The Big Waters

You won't see me giving myself up very much but you do here.

Colors In The Neighborhood

These are pictures of flowers. Probably could be from anywhere but they're from here. At the bottom is a picture of a cactus I walk past.

Don't have a clue what these are and the third may be a weed. I find them fun to look at.

 This is a vanilla plant.

Tried It Again

It's ma job to get out and about on a regular basis and I guess to eat. I walked to town and just had to try ceviche again with shrimp. It was even better.

There was like a people fair across the street in the park where there were vendors of many sorts mostly crafts. This is out of focus.

Purses plenty.

All colorful and possibly these mushrooms bring back real memories of times gone by for this artist. 

There was music. Not bad with tunes from the states.

Click on this one as there is much going on here all over the place.

Very seldom can you get clear shots when you want to.

When the band started with Deep Purple's "Machine Head" I headed for home stopping for a bit of ice cream.

Just liked this one. It's pretty out.

Some Food And Drink

Have been eating out a bit and just plain eating more than usual. My cooking facilities are such that I'm a bit limited and I have been enjoying a bunch what I've had.

Prices aren't necessarily low with these but you can eat inexpensively. Below is a casado a local dish that can be had everywhere you go. Paid a bit more because I wanted the fish. It was like $6.30. Rice and beans,potatoes,fish on a thick corn tortilla. The vegetables had more flavor than I can remember -really and I'm not that fond of carrots. This was very good.     

This was even better. Makes me hungry just looking at it. It's called cevichi. Fish/seafood marinated with lime or other juices and combined with other seasoning ingredients. It's really good and it's shrimp next time.  This filling portion cost 1800 or $3.60.

The drink is special as well and is called cas. A bit pricey maybe at 900 or a $1.80 but worth everybit of it. Have had a couple other local fruit drinks that are just as good.

A few example items and needs to be said that I'm not shopping for the best price all the time but for convenience too as I carry my food home most of the time from the main part of Atenas. So I go to the store/market a lot.

To give you an idea -
eggs - were about $1.15
brewski's - about $1.25
mandarin's - .10
plantain - .45
milk - $1 and a few penny's
beef marinated comes in at $3.70lb.   

I had this yesterday - it was soooo good. It's fish on a bed of rice with a salad all with seasonings unfamiliar to me. There was nothing left on the plate and almost wanted to lick it. This came in at 3500 or $7. Will be going back again.

There will a post/posts coming on my finding of what meat tastes like here compared to in the states. This was something I was curious about and important in the sense of what we eat as a country. I'll just say now that what I have had so far is better than what I was eating back home. It really is and that does not include beef at this time as have not eaten much. Other food stuffs is a different story and what's left is to determine in what ways and just how much better it is.

This Morning

We went on a hike from the house to this waterfall. I've seen some but nothing really stands out. It was not easy to get to and what was left of the trail was hard to see.

So this was a new one to me and I'm glad I got to see this. It is the dry season so there's not much volume. Saw some toucan's and a few different insects.

I have a feeling Brooke got a helicopter ride down here when they filmed the "Blue Lagoon".

A Few Local Critters

I actually thought there would be more opportunities for some types of pictures here. I know there it's just that they've not come my way. It is the dry season and it is dry. I have seen one species of toucan's once. Fleeting glimpses of a gecko. These sound like a bird at night. The ones I've been around made no noise. Butterfly's and dragonfly's have not even given me a chance to turn the camera on.

Fleeting glimpses of small lizards. Did see that huge garrobo and the little one here at the place. The only reason I got these two pictures is that this bird allows you to get fairly close like 20'. Other than that my camera has a tough time. This is the same bird in both pictures. In most light conditions it is very intense blue.

The local type of land snail.

This is a termite nest and there are a few around. They are built in trees but not far from the ground. The termites are small maybe a 1/4" long or so.

One of the resident kitty's hopefully laying in wait.

Some pretty intense color here and he was easy to see. Not quite a 1/2" long.

There are leaf cutter ants not far away. Something new to me and I find it interesting to see little pieces of green moving along the ground from say 10-15' away.

You need to stop and begin observing the ground. Eventually you will see one and then you bedin to see more and more.

I've taken a number of pictures over two days. This is the best of the bunch. It was the very first one. The rest are throw aways.  

Out And About

Caught a ride to the other side of Atenas and had a very pleasant walk back home. It's ma job ya know. This picture was at a small resort where a new acquaintance and neighbor occasionally works. What a view and you can see the same even if you're in the pool.

Piggies the likes I've never seen before.

The same goes for the cemetery. The road past this leads directly to the church.

This vehicle is deceivingly small and there are many smaller cars and trucks made by the same company's we all know. We need vehicle's like this in the States but we'll never get them. The reasons against them in my opinion are not good enough.

There are the well known brands of motorcycles here and like cars and trucks much more expensive than in the States. These are Chinese made and I believe cost less than a $1000. I understand too there may be issues with parts. Stateside there are guvmint regulations that make manufacturers supply parts as part of doing business there.

Big smiles from these two young caballero's.

I had a very good meal here for $5. Haven't been back but am going. There are many places to get some real decent food.

Back home and this little guy had met up with a window and was out like I was in San Isidro but recovered after quite awhile and flew off just after I took this.

A couple flower pictures.

Not at all a good picture. My camera is not capable of getting decent shots of let's say birds. Maybe later a better one as these birds allow you to get close. Not this time though.

Market Day

Have not been taking many good pictures but you can get the idea. Most of these have been played with a bit.

These people had the best homemade sausage you wouldn't believe. On the expensive side and that's okay. Next week as I have to eat what's in the fridge now.

So you get 4.4lbs of tomatoes for a buck. These were a different variety than what I've been buying so I got several to try. A bag of these red/green peppers is 80 cents. It's 500 colones to a dollar.