial run in a rent car which I got yesterday afternoon in preparation for two sets of Tennessee visitors next week. I could get spoiled having a car!  🙂

Last week Berdelle Campbell and Michael King (my Germantown friends) came in for a visit with Marcia & Craig Jervis in their lovely Uvita house on the South Pacific Coast. Their plane was delayed and got here after dark, so our planned “lunch date” didn’t happen when they left the airport. 
Berdelle and Michael are returning Wednesday and decided to come up Tuesday to visit with me before I take them to the airport Wednesday morning. They will sleep in a lovely Bed & Breakfast, Vista Atenas, with another killer view! I’ll show it later. But anyway, I needed to learn how to drive around here and get to some of the places I will be taking Kevin later next week (like La Casita) and the following week. So I got it early and find driving is not that difficult here, at least with GPS! There are not many road signs or highway labels, so you either know where you are going or you follow the GPS which thankful is included on my phone. I also found the B&B on the same highway with La Casita and found the little country coffee farm, El Toledo, on another highway that Kevin and I will be visiting next Sunday. 
Today I was unable to find a auto charger for my Samsung Galaxy s4, but was told of a place that will be open Monday here that might have it. If not, I’ll try the Walmart in Alajuela. I have gotten so used to walking and using taxis and buses, that it really feels strange having a car! I can do things at the last minute or on impulse!

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Seeing Beauty

Sunset from Charlie’s Balcony, Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
-Confucius
A little selective focus and cropping via my camera
gave me tonight’s sunset as I wanted to see it 
from my immersion in a tropical rainforest. 
It is fun seeing, experiencing beauty!
-Charlie
🙂


Moments before it was just this ordinary sunset in a small town:

I chose to remove the clutter, the noise, and find the tropical beauty I love!
Can you see where I focused as the sun dimmed a little more?
Seventeen minutes later and an effort to see beauty!



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Parrots Landed!

Crimson-fronted Parakeet
Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica

They have been flying over daily for most of my time here, but not landing where I could see them from my apartment. Then they finally did! Once! A small number landed in one of the palm trees on our apartment property for a few minutes. Not sure why they chose the palm tree. No berries that I can see. This is the largest of all parakeets, as large as most parrots, the Crimson-fronted Parakeet. It’s the same one I posted earlier from the power line out front of the apartments. But I like these shots better, more natural. All were made from my front balcony with my Canon Rebel and a 75-300mm lens, then cropped to about 1/4 the original image size for the birds to show up! None tack-sharp, but I’m satisfied after waiting so long for them to land. Later on jungle trips I may get much better shots and when we go to La Paz! I got macaws at Zoo Ave, but no parrots! Same on Tarcoles River.

Crimson-fronted Parakeets
Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica

Crimson-fronted Parakeets
Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica

Crimson-fronted Parakeet
Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica

Crimson-fronted Parakeet
Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica
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Sugarcane

Farmer bringing sugarcane to market while
I am walking up the hill to my Spanish class.

Note: I just added another fallen fruit photo to my March 7 Trodden Under Foot post, if interested. It is the Star Apple or Cainito, a purple fruit the size of an apple or orange and it fell right here in our apartments.

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Swallow

Maybe Blue & White Swallow, Bank Swallow, or even a Martin. Not sure.

Hundreds of swallows fly over every day and all around the apartments, very fast! I’ve never been able to catch one in my camera, though this is one of my best efforts. We also have Keel-billed Toucans fly over occasionally, usually in pairs and very fast! No photos! Same with the Montezuma Oropendola! And parrots and parakeet flocks which are often even higher in sky. None of these birds ever land in the trees around us. 

Church and rest today. No adventures! Back to the bank tomorrow and that will be an adventure!

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Today’s Alajuela Adventures

I travel by bus to our province’s capital every week or two, mainly for Aerocasillas & Walmart. Here’s today’s story with phone pix:

Iglesia Bautista 1946, Alajuela
I got the 9 AM bus to Alajuela ($1.43) and it got there in 30 minutes, the fastest time yet! Walking from the Alajuela bus terminal to Aerocasillas, as always, I saw for the first time the Baptist Church of Alajuela. I have walked by it before without noticing the small “Iglesia Bautista 1946” sign. It was started when I was just 6 years old! I know it is the date because we don’t use house numbers here! It is behind and overshadowed by the Alajuela Cathedral pictured in my January 15 post. 

Aerocasillas Alajuela Office

From the bus station to Aerocasillas (the blue sign on gray building) is an 11 block walk or as they say here, “about 1100 meters” or actually “oncecientos metres.” Today I had one letter, a check from the sale of my dining room table and chairs, finally! So worth the trip! Then this afternoon when I got home I received notice via email that a package will be ready for me to pick up tomorrow. Grrr! Maybe I go tomorrow or maybe next week! ! It is the replacement blades for my electric razor that I couldn’t find here. Oh well! Another adventure!

Then around the corner from Aerocasillas are two of my favorite landmarks and the cab stand:

Church of the Agony, Alajuela

La Bohemia Rock Bar across the street from Church of the Agony

Cab Stand at Church of the Agony – $3 to Walmart – All official taxis are red!
Maybe I’ll show a photo of the Walmart sometime, but it is just a big box! Today I walked across the street from Walmart to a new modern strip center with several nice restaurants. I chose Mexican, Taconteinto. It was very good and very expensive!
Then another cab back to the bus station where I just barely caught it as leaving and packed full. The first time I have had to stand all the way to Atenas, well, nearly all the way. Between La Garita and Atenas our bus broke down and we all had to stand on the side of the road at a partly covered bus stop for 20+ minutes waiting for a replacement bus to pick us up. We were all patient. “These things happen!” People don’t get bent out of shape when things go wrong here. Everyone just visited or used their cell phones. And 20-30 minutes for a replacement bus is actually pretty quick!
Waiting for a replacement bus on the western edge of La Garita. 

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La Muchacha

West End 3rd floor landing balcony, La Muchacha & door to my apartment.

In the dictionary, “muchacha” is just another Spanish word for girl, but in real life Costa Rica it is more; what the young men call a good-looking young lady, like “chick” in the states. My taxi driver in a barrio of San Jose whistled at a couple of teenage girls, looked at me, smiled, and said “Barrio’s Muchachas!” Well, we have one at Hacienda La Jacaranda too – at my front door!
“Muchacha” is what two-year old Matthaeus in the apartments calls the only statue in our building. It is a wood carving of a nude girl (sun worshipping?) that stands on the west end 3rd floor landing right across from my front door and and my neighbor’s door. Hmmmmm . . . you say! Well, it’s just art! Phons, the previous owner, loved nudes! (Has more around his house.) And I didn’t put it there! Wait until you see the paintings he put in my living room! But for now enjoy these photos of Matthaeus’ Muchacha! 🙂 Our wooden chick!
Carved from one piece of wood, dated 2004.

Looks like sun worshipping to me!

You hardly notice it when you walk up the hill.
Today I had lunch with a couple and their lady friend from New Jersey. Tomorrow I’m taking the retired man birding on the Tarcoles River. My first time to get that far away from Atenas for nature photography. I’m looking forward to it. Lots of birds tomorrow!