Ocean sunset

Just like it is pleasant to look down on the beach and ocean from our Langosta condo balcony/patio, the sunset views over the ocean are even more relaxing.

Even on days when there is not much color in the sunset, there can be delicate highlighting from the sunset that is a serene way to end the day.

This week we have photos of the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Ocean view

I can't think of  anything more relaxing than sitting on the balcony/patio of our Langosta Beach  condo with a snack and a drink, and listening to the surf and looking down on the relentless march of the waves rolling in to the shore.

One guest in our condo even reported to me that they saw whales from our balcony.

This week we have photos of the people of Guatemala posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Langosta Beach and Condo

This photo illustrates why we love Langosta Beach and our condo on the beach.  That is our condo building poking up above the trees.

Langosta is a quiet beach, perfect for nice long walks or, as the couple tucked away in the trees in this photo is doing, just laying out and relaxing, listening to the waves and enjoying the ocean breeze.

The first 50 meters of the beach is public property, which makes it possible to walk along the beach and also keeps a buffer of trees and bushes between the beach and the houses along the ocean.

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 Great Synagogue of Budapest, Hungary.  It is a unique, amazing building.

Beach view

This is another photo of part of our view form our Lnngosta condo.  Two days ago I posted the view to the north, and this is part of the view to the west and a little south.  

One of the things we like is that the sound of the surf is constant, rather than waves hitting the shore intermittently.

This week we have photos of Majorica posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

There's no place like home

I have shown a good number of surfing photos from Langosta Beach lately, so I decided to post today a photo of part of the view of Langosta Beach from our condo.

This is the view looking north up the beach rather than straight out to the ocean.  It is so pleasant to have breakfast, or any meal, while listening to the surf and feeling the ocean breeze.

World Cup News:  Yesterday Costa Rica defeated Greece in the round of 16 in the World Cup football/soccer matches.  It is a remarkable achievement that Costa Rica could advance to this level, ahead of Italy and England in its bracket, and now moving on to the quarter finals.  The entire country is excited.

Today is Sunday so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing photos from our trip last month to Majorica, a diverse resort island in the Mediterranean.

The last moment of the sun

Yesterday I showed a beachfront house. If you stay on the beachfront, this is what you can see just about every evening.  I like to observe the last moments of the sun.

I took this photo of the sun dropping into the Pacific from our Langosta condo.

We have photos of the charming town of Adare, Ireland, posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Langosta Beach and a comment about the weather

People who are considering renting one of our two condos often ask what the weather is like during what locals refer to as the Green Season, which is April through October.

I usually visit during the Green Season because our condos are almost always rented during the High Season, so almost all the photos that you seen on my website were taken during the Green Season.

This is a typical morning view from our Langosta condo.  The days start out with blue skies and white puffy clouds on the horizon.  In the afternoon the clouds will move in and there might be a brief tropical shower, then the weather clears and the clouds highlight the sunsets.  There can be rainy days during September and October.  It is warmer in the December - April dry season, and locals call that summer, even though Costa Rica is in the northern hemisphere, of course, were summer is normally June - August.

This week we have photos of Blarney Castle, Ireland, posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

The most stressful part of the day -- What wine to select for sunset?

I like to think that when we are in Costa Rica, the most stressful part of the day is to decide what wine to select to await the sunset from the balcony/patio of our Langosta beach condo.

We usually select a Malbec from Argentina or another red wine from Chile.  We figure that it does not make sense to buy California wines in Costa Rica that we can get easily in the USA.  And French wines tend to be more expensive in Costa Rica than Argentine or Chilean wines.

Of course, there are causes of stress, even in paradise.  Usually it involves the work that we are doing using our USA phone line and internet connection to the office.

One possible source of stress in Tamarindo is to make sure that you get gas before you get into town because there is no gas station in Tamarindo or in Villareal, the nearest town.  The closest gas station is about 10 minutes inland.

This week we are showing photos of the architecture of Grenada, Nicaragua on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Just waves

Usually I show surfers, dogs, birds, children, fishermen, or other sights along the beach.  Even when no one is around, which is often on quiet Langosta Beach, there is always something to see.

The waves, ocean breeze and roar of the surf are as relentless as the rush hour traffic and the ringing of the phone and tone of incoming emails at work back home in the USA.

I took this photo on the beach just below our Langosta condo.  Julie and I have a USA phone in our condo, and of course we are connected to the office by internet.  But it is nice to take a little break from work and walk on the beach when time permits.

We have photos of the colorful architecture and street scenes of Grenada, Nicaragua, posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Flowery entrance to our condo

After showing the photo of our condo from the beach yesterday, today I am showing a photo of the front of our Langosta condo, with tropical flowers filling most of the frame.

We have photos of the doorways of ancient temples of Cambodia posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Langosta condo

I have shown photos of the Sueno del Mar Bed and Breakfast for the last couple of weeks, even though it is technically a bit of a competitor of mine, as there may be some people who decide between renting a condo or staying in a bed and breakfast.

So, having featured and promoted a competitor, I think it is fitting that I would post today a photo of our condo on the beach in Playa Langosta.

