Tag: walking

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What is it?

Sidewalk graffiti? Gang tag? Logo? Coat of Arms?  —  Something else interesting, like the flowers that I see on my walks. You see so much when you walk! Why would I ever want a car again?  🙂

¡Pura Vida!

 

 

NOTICE: Authorities have stated that borders will remain closed until May 15, 2020. We will wait on the Decree that regulates this to determine what other measures are impacted by this new date.

Sorry tourists! You will have to wait until at least May 15 or longer if the border closing is extended more.

BUT COSTA RICA IS ON THE DOWNHILL SIDE OF ITS COVID19 CASES CURVE! All the efforts of social distancing, hand-washing and business and event closings has paid off in a big way! And no stupid Republicans here to demonstrate against health protections!   🙂   We work together here! Read on . . .

TICO TIMES ARTICLES:

Costa Rica adds fewest number of known COVID-19 cases in more than a month

Costa Rica extends coronavirus border restrictions until May 15

Migrants traveling to U.S., stranded in the Panamanian jungle, now face COVID-19

Rincón de la Vieja Volcano registers moderate eruption   (One I visited last year. See article for video of eruption.)

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Taking the kids for a walk?

Well . . .  that is sort of what it looked like this morning on my return home from birding on Calle Nueva (our nearby country lane). Birding was great but I still don’t have all the wild bird photos processed, so here’s the domesticated ones I saw!   🙂

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There were more kids than this but in spite of Mom’s efforts, they were scattered afar!

 

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And their strutting father.

Chicken Joke

¡Pura Vida!

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Walking

There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast.   

-Paul Scott Mowrer

¡Pura Vida!

Every walk includes flowers!    🙂
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Hilltop Morning Walk

Margaret, the lady birder from Canada who was in a nearby casita for one month, did most of her birding right here in Roca Verde, including uphill above my casita and on Calle Nueva, the country lane alongside Roca Verde. (She also walked to other neighborhoods in town and had a few trips away, including to Rancho Naturalista & the Tarcoles River.)

But her finding so many birds here got me back into more birding where I live and beyond my own garden where I have no feeders now which has reduced the numbers. Friday morning I spent an hour walking up and down the hill above my house with the result of the following photos of vistas and birds.

Not bad for less than a 200 meter walk from my house! And I know I have already shared similar views and birds on this blog before, but each new time in the viewfinder is a little bit different perspective, a different light, a different pose or action of the bird, and a new joy for me! No new bird species this time, though the immature Blue-black Grassquit was my first immature version of that species! Notice how different she looks from her mother or some other adult female Blue-black Grassquit in photos above.    🙂    I loved the walk and will keep doing it occasionally!

“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”  – John Muir

Vistas

 

Birds

 

“I love walking because it clears your mind, enriches the soul, takes away stress and opens up your eyes to a whole new world .”    – Claudette Dudley

 

See also Walking Calle Nueva Atenas, the country lane alongside Roca Verde or . . .

Walking Atenas – emphasizing flowers in this small farming town in Central Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Village Morning

The Featured Photo is a shot from my terrace at breakfast this morning looking toward our mountain village of Atenas. I live in a peaceful place, appropriately called tranquilo in Spanish by the people here.   🙂

-o-

 

My Google Timeline Report for February:

WALKING: 36 km, 9 hours

BY VEHICLES: 351 km, 13 hours (Around town by taxi, several Alajuela trips by bus and the longest trip was to Heredia, north of San Jose. The walking was an almost daily walk to town plus 3 local birding walks with a Canadian friend.)

And they reminded me that my most distant destination for February was Heredia from which came my photo below. Should I be worried that Google knows so much about me?   🙂

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Heredia Historic Building by the Spaniards – photo by Charlie.

¡Pura Vida!

Retired in Costa Rica

See Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA Photo Gallery.

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Country Lane Birds & More!

20200209_072404_001-A-WEBIn an earlier post I introduced you to the little 5 km country lane behind our Roca Verde development and along the stream by that cow pasture in front of my house. It is called Calle Nueva which would be simply “New Street” in English and the 2018 blog post was titled  Finishing the country road walk today . . .   Then later I added a photo gallery: Walking Calle Nueva Atenas 2018.    Same photos!

Yesterday I walked part of the road more slowly than I did with young man Jason Quesada back then. It was with another older person who is a birder from Canada! Totally different! We saw more than 15 species of birds just behind where I live and here are a few photos of some of them! Even got one lifer on this walk of about 2 hours, the Black-crowned Tityra, both male & female! CLICK A PHOTO TO ENLARGE.

