Pablo the Gardener

Because I have shown a series of photos of some of the flowers and butterflies around our Langosta Beach condo, I should show a photo of the person who keeps the garden looking nice, Pablo, the gardener. He takes pride in his work.

Several days ago Brattcat left a comment asking aobut security in Costa Rica in response to information I posted about the President of Costa Rica securing an international loan to improve security. Here are my thoughts.

Julie and I have always felt safe in Tamarindo. We walk to dinner at night. When Julie and Sharon stayed there without me, the two women walked back from dinner and felt safe. Both of our condo buildings have guards and are gated, as are most of the larger and nicer condo buildings. To drive or walk into Langosta, people have to go by the security guards who are in front of several of the buildings. During the day Pablo also helps keep an eye on things, and the security guard in front of our building also patrols the grounds.

Although I do not consider crime to be a problem, people should take the same precautions as when traveling in other areas, including the USA. Do not leave valuables on the beach while you go out swimming. Lock your doors. Don't leave valuables in plain view in a parked car, and Julie and I do not hang out in bars late at night. There is some petty snatch and grab crime, but very little violent crime.

There is a small police station in Tamarindo and increased police patrols, but the law enforcement infrastructure is not what you would find in a major developed country such as the USA. The loan the President Chinchilla recently secured is in part to build up the public safety infrastructure. Costa Rica has no military. So in time of earthquakes, etc., it does not have the major resources or logistics that a military provides. The police have only a couple of very small helicopters for the entire country.

On our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week we are showing wildlife and scenery from the Serengeti Plain in Tanzania.

Flowers and yellow butterfly

The flower that I showed yesterday is a popular feeding spot for yellow butterflies. They seem especially attracted to it and it is common to see 5 or 6 butterflies all fluttering about the same plant, and the walkway to the beach alongside our Langosta condo has lots of these plants.

Jack from Hartford Daily Photo commented a couple of days ago that he plants some plants at his Florida house that are designed to attract butterflies. My wife, Julie, does the same thing in our Scottsdale house. She selects some plants for the yard that attract butterflies and others to attract hummingbirds.

Today is Memorial Day in the USA, and the Monday holiday falls on May 30, the traditional date for Memorial Day. It was also the birthday of my late father, who as a child had the treat of always having parades on his birthday. Memorial Day is a fitting day for his birthday, as he gave up his defense plant draft deferment at the beginning of World War II and volunteered for the Navy, served in the South Pacific during World War II, remained a naval officer for 20 years. He then worked for the same aerospace company for nearly 30 years. Not many people today have only two employers for 50 years.

On our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week we are showing wildlife and scenery from the Serengeti Plain in Tanzania.

More flowers around our condo

Here is another one of the flowers in the gardens around our Langosta Beach condo. These flowers are huge and spindly. They remind me of a feather duster.

Following up on my post from the last two days, before Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla visited Washington, D.C., she stopped off in the San Francisco Bay area. She met with the CEO of Intel, as Intel is responsible for 3 - 4% of Costa Rica's gross domestic product. She also met with 30 biotech industry executives, visited and spoke at the Stanford Business School, visited Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory of the University of California at Berkeley to discuss renewable energy, met with Condoleezza Rice, and more. She is obviously focused on attracting business investment for Costa Rica.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are showing wildlife and scenery from the Serengeti Plain in Tanzania.

Flowers and butterfly

Here is one more photo of the type of flowers I have been showing this past week. These flowers around our condo are popular with butterflies.

Following up from yesterday, when Costa Rican President Laura Chincilla was in Washington D.C. last week, she also gave a keynote speech at the Brookings Institution, participated in a forum at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an event at the American Enterprise Institute, met with U.S. Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu, and obtained a $132 million loan from the Inter-American Deveopment Bank to be used to improve public security in Costa Rica.

The busy schedule reflects her priorities -- economic development and public safety. Tomorrow I will tell you what she did when she stopped off in California before visiting Washington.

If this week you have not yet checked out our photos of the Villa Balbianello in Lake Como, Italy, please check out our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Center of the flower

This photo is an even closer view of the center of the same type of flower that I showed yesterday.

Here is a little news update from Costa Rica. The country's President, Laura Chinchilla returned last weekend from a trip to the USA. Her primary purpose of the trip was to give the commencement address and receive an honorary degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she earned a master's degree in public policy in 1989 (and I earned one of my three degrees).