Our condo is on the second floor of this beachfront building right in the center of this photo.  The tree trunk on the right will fall down sometime, and probably later become driftwood.  I think I will miss it, as it is a familiar sight.

We have photos of the doorways of ancient temples of Cambodia posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Crimson Tide

No, my title of crimson tide does not have anything to do with the Alabama football team.  I took this photo from our Langosta condo balcony just a few moments after the photo of the sunset that I showed yesterday.  The sun was still in the sky, so I zoomed in on the ocean below the sun the capture the sunset reflecting off the sea.

I did not adjust the exposure or saturation of this photo in the computer.   This is how the camera captured the scene.  When taking some sunset and sky photos, I will underexpose the photo a little by increasing the shutter speed or f-stop, as it makes the colors deeper and richer.


This week we are showing photos of the Khmer jungle temples of Cambodia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Sunset for the Tico Times print edition

I am using this photo of the sunset from the balcony of our Langosta condo to report the sad news that the sun has set on the print edition of the Tico Times after 56 years.

It succumbed to the economic challenges that have faced many newspapers around the world.  More and more people are getting their news on line, and the costs of printing and distributing the traditional newspaper are too much in an era of declining advertising and subscription revenues.  Hopefully, the newspaper will find enough revenue sources from its on-line edition to continue to support its excellent reporting.

The Tico Times is an English language publication.  It has broken many stories over the years and is an excellent way for people like me, who spend time in Costa Rica and love the country, but do not live there all the time, to keep in touch with local and regional news while we are away.  Sadly and shamefully, I do not speak Spanish, so it is a critical news source for me as reading the Spanish language papers on line would not keep me informed, until I finally learn Spanish, as I am committed to do when I retire.

Here is a link to the website for the Tico Times.

This week we are showing photos of the Khmer jungle temples of Cambodia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Welcome home

After walking home from dinner, here is the scene that greets us.  Straight ahead you can see the clouds over the ocean.   The front door to our Langosta condo is on the left.

This presents a tough decision.  Should we open a bottle of champagne to sit on the balcony/patio to listen to the surf and watch the clouds drift across the ocean in the night?  Such decisions could make life in Costa Rica stressful.

We have photos of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Sunset from Langosta condo

I have not posted a photo of a sunset in a while, so here is a photo of the sunset from the balcony of our Langosta Beach condo.  I positioned the camera behind the little palm trees so soften the sun.

I like the "Green Season" at this time of year, as the clouds add shape, texture and capture the color of the sunset.  The high season of sunny, cloudless skies during November through April is ideal for tourists who want to escape the cold weather up north.

News:  Here is a little news item from the Costa Rican newspaper.  The first Costa Rican to climb Mount Everest has just reached the summit.  Congratulations to Warner Rojas.  The newspaper has been reporting on the progress of his expedition by monitoring his Facebook page.  They have reached the summit and returned safely to one of the camps below.  Julie and I where in the Himalayas several months ago, although not for mountain climbing.  But this is a tremendous achievement and a source of price for a country like Costa Rica, which has mountains, but none of them covered with snow and ice like Everest.
 
This week we have photos of the elegant villas and gardens of the Borromean Islands in Lake Maggiore, Italy, posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Langosta sidewalk

Today's photo is a change of scene from the photos that I have been showing of houses and beach at Playa Langosta.  This is the sidewalk in front of our Langosta condo.

Tamarindo does not have a lot of infrastructure.  Many of the streets are not paved, and some do not have sidewalks.   When new buildings were built, they often add infrastructure such as sidewalks and gutters.

That is the case with our condo.  The condo developer built this sidewalk.  The wall separates the sidewalk from the condo parking lot, and there is a nice row of flowering shrubs on each side of the sidewalk.   It is a pleasant walk and frontage for the condo.

This week we have photos of Bangkok on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  If you have not been there, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the dazzling color and detail.

Sunset from our condo

usually by mid-afternoon my wife and I will look to se if there are any clouds and we start a dialogue about what type of sunset we think there swill be aht evening.  Even days when the sunset is below average, it still rarely disappoints.  I took this photo from our Langosta  each condo.

Todya is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing photos of

Shadow on our balony

This photo shows the shadow of our balcony railing and a palm tree on the wall of our patio/balcony at our Langosta Beach.  The glow of sunset over the Pacific ocean is our favorite time of the day.

This week we are showing photos of the animals and people of Tanzania on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Flowers in front of our condo

After yesterday's photo of our condo from the beach, here is a photo of our condo from the street. With my long series of photos of the nearby Crystal Sands condo, I felt I should show a photo of our place.  As this photo shows, we have a nice flower garden along the street and surrounding the building.

The flowers, trees, building and sky combine for an explosion of color.  I will show a few photos of the flowers in the days ahead.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing some additional photos of Chicago, featuring different lighting conditions.

Our condo on Langosta Beach

Here is a late afternoon photo of the beach at Playa Langosta, with our codo in the background.  I took this photo some months ago, as it is now the dry season and clouds like this are rare from Nov. until April.

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