Category: Recreation

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Flying to the Caribe Today!

Today begins what has become almost an annual tradition of spending a week in the Southern Caribbean of Costa Rica, during September when this rainy rainforest has the least amount of rain. After trying a few other hotels, I’ve settled on Banana Azul as my favorite and it is right on the beach (one of the few!) in a favorite room with balcony overlooking the beach and hotel gardens. It is one of my most relaxing weeks of the year! This Puerto Viejo area is south, near the Panama Border and quite different from my other Caribe fave which is north of the port of Limón and in a great wetlands wildlife national park called Tortuguero.

I have just two morning bird hikes scheduled, one in the Cahuita National Park and the other in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge. Otherwise I just “hangout” at the hotel and beach, walking both the beach and a forested beach road where last year I found a bonanza of butterflies! 🙂

Sunrise at Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón.

Read on for some of my past creative endeavors from the South Caribbean of Costa Rica . . .

Continue reading “Flying to the Caribe Today!”
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2023 Independence Day Parade, Atenas

This past Friday was the 15th of September, Independence Day for Costa Rica, when in 1821 it shed the colonial rule of Spain. In this small but very significant little developing country, patriotism is big and almost everyone wears red, white & blue and many decorate their houses with banners and flags. I wore my national futbol (soccer) shirt, red, white & blue! 🙂

And almost every town of any size has a parade, usually featuring their local schools, and Atenas is no exception! 🙂 I have for several years now been photographing it most years (when not traveling) with galleries for those years included in my super-gallery: PEOPLE, FIESTAS & ARTS Costa Rica. Which of course now includes a gallery for this year’s 2023 Desfile del Día de la Independencia, Atenas. And here is a sample photo from each of the 7 sub-galleries in this year’s parade gallery . . .

Flags

Flags are a big part of this parade. Click image to see more flags.
Continue reading “2023 Independence Day Parade, Atenas”
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Local Art Gallery is About to Happen!

The registered name & logo.

Lots of meetings, government regulations, fees, expenses, rental space, requirements and limitations, plus how a cooperative will work together as one, all seem to make it complicated, but it is slowly coming together! 🙂 Thanks especially to Elisa & Margaret, the leaders of the group! We communicate with each other on a private WhatsApp page and now have a gallery FaceBook page (public) with not a whole lot for the public yet. 🙂 And we will be the location for this year’s JIT – Just in Time for Christmas Art Fair which uses the same FaceBook page as last year and is now set for December 8, 9 & 10, 2023. In Calle 2 Plaza Atenas!

TENTATIVE OPENINGS are a “soft” opening on October 4 and a “Grand Opening” on November 9 with the Christmas Art Show a month later, December 8-10. BUT, note that there are many things that could delay the first two dates, though Christmas Show is pretty solid! 🙂

The registered name & logo.
The registered name and logo.
7 of the 10 to 12 participants we can never get all together! 🙂 By one of the flower murals outside our gallery space in the new Calle 2 Plaza, next to Linea Vital Clinic.
A shelf set up by some of the ladies as an example of how pottery may be displayed in the gallery.

Please Remember that Everything is Flexible now . . .

Meaning that the opening dates and the participants could change in the next month or two as we struggle to put everything together. But a very fine art gallery is coming to Atenas soon! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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A Call from My Friends at Maquenque

Today I received a phone call from the wonderful family that runs Maquenque Eco Lodge just checking on me and how my health is doing. They are so nice to me in every way and I count them among my best friends in Costa Rica. Then they sent me this photo of the table in their lodge lobby covered with my photo books that they continually thank me for and tell me how much their other guests enjoy them! 🙂 Just one more reason that I enjoy my retirement life photographing nature! 🙂

Charlie Doggett Nature Photo Books in lobby of Maquenque Eco Lodge, Boca Tapada, San Carlos, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Art Gallery Coming Behind Calle 2 Boat!

Calle 2 Plaza is under construction and could open within the next month or so! One of the 5 shops will now be a new Atenas Art Gallery, the name of which can’t be published until it is registered. So keep reading this blog for more information and see photos of the under construction Calle 2 Plaza and its flower murals below these first two shots . . .

Old land-locked boat on Calle 2, Atenas between Linea Vital & Calle 2.
7 of the 10 local artists opening a new art gallery in Calle 2 Plaza. Meeting here at the gallery location.
Continue reading “Art Gallery Coming Behind Calle 2 Boat!”
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Last Friday with Linda & Carlos Cobos

An old friend from seminary and Miami days, Carlos Cobos, was in Costa Rica this past week on a choir tour with his wife Linda from their church in Conway, Arkansas. They had a “free day” Friday while their group was in a hotel in La Fortuna. So I went with my driver and we showed Carlos & Linda a few things in that part of Costa Rica that they chose from my list of options. The last activity was to see the La Fortuna Waterfall, but since it was pouring down rain by then, we did not do that, considering the steep climb down and back up from the waterfall in rain. But we did a lot of other things like the Butterfly Conservatory and Sky Adventure for lunch with views of volcano and Lake Arenal! You can see the photos in my photo gallery titled: 2023 July 21 – Day Around Arenal Volcano.