Tomorrow I will tell you what else she did on her trip to the USA.

If this week you have not yet checked out our photos of the Villa Balbianello in Lake Como, Italy, please check out our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Flower getting ready to bloom

While we are on the subject of flowers with the photos I have posted during the last few days, I thought I would show this photo of a flower that has not yet bloomed. As readers of this and my wife's Scottsdale Daily Photo site know, she takes lots of macro photos of flowers, and I take very few.

I have acquired a greater appreciation for the architecture of flowers through Julie's macro photography and have taken some photos such as this to illustrate the developmental stages of the blooming flower. This reminds me of fireworks launched into the sky, not yet exploding into a burst of color.

if this week you have not yet checked out our photos of the Villa Balbianello in Lake Como, Italy, please check out our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

More orchids

Here is another photo of an orchid from Lankester Botanical Gardens near San Jose. In the recent newspaper article about the discovery of 10 new orchid species, the Tico Times quoted the Lankester Director as saying that the discovery of new orchid species is the result of an effort begun 10 years ago by the University of Costa Rica to identify and classify plant species.

When my wife and I first visited Costa Rica in 2005, she commented that the environmental culture in Costa Rica is similar to the artistic culture of Paris in the early 20th Century. Paris attracted artists and writers from many other countries, where they learned from each other and developed their talents.

There are students of the environment from the USA, Canada and Europe who have come to Costa Rica to study plants, animals and climate. In the Monteverde Cloud Forest area they lamented that certain species of frogs could be found only at higher altitudes because of the effects of global warming. Ecotourism is one of the largest contributors to the Costa Rican economy. Conservation can be good for business, too.

This week we are showing photos from Villa Balbianello at Lake Como, Italy, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Orchids

After yesterday's post with news about new species of orchids, I got out my external hard drive to show an orchid photo. I took this photo in one of the greenhouses at the Lankester Botanical Gardens outside San Jose in the Central Valley.

The climate in the Central Valley and mountainous areas of Costa Rica is different and more conducive to orchids than in our Guanacaste region of northwest Costa Rica. We have a long dry season from November through April. There are some wild orchids in shady areas near streams in Guanacaste, but they do not grow in the wild near the beach.

This week we are showing photos from Villa Balbianello at Lake Como, Italy, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

News about flowers

This week there is news about orchids in Costa Rica. I don't have any photos of orchids handy, so I will show this flower instead.

Scientists have just announced that they have discovered 10 new species of orchids along the Costa Rica - Panama border. There are already 1,300 known species of orchids in Costa Rica. Tiny Costa Rica has 7% of the world's orchids.

Sorry not to illustrate this story with a photo of one of the flowers at our Langosta condo. I do have some orchid photos on my external hard drive, but it is not handy. I will show more orchid photos in the future.

This week we are showing photos from Villa Balbianello at Lake Como, Italy, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

A break for a drink at the Langosta Beach Club

I stopped in and had a refreshing fruit smoothie at the bar alongside the swimming pool at the Langosta Beach Club. I just walked in from the beach, and no one stopped me or asked if I had paid a fee to use the facilities. Maybe it is free to eat or drink there, but I am sure that you would need to pay to use the pool or other facilities.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are showing photos of the Villa Balbianello at Lake Como, Italy. You have probably seen it in several movies.

Lounging at the Langosta Beach Club

The Langosta Beach Club provides a place for people to take a break from the beach, relax on some lounge chairs in the shade, take a dip in the pool, use their towels and lockers, work out in the exercise room that I showed in the photo a few days ago, or get something to eat or drink.

For people who are not staying right next to the beach, this seems to me to be an excellent concept with many conveniences in comparison to setting out beach towels on the sand.

Please check out photos of Easter Island on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Langosta Beach Club; A walkway towards the beach

For the last two days I have showed photos of the entrance and exercise room of the Langosta Beach Club. What is out the back door of the building? There is this staircase and a walkway heading towards the beach.

Yesterday Jack of Hartford Daily Photo commented that there were no people in the photo in the fitness room, so I interpreted that as a request to show a person. So Jack is responsible for my showing the woman in a white bikini in this photo.

I wonder what we should do next. Maybe we should walk down this path behind the woman in the white bikini. It is for a good cause, as there might be something else to photograph to post on my Daily Photo site. I know, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it. At least that's what I'll tell Julie when she sees this post.

