Tag: relax

Posted on

Health Update & Trip Tomorrow

My daily nature post was earlier today with the skipper butterfly – now a personal update from cancer surgery & radiation therapy, plus the coming week that I’m excited about. 🙂

Health Update

As we say here in Costa Rica, “Estoy mejor poco a poco.” I’m better little by little. Most of my taste has returned after losing all of it from radiation. Food is not quite as “tasty” as I remember it being, but so much better now and I can eat almost anything. And my swallowing ability has also greatly improved if not completely normal now.

I still need to sleep long hours at night and sometime nap in the day with not near the high energy I used to have physically. But again it is so much better than it was at the end of June! And I’m still having to accept that being 81 years old might have a little bit to do with my lack of energy or physical ability now. 🙂

Overall I am feeling so much better than I was going into that July trip, plus this trip will be to flat land with no hills to climb! And generally a more “laid back” or relaxing place than my July mountain-top experience! 🙂 Plus right now I’m planning on no tours or side trips, just relax in the forests and beaches of the hotel which I overview below if you read on after this 2019 photo from there . . .

Beach from walk down the “beach road” — Featured Photo Header is Hotel Beach.
Continue reading “Health Update & Trip Tomorrow”
Posted on

New Coffee Shop in Town

Above Canario Supermercado is a new little coffee shop overlooking the entrance to Atenas Mercado Central, bus station, and a busy street for people watching. See photo above. Just this one visit today and it is now in my top three coffee shops (called cafeterias here). (1) Crema y Nada, (2) Cafeteria by the church, and now (3) Cafeteria above Canario. (If the last two have names, they are not prominently displayed, but most things here are described by location as I just did.)

One of my retirement joys these days is slowly sipping 2 or 3 mugs of coffee every morning after breakfast, with breakfast or like today, after my cereal breakfast I walk to town and have a pastry and cup of coffee downtown while people watching or finishing today’s Washington Post on the Kindle. This is what retirement is like for me when not traveling! And of course my favorite and most common place to enjoy morning coffee is from my own terrace as seen on this cloudy morning in the photo below.

My Terrace is My Favorite Place for Morning Coffee

 

Living the Dream

Retired in Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

 

Our Hidden Danger in Costa Rica

And for those who think I never have anything negative to say about Costa Rica (and I seldom do) I will admit that one thing here that scares me is the  Terciopelo, the Costa Rica name for what Americans call Fer de Lance snake (Bothrops asper).  (Click Terciopelo link for English article in Tico Times)  It is one of the most deadly snake bites in the world and unfortunately we have them living in my Roca Verde neighborhood. I know of two neighbors who have been bitten, both going outside in early morning barefoot (note that I will never do that). Both stepped on the snake (a sure way to get bitten!) and were rushed to the public clinic here for anti-venom shot and from there in ambulance to the public hospital in Alajuela for further treatment. They are both fine now, but it was a big scare for both with swollen leg and a lot of pain. One guy had an allergic reaction to the anti-venom and got extra allergy treatment for the hives it gave him.  See Wikipedia article on the snake.

Posted on

This Morning in the Garden

White-winged Dove
In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

Blue-gray Tanager 
 In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

In My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

One of my favorite things to do is to sleep until I wake up, shower, eat a liesurely breakfast on my terrace admiring flowers and the visiting birds. So, after a busy, early, hard day hiking yesterday, I had one of my relaxed mornings today (23rd) and recorded part of it in the above photos. There were other birds and more flowers, but this is a good sample for today.

Enjoying Retirement in Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!
Posted on

New Luxury Health Retreat in Atenas!

Yoga, Massages, Therapy and Detox are available in addition to
pools, hiking, birds, views, etc.

Expect to eat healthy and enjoy spectacular vistas.

It is known as a Yoga Retreat, maybe the best in Costa Rica, but available as hotel, other retreats, or just to relax if you are willing to pay $221+ per night for luxury rooms in the mountains above Atenas with gardens, walking trails, a natural stream with waterfalls, and many optional activities, some at extra cost. Breakfast is included with all room prices. I just became aware of this and sorry I did not know of it for earlier visitors, though it is fairly new, this year I think.

They are offering us residents a Christmas Dinner with wine and entertainment for just $61 which I might do if I weren’t already scheduled for my jungle adventure at Selva Verde Lodge on the Sarapiqui River! They are likewise offering us a New Years Eve Celebration for $75 including fireworks! Yeah, just about anything you guys in the states have, we can find here, for a price!  🙂

And it is also now another option you have to my free couch-bed or the several Mom & Pop B&Bs or simple hotels in Atenas. Note: We are NOT a tourist town! But a coffee farming town. Yet being in the center of Costa Rica makes it a great place to headquarter or travel out from or just start and stop your visit to Costa Rica here, 45 minutes from the airport or an hour from San Jose.

CHECK OUT THE NEW PLACE!
Or just look at their site’s photo gallery! 
The Retreat at Atenas