a day trip to Blue River

This was to be my most magical day in Costa Rica; a trip to the rainforest near the extinct  Volcano Rincon de la Vieja. 

As we drove through the foothills, the torpid heat became more temperate, almost cold to our summer-acclimated skin.   The wind blew with such a vengeance that,  as I kept  trying to take shots of the volcano,  cloud-covered as it was,  I almost blew over.  Fortunately Walter, our intrepid guide was there to catch me as I began to topple.  We laughed.  Not a shot of the volcano is worth showing,   but there will be some of the Arenal Volcano in my next post.

It started to rain as our van climbed the twisty steep roads to the little town of Dos Rios, the birthplace and home of our guide, Walter.  The inevitable herd of cows was on the road.

  You can't imagine who was herding them.





Mother and daughter.

It occurred to me to ask if the cows had any predators up here so close to the rainforest and Walter said that in fact it wasn't uncommon for jaguars to come out at night

 and take a small or old one down. Yikes!

We arrived at the Blue River Resort, a lovely, manicured opening in the midst of the rainforest, posh by comparison to the humble mountain village of Dos Rios that we passed through.  We were asked to select what we would like for lunch before we set out on our eco-hike to the most amazing set of waterfalls, that sprang like jewels out of the tropical greenery.

I was completely enthralled and from then on became the straggler in our party of 7.

Many pictures later I have this favourite to show you of the closest place to Eden I have ever been.

From the waterfalls we hiked over a rugged cow pasture,  past of small group of curious bovines.

Believe me I was a little nervous getting this close to this suspicious country girl, and put possibly too much faith in the one string of barbed wire that ran between us.

The trickle of rain we were passing through as we came to the edge of the forest turned into a steady downfall and there was nothing for us to do but carry on.   I was quite dismayed to be so wet.

"I've never been this wet in public!" I declared,

having left my rain gear back in the locker and venturing forth like a wet dog.



Walter was very patient with my lollygagging as I continued to snap pictures of all the newness of this jungley world.  This blurry shot, for instance, which I've kept small so that you can see it better, is a walking tree which puts down roots as it seeks water and can be found quite a distance from where it originally grew!  Amazing.

The trails became quite slippery with the rain, and some of the steps were quite steep, even dangerous despite the pole handrails built alongside to assist.  Now the many rushing rivers,  a crystaline blue from their mineral content, were roaring down from the mountains.

I began to recognize many of the plants as the small potted tropicals we see back home



Sometimes I remembered to look up. So many layers to a forest.

And so many lovely views of these warm mineral springs gone wild..

Back at the resort, I was transfixed by this amazing tree- yes, this is ONE tree- that had been taken over by other plants and had become an eco-system unto itself.  So prehistoric in its massive size, large enough to drive a car through, and so abundant with life, I thought of the jungle environment in the movie Avatar, the closest thing I'd ever seen to this wondrous tapestry of vegetation.

Walter took us for a walk through the medicial gardens.  I try to forgive myself for taking pictures instead of listening as closely as I should have to what he had to teach us,  having learned from his grandmother who was also native to this area.  Here is a little nest cradled in these beautiful leaves and flowers.

Almost all the rainforest flowers are rubbery in texture, vibrant in colour and LARGE!

I don't believe this fruit is edible, but what a necklace it would make.

These gigantic leaves are big enough to hide behind!

I believe this trailing flower is called the devil's tail.  I'm sure we could come up with a nicer name than that, no?



And here I am a sodden mess. My hat leaking dye and distorted beyond use.

My shoes staining my feet a sorry orange. Despite my pathetic stance, I am happy, so happy to have had the luxury of this magical experience.

After a wonderful lunch, everyone left for the lava mud bath and a mineral springs rinse.

 I stayed behind to catch a few shots of this somewhat tame but shy Toucan who dined on a plate of papaya set out for him. He's not a big bird like I expected, but oh the colour!

I did, in fact, do the mud bath, and was even rewarded with an amazing massage as an apology from the company for our delayed start to the day. Such a kind and generous people. I was completely charmed.  A quick trip to the butterfly and hummingbird gardens without shots worth showing you except these delightful flowers.