Please check out photos of Easter Island on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Langosta Beach Club; Exercise Room

This is the inside of the building I showed two days ago. The Langosta Beach Club has a fitness room for people who want to work out, as Jarart of Prescott, Arizona, Daily Photo was able to perceive from the outside of the building two days ago. I think it is very pleasant for the large windows to provide a view of the outdoors while people are working out.

But I also agree completely with Jarart's comment two days ago, as I would rather walk on the beach than walk in one place on a treadmill in an exercise room, no matter how pleasant the exercise room is. What can be a better place to walk that an unspoiled beach?

Please check out photos of Easter Island on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Langosta Beach Club Entrance & French Ex-Pats

Yesterday I showed the exterior of the building at the front of the Langosta Beach Club. If you want to come inside, here is the entrance. The forested site allows the use of glass without too much of a greenhouse effect, and the glass has a clean and modern look.

When I walked in, I was greeted by a very friendly staff person, a young French woman. I asked her where she is from, and she replied Toulouse. I commented that the young woman at the activity shop in the center of Tamarindo is also from Toulouse, and it turns out that they are friends who came here together.

The young woman who handles reservations for the property management company that manages out two condos is also French, as is the interior decorator who furnished our two condos and the professional photographer who did the interior photos of our condos for the websites where we list them for rental. No, I don't know why there are so many young French residents of Tamarindo, but all I have met are delightful and doing well.

Tomorrow, let's go inside the Langosta Beach Club.

Please check out photos of Easter Island on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Langosta Beach Club; Its Background

This is the front of the Langosta Beach Club from the street. Tropical architectural and furnishings are popular in Costa Rican Pacific beach communities, as this design reflects.

This building was the sales office for a large multi-purpose condo development called The Preserve. Some of the condos have been constructed near the point that separates Tamarindo and Langosta, but the rest of the project appears stalled by the downturn in the market.

The original plans called for condos to be built on the inland side of the Langosta estuary, which was rather controversial from an environmental standpoint, a nature trail, a shopping area, and more. With the project stalled, the sales office is now being used as the Langosta Beach Club, open to others, not just residents of The Preserve, for a fee.

Tomorrow, let's walk up to the entrance for a closer look.

We are showing photos of Easter Island on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Langosta Beach Club

Today I will begin a new series of photos to show you the Langosta Beach Club. It is located along the southern end of Tamarindo Beach, as the view across Tamarindo Bay to Cabo Velas, the point of land at the far left, is visible beyond the swimming pool.

The Langosta Beach Club is a good concept for people who do not live or are not staying in a condo or hotel right on the beach. For a daily, weekly or monthly fee, you can hang out at the Beach Club and use its facilities. I will show more of its features in the coming week.

We are showing photos of Easter Island on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

A hole in the clouds on a stormy day

I usually show photos of the beach in the nice sunshine that we enjoy in Tamarindo most of the time. But at times we have clouds and tropical rains (but not during the Nov. - April dry season.)

This photo is a deviation from my usual sunshine. Here are some storm clouds over the ocean, with the sun peaking through a hole in the clouds. You can see that it is raining out over the ocean.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are returning to Easter Island to show more photos of the Moai statues.

Surfer with a long yellow board

To achieve gender equality with the 2 days of photos of the woman riding a horse in a bikini, here is a second photo of a guy surfer. He is walking towards the southern end of Tamarindo beach, where the larger waves roll ashore.

I don't quite understand why he is wearing what appears to be a wet suit shirt. The water in Tamarindo is warm. It is even pleasant to swim in the middle of the winter, as there is no winter.

This week we are showing photos of Lake Como, Italy, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Surfer finishing his ride

Here is a photo of a surfer finishing his ride near the shore on Tamarindo beach. Because I showed the bikini horseback rider during the last two days, I had to post a photo like this in order to maintain gender neutrality.

My wife keeps me compliant regarding gender neutrality, and any transgressions in that regard are simply my testing her to see if she is paying attention and still vigilant.

This week we are showing photos of on of our favorite places, Lake Como, Italy, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Bikini horseback rider, a closer look

As I promised yesterday, here is a closer photo of the woman in a white bikini horseback riding on the beach.

