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Berdelle & Michael Visit

Michael King & Berdelle Campbell at Breakfast this morning
Vista Atenas B&B, Atenas Costa Rica

A flight cancellation and great delay got them into Costa Rica after dark and cancelled our original plans of lunch on their arrival day. So Michael King (Monell’s Restaurant) and Burdelle Campbell (My former Germantown neighbor) came back from their stay in Uvita (With Craig & Marcia Jervis of Mad Platter Restaurant) a day before their flights to stop and visit with me. And they got to see their only Costa Rica monkey right here on the Hacienda La Jacaranda property, our new Mantled Howler Monkeys. We had lunch at El Balcon del Cafe and I showed Berdelle around Atenas & my apartment while Michael worked. We then had dinner at La Trocha del Boyero. Because I could not give two of them much room or privacy in my apartment, I arranged rooms for them at Vista Atenas B&B.

They stayed at Vista Atenas B&B with this nice view of Atenas Valley
Berdelle Campbell in Central Park Atenas
A bouquet of flowers Berdelle brought me
from Craig & Marsha’s yard in Uvita,
just a few typical Costa Rica flowers
sitting on my breakfast bar!  🙂
The Photo Gallery of their visit
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Costa Rica’s National Bird!

When I posted this yesterday I forgot to say that this is Costa Rica’s National Bird! Makes me like the photo even more! Thanks to Richard Barone for reminding me!

Costa Rica’s National Bird – Clay-colored Thrush
On Charlie’s apartment balcony, Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica

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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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True Grit!

Turrialba Volcano has been erupting recently and my decks were covered yesterday in black dust or volcanic ash I guess. And I’m more than a hundred miles away! See the report. Black dust in the house too!

We get it because of the high winds this year which we are told are caused by exceptionally cold weather up north this year. Therefore your snow and ice caused black dust on my balcony!  🙂

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“Greywater”

“Greywater” in an Atenas Stream near downtown.
Soap Suds into the Drainage Ditch by our road.
This runs into the Rio Cajon, though some goes into the ground.

This explanation from letsgogreen.com:

Greywater is any household wastewater with the exception of wastewater from toilets, which is known as blackwater. Typically, 50-80% of household wastewater is greywater from kitchen sinks, dishwashers, bathroom sinks, tubs and showers. Of course, if you use a composting toilet, 100% of your household wastewater is greywater.

Freshly generated greywater is not as nasty as blackwater, but if it’s not handled properly it can soon become so. Greywater decomposes at a much faster rate than blackwater and if stored for as little as 24 hours, the bacteria in it use up all the oxygen and the greywater becomes anaerobic and turns septic. After this point it is more like blackwater – stinky and a health hazard. In fact, many jurisdictions have strict regulations about disposal of greywater, some even require it to be treated as blackwater.

Not all greywater is equally “grey”. Kitchen sink water laden with food solids and laundry water that has been used to wash diapers are more heavily contaminated than greywater from showers and bathroom sinks. Although greywater from these sources contains less pathogens than blackwater, many regulatory bodies consider it as blackwater.

The safest way to handle greywater is to introduce it directly to the biologically active topsoil layer, where soil bacteria can quickly break it down, rendering the nutrients available to plants. This biological water purification is much more effective than any engineered treatment, thus protecting the quality of groundwater and surface waters.

For more information, please visit his website www.oasisdesign.net 

In brief greywater branched out into the ground can be good and earth is the best filter, which is what we are doing in the apartments. But pouring it into the streets and streams as people are doing in town is not healthy. Again, education is the best solution! 


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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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Visa Run to Nicaragua

A long, colorful and productive 15-hour day-trip today!
Our first of 4 lines to wait in at the border. Great people-watching!
Click to enlarge this photo of line to get out of Costa Rica.
Our 7 renewers plus our leader Walter in the hat

Welcome to Nicaragua!

I have many more interesting photos of the people, places and scenery in Costa Rica on this trip in my Visa Run Photo Gallery!  Always click on an image to see a larger version. We left at 5:30 AM and were home by 8:30 PM. We all got our visa’s renewed for 90 days more! Two stops on the Corobici River, our favorite and most beautiful place this day! See photos in the gallery.