A good-bye to my favourite tree.

And the day is done.

A detail of a watercolour sketch I did 2 weeks ago while I was away yet again.

More on that to come.

Yes, it has certainly been my year to travel. Normally I am a homebody. Day trips are about all I seem to care for,  preferring my own pillow to come home to. 

Not that one can't travel with one's own pillow :)

A home and a pillow to come home to,  the humble needs to which we allhave a right.

I send my wish out there. 

a morning like no other



So imagine yourself on a tropical beach where the sea flows gently into shore.  The air is balmy and your skin feels like silk. You stroll the beach barefoot,  your sandals dangling in your hand as you gaze at the morning sky over the town of Tamarindo on Costa Rica's northwest coast.

It is only 5:30 in the morning as the clouds catch the light of the morning sun.

 

You almost feel you could touch the sky.

A crab plays peek-a-boo with you "thinking(?)" you might eat it.

But you only want to capture it with your camera.

A Hallowe'en crab takes a Ninja stance, prepared to defend itself as well.

 

An iguana IS hunting, so good reason to beware, IF you're a beetle, a bird or a small lizard.

 

We walk the road to the river. That cage out front of this house (see the yellow roof line through the trees?)  is to keep the animal out,  not in, the garbage.  Here, those animals are Central American raccoons,  howler monkeys and dogs.  Beautifully landscaped,  I'd say,  for a trash container!

 

And what a surprise this was to find these large blossoms scattered over the road like a bridal walk.

The perfume was so beautiful,  like lilies of the valley mixed with gardenia.   I carried one with me the rest of the day for occasional whiffs to cheer me on.

 

The road we walked,  by 11 in the morning,  was already hot,  perfect for tamarindo and palm trees.  That is a tamarindo tree up front with the small leaf fronds,  namesake of the town we are going to.   The road turned into a meandering forest path that was somewhat sheltered by the sparsely leafed trees that struggle through dry season.

 

The plantains,  however,  do well in this heat, as do mangoes,  both of which grow wild 

 by the side of the road the way one might find a crabapple tree back home in Canada. 

 Plantain is a traditional side dish here,  fried to candy-crisped edges when ripe

 or like the taste and texture of dry mashed potatoes  when "green".  Yum. 

We come to the Tamarindo River at low tide;

 the river bank illustrates the gradual receding of the water.

 

And we walk to our water taxi,  a similar boat to the one we took on our trip up the estuary.

Beyond the masts of boats on the right, you can see the ocean.

On the left rises the town of Tamarindo,  our destination.  I t will take us another 15 minutes to slug our way across the crippling hot sand,  passing resorts and sunbathers til we come into town.

 

Tamarindo seems to exist mostly for the tourists though it was once a fishing village,  as were so many coastal towns.  Plazas and shops selling Indonesian souvenir imports were everywhere, including peddlers who were also hawking the same.  If you sit by the beach for a bite of lunch,  you will be approached  (I'm not exaggerating)  once every 2-5 minutes.  It becomes an endurance test to be polite,  but the peddlers are respectful in their response,  so despite the exhaustion of your long walk in the suffocating heat and your incredible luxury to be holidaying,  you summon your stamina to say one more "No, gracias".

 

Hydrated and rested, you start to head back and pass some men shaking pods from a tree with a long stick, gathering them onto a big tarp.  The kind fellow in the foreground saw me taking pictures and came over to offer me some. "Tamarindos," he said, and showed me how to open them.

 

The pods were dry and and easily cracked open to reveal their prize of a small brown dry sticky fruit that tasted somewhat like a cross between citrus and a date.  It had a raisin-sized black stone of a seed inside.  I wanted so badly to bring a seed home with me but I didn't,  knowing it's illegal to carry seeds home on the plane.  In the meantime,  a few weeks after arriving home,  we found a small case of fresh tamarinds from Thailand for sale and splurged for a taste of Costa Rica. 

So many pictures, so little time.

Thank you for dropping in to get an update on how I spent February 25th.

Next time there will be ...ART!

Sunrise to sunset

Greetings from the Serengeti in Africa, whoops, I mean Costa Rica.
Yes, I have more in this series to show you of my wonderful stay by the ocean.