Why would I show this photo? Well, I showed other photos of her a while back and I found that I am getting hits on my website from people who are doing searches for bikini horseback riding on a beach. So, this is just a cheap trick to drive more visitor traffic to my site.

By the way, did you notice the size of the driftwood tree on the beach? I didn't think so.

As long time readers of this blog may recall, when I show a photo like this, I usually promise "equal time" for the other gender the following day. Tomorrow will be no exception.

This week we are showing photos of on of our favorite places, Lake Como, Italy, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Horseback riding on the beach in a bikini

After my series on the sunset, I figured I better show something different to spice up the website. So here is a photo of a woman in a bikini horseback riding on the beach. Guys, before you take the trouble to click on the photo to enlarge it, I'll save you the trouble. I will post a closer photo tomorrow.

I earned Horsemanship Merit Badge when I was a Boy Scout. I don't remember that there was anything about riding on the beach barefoot in a swim suit.

This week we are showing photos of on of our favorite places, Lake Como, Italy, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Sunset Series, 9

This is the end. The day is done. The last bit of color is disappearing from the sky that has turned dark above and below a narrow ribbon between the clouds that gives a peak towards the Pacific Ocean, across which Hawaii and other islands are still enjoying the late afternoon sun, and Asia is busy in the midst of the day.

I think that the quintessential setting for a sunset is looking west into the ocean. We love that feature about our Tamarindo condos. I feel sorry for the East Coast of the USA, as watching the sun rise over the ocean is just not the same as the sunsets into the ocean.

This week we are showing photos of Lake Como, Italy on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. It is one of our favorite places. If you visit the website, it will be easy to see why.

sunset Series, 8

The colors of the sky have now retreated to a to a ribbon of deepening colors and darkening skies.

I need a tripod to take the late sunset photo, in the dim light, and using the zoom, such as this one. I was using a relatively small and light camera, not a DSLR, for these photos so I did not need a regular tripod. I have a small pocket tripod with pliable legs that are only about 6 inches long. I can wrap the legs around the railing of our condo and set the self timer for two seconds, and push the shutter button.

In low light conditions, it is better to use the self timer because pushing the shutter button can cause a slight movement of the camera.

Tomorrow will be the final scene of this sunset that I have been showing during the past week.

This week we are showing photos of Lake Como, Italy on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. It is one of our favorite places. If you visit the website, it will be easy to see why.

Sunset Series, 7

This photo is a closer view of the sky of the same sunset from our Langosta condo balcony/patio that I have been showing during the past week. Clouds enhance the sunset by capturing color. Too many clouds, of course, can ruin the sunset if they block the sun's rays from reaching the closer clouds.

When photographing sunsets, I will try multiple exposures to try to find the exposure that best captures the light and color of the sun. Usually, taking the photo at a setting for a faster shutter speed, or a higher f-stop or two, than the camera's light meter would select. In other words, I take the photo as though there were more light to under expose the setting. That captures the colors at their best.

Today is Mother's Day in the USA, but not in Costa Rica. In Costa Rica Mother's Day is in August and is a national holiday. Banks, government offices, and many businesses are closed so people can have a day off of work to spend the day honoring their mother.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are showing photos of one of our favorite places, Lake Como, Italy.

Sunset Series, 6

Even after the sun disappears below the horizon, the sunset is not over because of the crimson painting of the clouds.

Why do some areas have more colorful sunsets than others? Here is what I have been told. One of the factors is the lack of humidity in the air, which is why desert sunsets are more colorful. Think of what things look like under water. Blue is the predominant color, even though water is clear, not blue.

The for the blueness under water is that the water filters out the red colors and leaves the blue colors of the spectrum to predominate. The same filtering effect of water occurs in the air. When there is little humidity, there is less filtering out of the red colors so the sunsets appear more colorful.

I do not have a background in science, so I make no assurances of the accuracy of the above explanation, but it does make sense to me.

This week we are showing photos of San Xavier del Bac Mission, the White Dove of the Desert, outside Tucson, Arizona, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Sunset Series, 5

This is a wider shot photo of the same sunset that I showed in my posts during the last few days. When I zoomed into the horizon, the clouds looked darker than the photo posted today, which shows that the sky above the marine layer of clouds is still slightly blue.

