Aerial View of the Countryside

This is a view of the countryside in the coastal plains of Northwest Costa Rica near the international airport in Liberia.  September and October are the rainy season.  In December through April the vegetation in this area will be dryer.

This week we we are showing photos of the festival in Punahka, Bhutan, in the Himalayas on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. 

An undeveloped crescent shaped beach

If someone is looking for a pristine, unspoiled beach, this looks like just the place.  It is crescent shaped beach with no houses or other developments.  There also appear to be no roads to it, however.

I took this photo from the airplane as we were heading down the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua on our way to the Liberia Airport near Tamarindo in northwest Costa Rica.

The coast of Nicaragua is much less developed than Costa Rica.  Much of the reason is that the political climate in Nicaragua has been much less attractive to foreign investors than Costa Rica.  Costa Rica has had a stable democracy since the late 1940's.  Nicaragua's political climate has been turbulent.

This week we have photos from our cruise in Mexico's Sea of Cortez posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Gyrocopter

Yesterday I showed a pelican flying over the beach.  Here is another sight that can be seen in Tamarindo -- the gyrocopter flying overhead.  My son rode in the gyrocopter several years ago and loved it.  I posted a few of the photos that he took.

I will have to try it sometime.  You get to sit up front in the open air, which would provide great visibility for photos.

The gyrocopter takes off from Tamairndo airport and flies down the beach for 15 minute scenic flights.

This week we are showing photos from Tanzania on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Caribbean Island

This photo shows a shallow Caribbean island, mostly a coral reef, with a speck of land on its eastern edge.  I suspect that this will never be an inhabited island, as the sea level will probably rise faster than coral and land will add to the fledgling island.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.  This week we are showing photos of the town of Adare, Ireland, which has justifiably been callled Ireland's most charming town.

The flight home across the Caribbean

The flight from Costa Rica back to the USA crosses the Caribbean, if your flight goes to the Midwest or East Coast rather than California.

A window seat provides view of the deep blue and shallow islands and reefs of the Caribbean, as is shown in my photo today.

We have photos of our experience seeing the Opera in Paris posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Windmills in Nicaragua

Flying north from Costa Rica provides this view down to Nicaragua where there are windmills for generating electricity along the shores of Lake Nicaragua.  I suspect that this is a good location for wind because it is a place where the land remains close to sea level between the Pacific and the Caribbean.

In Costa Rica, there is a spine of tall mountains running the length of the country but Lake Nicaragua is just a half hour from the Pacific, but it drains into the Caribbean.  It would therefore be a good funnel for differences in air pressure to funnel wind from across the narrow Central American isthmus.

By the way, the spine of tall mountains in Costa Rica protects those of us on the Pacific coast from the hurricanes that hit the Caribbean, although the hurricane belt is north of Costa Rica.  Hurricanes do not cross the mountains.

We have photos of our experience seeing the Opera in Paris posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Undeveloped tropical beach

This is a photo from the airliner as we left the Liberia Airpot northeast of Tamarindo to fly back to the USA.  The flight path follows the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, then crosses over to the Caribbean.

This is one of the many undeveloped beaches along the Pacific coast.  There are more undeveloped beaches in Nicaragua than Costa Rica because there is much less tourism and infrastructure in Nicaragua.  How long will it be until someone buys land such as this, builds a road, develops houses, condos or a resort, and tries to attract buyers and visitors?

We have photos of our experience seeing the Opera in Paris posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Overview of Tamarindo and Langosta

This photo gives an overview of Tamarindo and Playa Langosta, from the hills above Tamarindo.  The southern end of Tamarindo beach and bay is at the top right.  Around San Francisco point is Playa Langosta at the center of the photo, just below the horizon.

The large white building is the Pacific Park condo in the center of Tamarindo.  The Diria Resort condos, where we have one of our two condos, is the building right behind the trunk of the tree on the right.  A few condos in Playa Langosta, where we have our other condo, are visible along the tree line in the distance at the top center of the photo.

If the country continues the density and height controls that were adopted a few years ago, the area will remain mostly green.  The real estate market is starting to improve, so the pause on new construction of the past 5 years or so might be interrupted by some new condo units. We will have to see whether the developers are successful in pre-selling units and getting their buildings under construction.