With the Pacific to my back I look to the east at sunrise.

 

The morning light casts its opalescent net onto the sea.

 

It is an exquisite time of colour.There is a sense that anything is possible.

And then, as the light lifts, the waves swell and come surging into shore.

 

Back at our casita (little house) the flowers and foliage play peek-a-boo with the pool.

The torpid heat finally caused me to lose my inhibitions and I went swimming for the first time in over 20 years... because I HAD to.  And the big surprise was that I liked it!

Afternoons were so hot that I tried to move as little as possible.  I began to explore a more intuitive kind of drawing and was surprised to see these old world women evolve,  so obviously the unconscious result of my having just finished reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez' "Love in the Time of Cholera", an epic tale set in Colombia, spanning almost a century.  It's similar landscape and ethnicities set a distinct overlay to my time in Spanish-speaking Costa Rica that made my experience of it that much richer. 

As often as we went to meet the sunrise- around 5:50 a.m.,

we came back to the same beach to watch the sun set- around 5:50 in the evening.

Sometimes we had to run because it sank so quickly.

 

The timelessness of a great sunset.  I never tire of it.

February 23 in Costa Rica

It has been a record-breaking week for warm weather in what is supposed to be late winter.  Today the robins and the junkos and sparrows hopped through the winterworn grasses looking for goodies, and even a tree frog called; so odd as the temperatures are over 20 Celsius degrees higher than seasonal. 

Here are a few more favourite shots to share of my magical time in Costa Rica; magical because it's all a dream now since I've been home for 2 weeks and 2 days.



Here is a "blue heron" though not the blue heron of home here in Muskoka.  This fellow is busy fishing in low tide among the mangroves of the Tamarindo estuary.

And then he flies away.  I  blew up this fragment of the original shot and remember now how I compensated for the one second delay on my camera by panning the flight of the bird,  just to keep it in the frame, hence the blurry background.

Another blurry blown-up fragment of my original shot, typically touristy with its tiny subject.

I've included it because I'm fascinated by the ethereal transparency of this egret's huge wings, something like the clouds that I can't get enough of.

Iguanas everywhere in the summer heat of dry season.   This shy girl ironically made her home in the hydro electric meter housed in cement that stood at eye level.  I inched closer and closer for a better shot, but she was having none of it and glided away as if on a blanket of air.

I will have a drawing to show you next time as well as another installment of my favourite holiday shots.  A Happy Vernal Equinox to us all.

 

sea creatures and a not-so-gentleman caller



Two weeks ago this morning I was flying out of Costa Rica after a holiday of dreams. Thank goodness for photographs to remind me of the delicious moments.

The tiny crabs that skittered sideways away from me as I walked the Pacific beach of Playa Grande in the northwest province of Guanacaste.

 

I became quite enraptured with them, their little eyestalks assessing every move I made.

 

And here is a little hermit crab in his adopted shell of a home, casting his herculean shadow.

 

On this same morning, early in our trip, we encountered hundreds of small jellyfish washed ashore, surrounded by the squiggly paths of blobby, milky white sea creatures that live in shells.  When my friend Connie accidentally stepped on a jellyfish, she felt its sting all day.  That kept me from going barefoot until I realized that this event never happened again in our 2 week stay.

 

Two wee jellyfish that found themselves a puddle at low tide

 in which to survive until the sea reclaimed them.

That evening after dinner a handsome stranger, only 5 inches long,  flew in with such gusto that he landed behind our outdoor refrigerator.   Attracted no doubt by the social atmosphere, he arrived fully dressed for an evening out but stayed politely out of the way (here clinging to the bars of our window-yes, theft is an issue here) until he flew into Connie's hair as she was sweeping up after the dishes were done.  She screamed and we all came running. That night we went to bed laughing..

 

Might we always go to sleep with a smile.

 

We are all travellers

Vacations. Vacating. It puts a real spin on things to leave one's home for another and adapt so readily as we humans do to the next place we stand in.  One takes everything that one is to each new situation and so it is like one never left home at all.  Wherever you go, there you are.

Awake at 1 a.m. and on the plane by 6 a.m., I was excited and ready for my trip of a lifetime.