And apologies for several washed out pictures with white sky. That was because I was not paying attention to details and accidentally turned the dial to “Manual” without setting the manual settings and wasn’t looking at the images on screen! Ugh! Sloppy old man!

Birds on Calle Nueva

 

Interesting Flowers on Walk

 

 

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Mountain Farm Vista on Calle Nueva.

 

Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong.

~John Denver

 

¡Pura Vida!

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Morning Bird Walk

Glad to get back to nature posts after all the other stuff I’ve been posting the last week! And the featured photo above is a Passion Flower growing on a neighbor’s wall along the street uphill above my house.

In my Roca Verde neighborhood, and most neighborhoods across Costa Rica, we have “Snow Birds” or “winter residents” who come to visit or live here during the very cold months up north (Dec-Apr). One of those couples I met for the first time last year always stay in Roca Verde, just a few doors up the hill from me – she is a birder and he a relaxer.  🙂   They are from British Columbia, Canada.

Yesterday she showed me all birds she had photographed in Atenas in just one week, most right here in our neighborhood! Thus I was shamed into birding more in my own neighborhood and later some other places in Atenas – but it means getting up at 5:30 in the morning which I have not been doing much here. Mixed emotions!

I live adjacent to these farming hills seen from street above my house.

This morning I spent just one hour, mostly between 6 & 7 and saw about 20 species of birds, photographing about 15 of them! ALL WITHIN 300 METERS OF MY HOUSE!  For you Americans, that’s just 3 blocks, and all along the street in front of my house, up the hill. Of course I ran into Margaret who get out every morning early for birds and we birded together much of the time. I will not do it every day like her, but hopefully more often now!

By 7 there are not a lot of birds to see. It is the magical hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset that give the most birds! (Same thing on my trips!) And some of these birds from today have not come to my house or I haven’t seen them in my garden yet.  CLICK AN IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT . . .

This Morning’s Birds

Catholic Church in Central Atenas is also seen from the street above my house, though not as close as this seems through my 60 mm lens!   🙂

 

I like where I live!   🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Yesterday’s Sidewalk Encounter

On my 4 km walk to town yesterday, on the one steep hill, I came across this sidewalk grasshopper in the featured photo above.  (Actually a Cricket – See Comments below. I stand corrected!)     🙂

Sorry I can’t identify him – but that’s not expected here since we have 11,000 species of grasshoppers and crickets in Costa Rica as part of our more than 500,000 total insect species!  —  More bugs than the U.S. & Canada combined!   🙂   And oh so much fun! See my Insects Gallery or just my Grasshoppers Gallery to stay with today’s theme. I only have photos of 13 of the eleven thousand, so a ways to go in that collection!   🙂

Here’s a fun, educational YouTube Video about our grasshoppers with jokes about how some people in the world eat them, though not Ticos! They do not eat them here like some in Mexico and of course my past home of West Africa. I’ll just stick with photographing them!   🙂

Just another of the many daily encounters with nature while being retired in Costa Rica!  Love it!   🙂

“Crowds of bees are giddy with clover
Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet,
Crowds of larks at their matins hang over,
Thanking the Lord for a life so sweet.”

~Jean Ingelow

¡Pura Vida!

 

P.S.

I arrive at Hacienda Guachipelín in Rincón de la Vieja National Park mid-day today and may start posting at odd times as things happen on this new and exciting adventure! Or I may try to keep the discipline of one-a-day posted for release at 5 am, which I kind of like. Keep reading the blog for totally new photos and scenery this week. Pura vida!

An Extra Article for Those Moving Here

How to retire as cheaply as possible in Costa Rica

Click the linked article for one of the most practical list of how to live cheap in Costa Rica – in short it is all about the life-style you choose and I can testify that living without a car not only saves lots of money but is easy and fun here! The article is by Christopher Howard in his “Live In Costa Rica” blog & website – the one who also does a great relocation tour coupled with the ARCR Seminar. Panama may be cheaper, but Costa Rica is a whole lot better!   🙂

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Through-the-Fence Beauty

One advantage of walking everywhere (I still do not have a car) is you see more! Walking to town I noticed this orchid through a metal bars fence and used my cell phone to snap between black bars this shot of unanticipated beauty!

“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”

~Vincent Van Gogh

¡Pura Vida!