We are showing more photos from Julie's recent raft trip through the Grand Canyon on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site it.  It is a unique place.

J.W. Marriott Guanacaste Resort

I showed a post from the golf course at the Four Seasons Papagayo a couple of days ago, so I thought I would give equal time to the J.W. Marriott Guanacaste Resort.  This is an aerial view of it taken by my younger son several years ago when he took a gyrocopter flight over Tamarindo.  Guanacaste is the name of

We can walk down the beach from Tamarindo to the location of this resort, if it is low tide across the mouth of the Langosta Estuary.  It is about 20 minutes to drive inland and around the estuary and surrounding rural communities.

We have never stayed here, of course, since we have condos nearby, but we have stayed at other J.W. Marriott Hotels and they are very nice.  The fact that Marriott would make the investment to build a resort of this quality and size very close to Tamarindo I think is a good thing, as it places sort of an international corporate seal of approval on our local area.

We have photos of Cape Breton Island on the northern tip of Nova Scotia posted this week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  It is a pristine, beautiful place.

Beachfront dead tree with a chair swing

Yesterday I talked about how beachfront trees at times will be damaged or die because of the salt air. This is a closer view of the tree that was visible in yesterday's photo.

The dead trees have a rather artistic shape and can make for interesting driftwood. Someone has added a chair swing to this tree.

We are showing photos of Chicago at night on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Beachfront view

This is a view from the penthouse balcony down to the beach. The Crystal Sands condo has a nice lawn overlooking the beach, but I guess they figured that people would rather sit with their feet in the sand, so they made a couple of sand boxes with lounge chairs.

At the center top of the photo is a dead tree. I wonder if someone killed the tree to make a better view of the ocean. Some people in our condo building would prefer there there is less vegetation on the beach, but our property management company has quite properly said that they will not touch the trees on the public property of the beach. The Costa Rican environmental authorities have threatened to penalize anyone who who damages the beach trees.

The vegetation along the beach at times is damaged naturally by the salt air and water. The trees can be fragile because they are growing in sand.

We are showing photos of Chicago at night on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Aerial view of Papagayo golf course

Here is an aerial photo of the same scene that I showed yesterday. In the center left of the photo is the El Caracol Restaurant and the golf course support buildings.

In this photo you can see how the golf course snakes down the spine of the peninsula, with views of the Gulf of Papagayo on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.

This week we are showing photos of some of the quietly beautiful scenes of Yosemite National Park on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Four Seasons Papagayo from the Air

This is an aerial photo of the same beach area that I showed in my photos yesterday and the day before. The main lobby of the Four Seasons Resort is the large, curved building in the center of this photo, in the narrowest spot of the peninsula.

In this photo you can see how the hotel guests have access to beaches on both sides of the peninsula, although both sides are protected from the waves of the open ocean.

You can also see that even though this is the highest density area of buildings on the Papagayo peninsula, there are still lots of trees to provide habitat for wildlife.

This week we have photos of the Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, Italy, on the shores of Lake Como on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Papagayo peninsula from the airplane

I will be showing you a series of photos of the Papagayo Peninsula during the next week or two, starting with the photos of the entrance that I have shown during the past three days. To get you oriented, here is a photo of Papagayo from the air.

The government fostered the development of this area for upscale tourism, and upscale it is. In the narrow saddle near the end of this peninsula is the Four Seasons Resort. The Arnold Palmer golf course is visible as the lighter patches of green.

The Gulf of Papagayo is to the right. Across the Gulf is a Hilton all inclusive resort. There are other resorts tucked away in the area. The newspaper just announced that Papagayo has been selected for the first resort in Latin America by Bulgari, the jewelry company that also owns 3 hotels, in Tokyo, Bali and Milan, with a fourth in London opening next year. The newspaper said that the Bulgari hotel in Papagayo will cost $100 USD to build and will have room rates of up to $4,000 per night.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we return to Bellagio and Lake Como to show photos from the Villa Serbelloni, a retreat for scholars owned by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Playa Panama

Today I will begin a short series of one more beach north of Tamarindo, close to the Gulf of Papagayo. This area is under the location where airliners fly over the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica when they make their approach to the international airport in Liberia, about one hour north of Tamarindo.

