charliedoggett.net
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| Sungrebe (mating female) at Tortuguero National Park (A first sighting for me!) |
Lots of catch-up work at home today that did not include managing my thousand+ photos from Tortuguero, so many more to share in time. 🙂 I’m taking Reagan to Alajuela tomorrow where I do much of my shopping. Then Saturday to the Pacific Coast, Jaco Beach and maybe Puntarenas. His last two days of Sunday and Monday may be a lot slower. We are both tired.
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| Collared Aracari Toucan Eating Papaya in the village of Tortuguero, Costa Rica |
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| Black-mandibled Toucan Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica |
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| Keel-billed Toucan At Park Headquarters Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica |
The Toucan by Shel Silverstein
Tell me who can
Catch a toucan?
Lou can.
Just how few can
Ride the toucan?
Two can.
What kind of goo can
Stick you to the toucan?
Glue can.
Who can write some
More about the toucan?
You can!
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| Green Basilisk or “Jesus Christ Lizard” (because he walks on water) It is also called emerald, plumed, or double-crested basilisk (Nat’l Geographic) From a boat on Tortuguero River – CLICK TO ENLARGE |
We are busy & upload is slow, so I’m saving the bird photos for when we are home tomorrow or later this week. Lots of birds! Good tours today! I recommend Laguna Lodge at Tortuguero!
And if you are going to the west coast or especially Manuel Antonio, I recommend our guide for these 3 days who usually works over in Manuel Antonio National Park. His name is Robert Umaña, robert.uma8@gmail.com or call (506) 8881-2240. He is very personable and well organized and good at finding birds. Though I have had guides more knowledgeable of birds, he is going to continue getting better as a young man. And he is real good about taking a picture for you with your cell phone through his spotting scope, which I find very impressive for most people from the U.S. And he is very patient with people which is important for a professional guide. Guides here are trained by the government and certified which means most are good and that is a big plus for Costa Rica tourism! I’ve never had a bad guide, just some are better than others. Robert’s one of the best!
Follow Reagan’s Blog for his view of his visit here! He is not into birds like me or the wildness, but he likes the adventure and the opportunities to make photos and share them just like me! So we are both having a good experience in “The Amazon of Costa Rica.” Pura Vida!
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| Red-eyed Tree Frog, Tortuguero, Costa Rica by Charlie Doggett |
A long, busy, and very productive day ended with me getting my best yet photo of the red-eyed tree frog. And that was after getting photos of 3 kinds of Toucans and many other birds/animals! But with a 5:30 AM birding trip tomorrow, I am settling for this one photo tonight. Reagan doesn’t enjoy the wildlife like me, but he is still having quite an adventure and will be back online Wednesday night. And I will have a lot of photos for future posts! 🙂
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| Gabriel was our guide at El Toledo Coffee Farm |
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| His Mom made the coffee samples |
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| And we decided our favorite before he told us which was dark roast, light roast or medium roast |
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| Then we watched the beans roast |
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| Which were earlier sun-dried like this |
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| We learned how organic “natural” farming is better than just organic |
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| The purpose of many different kinds of trees among the coffee plants |
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| And ate a typical Tico lunch at Gabriel’s aunt’s house. A great total experience! |
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| Reagan continues to say that sitting on my terrace is his favorite place. I never show the driveway in photos, he noted; so here it is! Not picturesque! I only use it when I have a rent car, like this week. |
Tonight – Sunday night – we are at the Hampton Inn Airport where we will be picked up at 5:30 in the morning for our trip to Tortuguero on the Caribbean Coast. Our big adventure starts with the van trip to the boat dock in the morning, driving over a mountain range and into the coastal rainforest for and hour and half boat trip through the jungle to our Laguna Lodge.
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| Sunrise at Tortuguero by Charlie Doggett, 2010 |
You’ll understand my title only if you’ve seen ads for the kids movie Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day which I know is a fun comedy, but I felt like being positive today since it was a very good day for me. Or actually a good weekend!
I dragged all my old computers & accessories over to the Treasure Shop yesterday along with my bike hoping some of it would sell. Not one of those items sold, though it too was a good day because I sold one of my more expensive items, the Frederic Remington statue titled “Cheyenne.” Then I lugged the bike and all the computer stuff home and listed it all on Craigslist last night. In 24 hours I had sold every single item except the bike. I got so many text messages on the old laptop for $50 that I could have sold a bunch of them!
The desktop was the last item to go tonight with a delightful visit with George the Egyptian, the buyer and a fellow nature lover and nature photographer. We talked for nearly an hour about nature photography and places to go for good photos. He capped off a very good day! And maybe we’ll have some warmer weather soon to attract bike-hunters or maybe Christmas shoppers? Or a lower price than what the bike shop suggested? $250 is a little steep for a used bike!
I have a little notebook by my bed in which I nightly write one thing about that day for which I am thankful. It helps me sleep better and have a better tomorrow! Tonight I may write two thanksgivings: George & Craigslist! 🙂 And may you have a blessed day also!
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| Aerial View of Tortuguero River/Canal not showing the beach area. Photo from Chris Howard’s Live In Costa Rica Blog site |
Chris Howard’s newsletter today tells about one of my favorite places in Costa Rica, Tortuguero which he calls Costa Rica’s Amazon. Having experienced part of the Amazon, I agree. And see my photos of Tortuguero as Days 3 & 4 in my Costa Rica 210 Photo Gallery. Or look at some professional photos on the Anywhere Costa Rica website, noting there are two sets on that site, one by tapping the arrows on the header collection and a static collection seen by scrolling down the page. There is good information on the Wikipedia page too!
Well, you can see it is one of the places I love in Costa Rica and will continue to visit while living there! There is another jungle boat ride in Los Chiles that is almost as good and of course Corcovado is the largest rainforest, but that is mostly seen by hiking with a guide. Recently a young man from Alaska was lost hiking there, meaning a guide is necessary. Well enough jungles for today!