Bridge over the Tempisque River near the Gulf of Nicoya

This is the "Friendship with Taiwan Bridge" that carries traffic over the large mouth of the Tempisque River at the north end of the Gulf of Nicoya.  Before he bridge was built traffic to reach the Nicoya Peninsula had o go across a ferry, which of course took a lot more time.  This route is used by people coming from San Jose and central Costa Rica to the northwest provide of Guanacaste, where Tamarindo is located.

The bridge yes its name from the fact that the Taiwanese built the bridge.  It was a very nice thing for the Taiwanese to do, as it has made a long-lasting improvement to the transportation and infrastructure of the country and has achieved a substantial convenience for a lot of people..

I am sure tha the Taiwanese are disappointed that Costa Rica has subsequently used mainland Chinese resources for substantial construction projects.   The Chinese built Cosa Rica's new national stadium, used for soccer/football matches and major concerts and other events.  There is talk of using financing and construction resources from mainland China to upgrade the highway from San Jose to the Caribbean coast.


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

Leaf cutter ants, up close

It was a little hard to feet photos of the leaf cutter ants up close as they were crawling in and out of their den, as I showed yesterday.  So I picked up a stick that had several ants on it and held it up in front of my camera lens.

In this photo there are several ants on the top of the twig, and an ant upside down carrying a left many times larger than the ant's body.

It is a sign of the resilience of nature that there could be an underground world right on the grounds of a large, sophisticated high-tech factory such as Costa Rica's Intel plant.

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

Leaf Cutter Ants Going into their Den

Yesterday's photo showed a photo of a hole in the trough in the grass.  This is a closer view of the hole.  It reveals that the hole was not made by a rodent, but by leaf cutter ants.  They were carrying a steady stream of leaves down the whole.

As I have mentioned before, leaf cutter ants choose only certain types of leaves, not to eat them, but to feed the leaves to a fungus underground so that the ants can eat the fungus.

There was not a lot of light at the entrance to the hole, as it was very late in the afternoon.  This photo is therefore not the best, but I decided to take matters into my own hands, as I will show you tomorrow.

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

Mystery in the grass around the Intel plant

While taking photos of the Intel plant, I noticed a trough in the grass lawn surrounding the factory.  In fact, there was a network of these troughs snaking through the grass.

What could they be?  Well, this is Costa Rica.  I will show more in the next few days.

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 architecture of Portugal.

The Intel Plant

Here is another photo of the Intel plant.  In 1999, Intel accounted for 30% of Costa Rica's exports.  By last year, the diversification of Costa Rica's economy resulted in Intel's share of  exports dropping to 13.7% last year.

The loss of such a large percentage of the country's exports with Intel's announcement that it is transferring manufacturing from Costa Rica to Asia is significant.   The diversification of  Costa Rica's economy is reflected in more than $8 billion of direct foreign investment and 30,000 new jobs created during 2010-1013, particularly in medical equipment manufacturing.


I promised a few days ago that there would be a Costa Rican flair to this factory, but these little queen palms planted outside are not it.

Shortly after taking this photo, I looked down at the grass and saw a curious mystery, which I quickly solved and will share in the coming days.

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

There's Intel Inside

The large factory I showed yesterday is an Intel factory.  Computer chips are Costa Rica's leading export.  That's right.  The original "banana republic" produces more export revenue from computer chips than it does from bananas, or coffee, and Costa Rica is well known for its coffee.

Quite sadly for Costa Rica, Intel has announced earlier this month that it will close its manufacturing in Costa Rica and transfer those jobs to Asia.   That will be a loss of 1,500 manufacturing jobs.  Intel will keep 1,200 jobs in its engineering and design facility and will add 200 more.  This loss of high tech manufacturing jobs is a source of great concern in Costa Rica, of course, as I will explain further tomrrow.

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

Not a tourist sight

Ecotourism is Costa Rica's number one industry.  But today's photo is not a tourist sight.  This is a photo of a factory that is extremely important to Costa Rica.

I will show and explain more in the next few days.  I will also show a few photos of a uniquely Costa Rican twist to the lawn outside this factory in a suburb of San Jose.

We have photos from a cruise up the east coast of Baja California in Mexico's Sea of Cortez posted this week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

White, decorated ox cart

Afer showing so many ancient artistic creations lately, I thought I should show a more contemporary artistic expression.

This is an example of Costa Rica highly decorated ox carts, although this one is unusual because its base coat is white rather than red.

This is not a working ox cart.  It is a display on the grounds of the Tamarindo Diria Resort, where we have one of our two condos.