I previously showed photos of Playas del Coco and Playa Hermosa. The area under the aerial photo I am showing today is Playa Panama. Tomorrow and the next day I will show this area from the beach.

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

Playas del Coco and Playa Hermosa from the air

I have shown a few aerial photos of the approach to the international airport in Liberia during the last few days. Here is a photo as the airliner crosses the Costa Rican coast.

Below in the foreground is Playas del Coco and the cove and beach just to the north is Playa Hermosa. North of Playa Hermosa is Playa Panama, which is barely visible in this photo.

I will start a series tomorrow to show photos of Playa Hermosa. I showed a series of photos of Playas del Coco several months ago. This photo shows how condos have been built up in the hills around these Costa Rican beach towns to take advantage of the views of the ocean.

This week we are showing photos of Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia, near the southern tip of Chile, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Flooded fields and update on Nicaraguan border dispute

This view from an airliner window during the approach to the Liberia airport shows the ocean in the distance, and flooded fields in the foreground. My guess is that these are rice paddies, as it appears that there are short plants growing up through the water in the foreground, but not in the center, as the water there reflects the clouds smoothly.

Update on border dispute with Nicaragua: Several days ago I did a post about a border dispute with Nicaragua. Jack of Hartford Daily Photo asked a very good question and others left comments asking for updates. There is significant news. The International Court of Justice in the Hague has issued a provisional ruling until the Court issues its final decision, which could be months or years. In the meantime, Nicaragua must vacate the island that is claimed by both countries and the only persons allowed on the island will be Costa Rican environmental personnel. Nicaragua may continue to do dredging in the river, however.

Costa Rican government officials declared the decision a victory and said that the Court showed that countries such as Costa Rica that have chosen not to have an army may obtain justice and solve disputes peacefully, without armed conflict with neighbors who have armed forces. Nicaragua also claimed that the ruling favored them because they can continue dredging activities in the river, which Costa Rica says is causing environmental damage to the river that is the border. Importantly, both countries say they will abide by the decision.

To address Jack's questions, none of the articles that I have read has suggested that there is anything particularly valuable about the island in dispute. Nicaragua has alleged that it is dredging the river for navigational purposes, and Costa Rica has asserted that Nicaragua has caused environmental damage and has invaded Costa Rica by sending its soldiers to the island.

I had been away for two weeks in Spain with my family until this weekend, so I had done my previous post in advance before I left, and just caught up with his news that happened last week. We had a delightful dinner with Rob and Mandy of Barcelona Daily Photo while we were in Spain, as they showed and described on their post a week ago Sunday.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are showing more of the stunning scenery of Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia, near the southern tip of Chile.

Scenery on approach to Liberia airport

Here is another photo of the scenery on the approach to the Liberia airport. This will give a perspective that the airport is close to the coast because the plane is low as it crosses the coast and heads inland.

It is more convenient for tourists that the airport is on the ocean side of Liberia, as that makes the airport even closer to the Pacific beach resorts.

Opening up the Liberia Airport to international flights about a dozen years ago is responsible for rapid growth of tourism in northwest Costa Rica. There are about 50 flights a week from the USA.

We are showing photos of one of the world's most elegant hotels, Villa d' Este, on the shores of Lake Como, Italy, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Aerial view of the Coast

This is a closer view of one of the beaches in the coastline that I showed yesterday. It is comforting to know that there are still stretches of coastline that are in such pristine condition.

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

Coastline

Here is an aerial photo of the coastline on the approach to a landing at the international airport in Liberia, Costa Rica. On flights from the USA, the airliners approach from the north, swoop along the Pacific coastline of southern Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica, and then bank eastward to land.

As I have recommended before, a window seat on the left side of the plane (facing forward) provides a nice view of the coast.

As you can see in this photo, the coastline in this area is a series of coves and pocket beaches, shaped like the edge of pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. In Tamarindo, our coast has long beaches and fewer inlets.

This week we are showing photos of the Amazon Jungle and the Nazca Lines of Peru on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.