There are too many photos to share in a blog post, so I hope you will check out the gallery! The feature photo of a sloth is repeated below after this shot of the three of us on the Bogarin Trail in La Fortuna. Interestingly, we paid to see a sloth (and other wildlife) on this trail and did not! But later saw a sloth alongside the highway! 🙂 Luck!? We did see birds and other wildlife on the Bogarin Trail though, so not a waste of time! 🙂

Charlie, Linda, and Carlos on the Bogarin Nature Trail, La Fortuna, Costa Rica
Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth along the highway near La Fortuna, Costa Rica.

Now see more photos in the gallery: 2023 July 21 – Day Around Arenal Volcano which includes lots of nature of course! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Atenas Artists Get Together!

Yesterday (July 9, 2023) I participated in a meeting of local artists with introductions and discussions on how we can increase local interest in the arts. It was held at the “Art House” downtown where a local couple give painting art lessons to all ages and are adding other teachers with different art skills, mostly Ticos participating there. The meeting was co-sponsored by the expat ladies who sponsor the “Just In Time for Christmas” Art Show each year. Plus a man was there who plans to open a little theatre in Atenas for plays and musicals, adding to the hopes for a growing “art community” in Atenas.

Those attending were about half Tico and half extranjeros or expats from all over the world. So it was a very interesting group and enjoyable to visit with after everyone introduced themselves with two interpreters available. Then we had a potluck brunch and visited with each other, when I particularly enjoyed a Tico young man and university student born in Atenas who is studying photography and he showed me his first photo books and shared about his work. Then near the end, Larry shared his drumming skills that led into a little impromptu jam session with others joining in. I am hopeful about the future of the arts in this small farming town! 🙂

Everyone briefly shared about themselves and their art in the “Art House” in Central Atenas.
Then Larry shared his drumming skills which led into . . .
An impromptu jam session at the end of the get together.

See the Art House Video of The Get-together!

Yes, I’m the funny-looking old man in the bright blue shirt! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

My photo galleries relating to the arts in Costa Rica are mostly found in the folder labeled: PEOPLE, FIESTAS & ARTS Costa Rica with others in every trip gallery created because all lodges and hotels have art displayed! 🙂

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Bird Galleries Like None Other

My Costa Rica Bird Galleries by Species have many helpful characteristics for birders or anyone interested in Costa Rica birds that no other online gallery has nor does any book other than maybe Aves de Costa Rica by Garrigues & Dean and it, like its English version is out of date with many incorrect bird names.

One example of 360 galleries. Note English, Spanish & Scientific Names!

My bird galleries have:

  • Photos of 360+ species of birds in Costa Rica arranged by taxonomy families as in the Princeton Field Guide: Birds of Central America, the most up-to-date birding book for Costa Rica at this time.
  • Up-to-date official English Names (constantly changing) based on the latest from eBird
  • Spanish Names as given in the only Spanish bird book for Costa Rica, Aves de Costa Rica. Note that these have not been changing like the English names and thus often parallel the old English names. PLUS I include the Otros nombres en español that are included in the above Spanish bird book since different regions of the country use different names.
  • The Latin Scientific Name of every bird has recently been added to my gallery of Costa Rica Birds.
  • And as I try to do with all my photos in all my galleries, I have included the specific location in which each bird was photographed. That can particularly help birders who are looking for a specific species they have not yet seen or photographed.
  • All of the above information is included on each photo in the galleries as Keywords making searches easier. 
  • Downloading photo files is free from any of my galleries. Just look for the downward pointing arrow below an enlarged image or use the old fashion way with a right click.
  • You can order quality prints or wall art on metal or canvas of any of the images you consider good enough for those purposes. I have some bad images just to show that a bird was seen in a particular place, but some of my images make great wall art and I personally prefer the ones printed on metal. This is a service of SmugMug Galleries with Bay Photos. This is not a source of income for me and thus my markup is only $1.
  • There is also a link at the top of every page to my Bookstore where you can find find my books of bird photos and many other Costa Rica subjects!

If you love the birds of Costa Rica, I hope you will find my photo galleries helpful to you in studying and learning the locations of these many birds!

Just one of the 360 galleries.

¡Pura Vida!