I had little reason to suspect that de-icing the plane would set off a chain of events that would cause my checked-in suitcase to miss my connecting flight in Miami and be delivered about 28 hours later to our little casita in Playa Grande on the Pacific coast of the province of Guanacaste in Costa Rica where my friend, Connie, and I would stay for the next 2 weeks.

Nothing can compare to being above the clouds. Nothing.

I have many shots of this ethereal landscape.  It will be an exercise in self-discipline to keep from showing you every photograph I took.

 

Flying over Central America, I realized that we were, in fact, over Nicaragua, which has many volcanoes of its own. This was my first sighting, as you can see, in the top third of this picture.

 

Little was I to know that volcanoes are everywhere. And that Nicaragua has more than Costa Rica.

Here is a lake-filled crater. I'm going to guess that this is still Nicaragua. Most of the darker blue spots are made by cloud shadow.

As I said, I have a ridiculous amount of shots, often because my camera has a one second delay that nearly drove me "'round the bend".   I compensated by taking many shots in a row so that I might get a full frame picture rather than the tail end of some animal or bird,  or someone's smile wafting off because they thought the picture-taking was over.

I will share some of my best pictures over the next little while as well as whatever new projects I will be working on.  As for my Daily Project, I'm afraid it has bitten the dust.  Our household is in transition now as we prepare to...move.  Where we don't know. This all came up the week before I was to leave.  It has created a certain chaos around here. I would never have gone away on holiday if I had known that this was about to happen.  Fortunately we have a broad lead time so we can do the packing up and the editing with some sanity.  Still, it is an emotional time as I weigh through the lessons I have learned from travelling just at the time when my home is to be upended.  The big one that hits me most is: 

We are all travellers

 

It amazes me that I am home for 4 days already. If I had used my time this poorly while I was away I never would have seen anything. Exhaustion has set in and one afternoon I found myself flopped sideways on my bed, fully dressed and passed out. Slowly I am pulling the house back together even while I am thinking about pulling it apart. There is still time.



The mornig sky has since brought snow, lots of it.

 

A graphite sketch I did one hot afternoon in Costa Rica.

The bird is an interpretation of the magpie bluejay that I hand fed.

 

I send you tropical dreams from this snowy morning.

 

Year of the Dragon Wonderment

I don't know of anyone in my acquaintance who places credibility in Chinese astrology.  Having studied it a little, I see enough regularity in it that I have come to use it on occasion.  There is a world out there that uses Feng Shui, the art of placement and an aspect of Chinese astrology, very seriously.  I used it as part of my decision-making to move here 12 years ago.  The Chinese zodiac works on a 12 year cycle, each year ascribed to an animal that swam a river to see the Buddha., The Rat was the first, considered to be the most clever because, though he was small, he jumped onto the back of the mighty Ox and jumped off again to reach the Buddha first.

In the twelve years that have passed, we find ourselves in the Year of the Dragon again.  I have known that this would be the year that we would put the finishing touches on our house and put it up for sale, but I never imagined how the drama of this year would affect the progression of my Daily Project like it has not to mention many other things in my life.  So much has happened already that I scarcely know where to turn.  I wonder what kind of year other Dragon babies are having.

Tomorrow I will be in Costa Rica, and soon after,  in a government-protected rainforest, considered to be the "lungs of the world".  I try to explain the wonderment of this trip by using the movie "Avatar" as a metaphor.  It is profound for me to be so close to the intensity of this mammoth organism, the rainforest, knowing how precious it is to us all.  I have been startled to learn about the exotic (to me) species that live and depend on the rainforest and the Costa Ricans who protect it.  I've already mentioned the 4 kinds of monkeys, iguanas, and the Sloth! but I have since learned about the Jaguar, the Ocelot, the Peccary and the Fier de Lance, a poisonous snake whose name descibes it only too well.

Thank you to those of you who continue to give me the benefit of the doubt and keep checking back to see if I've posted any thing.  And to new follower Karin Lynn Cumming who I should have acknowledged weeks ago when she came on board. Thank you so much.



I expect to have many pictures to show you when I return.  Til then I wish us all

peace on Earth.