We have photos from a cruise up the east coast of Baja California in Mexico's Sea of Cortez posted this week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Gold Lobster

This is a closer view of one of the gold lobsters in the Pre-Columiban Gold Museum in San Jose.  This looks rather realistic, although the artist took some license, if we want to get nit picky in comparison to anatomical details.  The front claws look small and the tail is large, but the skill and artistry is impressive, particularly for being more than 600 years old.

Rather than focusing on the details, I think the larger question is why did the artist decide to make a lobster.  There are lots of more attractive animals to choose for a subject.  Maybe he enjoyed the taste of lobster.

We have photos from a cruise up the east coast of Baja California in Mexico's Sea of Cortez posted this week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Jaguar Metates

Here are some more of the stone jaguar metates in the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum in San Jose.

These metates were not used for grinding corn, as they do not show signs of being used.  Instead, they were funerary offerings buried with nobility between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D.  They come from northwest Costa Rica, which is the province where Tamarindo is located.

The skillfulness of the artisans who carved these is indeed impressive.  It is also interesting how ancient cultures incorporate animal designs into the most precious of objects, as metates buried with nobility must have been.

We have photos from a cruise up the east coast of Baja California in Mexico's Sea of Cortez posted this week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

"Little frog, what big eyes you have."

I have been showing a series of photos of objects in the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum in San Jose recently, including a gold frog.

I therefore decided that today I would post a photo of one of the types of frogs that perhaps might have been the inspiration for Native americans centuries ago to create gold objects such s the gold from that I showed about a week ago.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing photos from a cruise that we took a couple of months ago in the Sea of Cortez, up the east coast of Baja California, in Mexico.

Gold Monkey

After showing a pre-Columbian gold frog, lizard, bat, and lobsters, it should not be a surprise that the indigenous culture produced gold monkeys as well.

I assume that the monkeys interacted with the Native Americans even more than they do with modern people, as the pre-Columbian cultures certainly lived in closer proximity to wildlife than modern people.

This week we have photos from the Galapagos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Gold Butterfly

Butterflies are abundant in Costa Rica, many of them  large and colorful.  The indigenous cultures centuries ago evidently admired the butterflies as well, as reflected by this specimens in the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum in San Jose.

This week we have photos from the Galapagos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Gold Lobster Designs

These gold objects in the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum all have a lobster motif.  This is consistent with the location of the culture on the Nicoya Peninsula of northwest Costa Rica.

We continue to have lobster in the area today.  In fact, the beach where one of our two condos is located is Playa Langosta, which translates as Lobster Beach.  We occasionally see local fisherman with a few lobsters, and some of the local restaurants have local lobsters on the menu.  It appears that the native Americans enjoyed lobsters 1,000 years ago as much as we do today.


This week we have photos from the Galapagos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Jaguar Vase

This is another of the pre-Columbian ceramics in the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum.  This is a tripod vase with a jaguar motif.   The creativity and skill of the indigenous culture is indeed impressive.  Most of the ceramics on display in the museum came from the Nicoya peninsula in northwest Costa Rica, where Tamarindo is located.

This week we have photos from the Galapagos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Gold Bat

I don't know what thought process or dialogue went into the selection process for animal subjects of pre-Columbian gold objects.  I would not think that bats would be high on the list, but this bat looks rather friendly.  In fact, his face looks almost cartoonish.

This week we have photos from the Galapagos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Gold Lizard

A few days ago I showed a gold frog from the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum.  This is a gold lizard, or perhaps it is an iguana.

I guess it should not be a surprise that they would make gold jewelry in the shape of the animals around them.   Can you guess what other animals they might have used as subjects for their art?  I will show some additional examples in the days ahead.

This week we have photos from the Galapagos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Pre-Columbian Chorotega style pottery

Costa Rica is known for its eco-tourism and not for its pre-Columbian culture, but this vase is an example of a pre-Columbian culture that has survived.  This vase in the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum in San Jose is similar in design and coloration to the Chorotega pottery that is made today in Guatil and nearby communities not far from Tamarindo.

I have shown modern examples of chorotega pottery in earlier posts, which can be seen by using this link.  There is even a store in Tamarindo that teaches visitors how to make their own chorotega pottery as souvenirs to take home.
 
Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing some additional photos form our recent trip to the Galapagos Islands.

Gold Jewelry

This exhibit in the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum showed how and where some of the items of gold jewelry were worn, such as the necklace that I showed yesterday.  For people who must have been challenged just to meet the basic necessities of life, they evidently prized jewelry and adornment.

This week we have photos of the Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Gold Necklace

This is a gold necklace in the San Jose Pre-Columbian Gold Museum.  The second object must also have been something that the native Americans wore, but I am not sure exactly what it is.

This week we have photos of the Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.