The high clouds offer an opportunity for an epilogue to the sunset, as I will show in the days ahead. The presence of clouds like this add suspense to the sunset, as sometimes the clouds are thick and block the color as the sun drops into the ocean. Most afternoons the clouds allow the sun to drop behind them and the capture the color of the sunset and add texture and extend the duration of the colors.

This week we are showing photos of San Xavier del Bac Mission, the White Dove of the Desert, outside Tucson, Arizona, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Sunset Series, 4

The sun is gone, dropped below the horizon of the Pacific Ocean from our Langosta condo. The sunset is not over, however. The clouds in the sky continue to cling to color and begin a new phase of the sunset.

Now would be about the time to consider whether to have a second glass of wine, if we have had some cheese and crackers or bread and olive oil along with the first glass of wine and if we followed our rule of drinking an equal amount of water along with any consumption of wine. Also, we walk rather than driving to dinner when we are in Tamarindo.

This week we are showing photos of San Xavier del Bac Mission, the White Dove of the Desert, outside Tucson, Arizona, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Sunset Series, 3

The disappearing sun is about to drop below the horizon as it paints the clouds a deep crimson.

On very rare occasions, when the sun drops into the ocean there is a green flash. It is an optical phenomena that lasts for a second or two, caused by the reflection of the sun's light in the atmosphere.

My wife has seen the green flash in California. We have not seen it in Costa Rica. I have seen the green flash only once, and that was in the Cook Islands of Polynesia. Someone on our Solar Eclipse cruise there actually captured it in a photo.

When the sun disappears below the horizon, the sunset is not over, as I will show in the days ahead.

This week we are showing photos of San Xavier del Bac Mission, the White Dove of the Desert, outside Tucson, Arizona, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Sunset Series, 2

A few moments after yesterday's photo, the sun started to dip into the ocean, and the sky reddened.

Jack of Hartford (Connecticut) Daily Photo) had the right idea in a comment he left yesterday about passing a glass of wine. My wife and I will have a glass of wine to accompany the sunset. French wine is expensive in Costa Rica. California wine is available, but we have that at home in Arizona. We usually select an Argentine or Chilean wine.

Sunsets are not static, of course. They evolve. The clouds play a crucial role in either blocking or texturizing the sunset. I will continue to post more photos of this same sunset to show how it evolved.

We are showing photos of San Xavier del Bac, the White Dove of the Desert, Mission outside Tucson, Arizona, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Sunset Series, 1

I will today start a series on the stages of a sunset. This photo is taken from the balcony/patio of our Langosta Beach condo. The sun is just above the horizon.

Each evening when we are at our condo in Tamarindo, we like to assess the sun and the clouds in late afternoon and predict whether we will get a good sunset. The answer is usually "yes." They don't call our area the "Gold Coast" without reason.

I will take you through the stages of this sunset so you can see how it evolved.

This week we are showing photos of the San Xavier del Bac Mission, the "White Dove of the Desert," just south of Tucson, Arizona, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Theme Day: Mailboxes

The worldwide Daily Photo theme for May 1 is "mailboxes." We do not have any mailboxes in Tamarindo, so for a Costa Rican interpretation of this theme, I am showing this photo of leaf cutter ants delivering their mail.

Costa Rica does not have street addresses. People traditionally lived in villages and everyone knew where people lived. As communities have grown larger, people identify their location by saying where they are near, as a system of street addresses never developed. For example, the "address" for our Langosta Beach condo is "125 meters north of the Barcelo Resort." In the capitol city of San Jose, with more than 1 million people, they are only now starting to develop street addresses.

In a country without street addresses, Costa Rica has not developed a modern, efficient postal service. People do not rely on the government postal service, as it is unreliable. People can receive mail in Tamarindo from the USA by having things sent to a P.O. Box in Miami and the UPS will deliver the mail or packages to a Mail Boxes, Etc. store one block from our condo, and then people can pick up the mail or packages from there. Of course people use the internet instead of mail for most communications.

I am sure Americans find the lack of postal service perplexing, but I should point out that the USA has 5% of the world's population but sends and receives 40% of the world's mail. Mail is not part of the culture of some developing countries.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are showing photos of San Xavier del Bac, the "White Dove of the Desert" mission south of Tucson, Arizona. It is an architectural, cultural and historical gem.

To view how other Daily Photo bloggers interpret the theme of mailboxes, Click here to view thumbnails for all participants