photos costa rica (1)

Latest pics have been added on a separate page called 'photos costa rica (2)...

Well, below is where we stayed for five weeks. (Living in the loft above the horse stables actually!!)

Above: On air (radio) and on the web in San Jose.
Right: Our dear friend the Ayurvedic doctor, Leonardo and his good friend and radio presenter, Iside. Iside is also a Feng Shui consultant and has a Spiritual store in Escazu.

Maia in the bathroom of one of the rentable condo's(huge shower room and toilet room on each side of this - can you believe it?!) We stayed here for our first two nights at the resort before moving into 'the Penthouse' (the loft above the stables!)

One of the 'locals' - bananas are put out every afternoon for a family of fourteen 'Coatis'.

Above: Our accommodation...the 'Penthouse'!!! (The loft above the stables).
Below:  A present for us left in our bathroom by the recent earthquake! (The only damage in the entire resort apart from a couple of glasses.) 

Above: Sahayak gets arty with one of the local 'wildlife'!!! 

New Year's Day...
Above: Leonardo and Carolina share a happy snap moment.
Below: Performing with the jazz band - spontaneous impro on the day! (Described by one of the band members afterwards as 'cosmic!!!'

Above: This kid was dancing in the street for ages at the Palmares Fiesta. (Maia's pic from too far back with Sahayak's bubby camera!) (More pics of the fiesta below)

Above and above right: Playing at a Chinese New Year event at Iside's 'wind @ water' kiosk in a big shopping mall (where in the world can you go where there isn't a big shoppiing mall!!!!) - that's Iside with the microphone.

Above: Sahayak in the surreal landscape of a volcanic crater. Mist was swirling around, very cool (and more than cool temperature-wise...down to 10 degrees, as it was 3000 metres above sea level!)

Above: We took heaps of great shots of the Irazu Volcano, but this one was taken by our friend Thomas...it's the only shot that captures the rainbow (though not fully as his memory card was full and by the time he changed it over, it was gone!) The (hot water) lake is 300 metres below, and the crater is a km wide. Stunning!

Above: Maia with the cleaning crew. It's the Ticos like these staff at Vista del Valle that make this such a beautiful country. Note the guy second on the left, who walked around all day with the clip on koala we gave him attached to his shirt!

Above: Here's a Sahayak shot after the mist had cleared...

Above: A finely carved Toucan by a local Tico artisan, using a sustainably obtained Costa Rican native hardwood called Cocobolo. (beautiful red grain)

Right: Ever seen pink, vertical growing bananas before?!!

Above: Lichens and fungi growing on a palm frond in the cloud forest.

Above: Leaves Costa Rican style, in the cloud forest.

Above: There were two types of humming birds in this area of the cloud forest. This photo is of the larger - it's metallic, irredescent green with a body about the size of a small sparrow. Dozens of humming birds were whizzing around our heads near the feeders. The other species was about half this size, light brown with a white flash on the top of the tail.

Above: Security is everywhere in Costa Rica. Every home has security grills, even those in small country towns like this one (this is a central area of town). It seems crime is an increasing problem with the ever widening gap between the wealthy and the poor. Yet we never feel in danger on our travels.

Above: No guesses here - a toucan!! They were fairly common at Vista del Valle. Each morning their calls were heard. A bit like the sound of a wooden spoon being repeatedly drawn across a textured board. Sahayak photo.

Above: Another example of Cocobolo.

Above: One of a series of murals sponsored by the founder of the Butterfly Farm (in picture) with a staff member.

Above: Another mural.

Above: This mural captures a shop keeper who used to give 'sweets' to local children. He has since died, however the lady on the far right still lives in the attached house.

Above, bottom left and right: These three butterflies are 'two' of over 45 species within the butterfly farm. The two below are the same butterfly - wings closed and partly opened.

Above: Entrance to the Butterfly Farm. A popular destination for visitors, established now for over 25 years, this was the first butterfly farm in Latin America. It now exports (twice a week) live pupae to Europe and North America. It also collects pupae for export from over 150 Costa Rican butterfly breeder farms in the surrounding area.

Above: When fully opened this butterfly looks like an owls face with two large 'eyes', with the butterfly's body being the owls beak - how amazing is that!!.

Above, below and right: The horse parade at the Palmares Fiesta - a huge two-week long event on the Costa Rican calendar. 

Above: Part of the Palmares horse parade (see below), Maia - with her discerning dressage eye - was totally impressed by this stand out horse and rider combination. Beautiful, tension-free piaffe - for those who aren't into dressage, piaffe is sort of like trotting on the spot (i.e. takes years of training and is difficult at the best of times let alone in a noisy, frenetic street parade!)

Above and above right: Security Costa Rican style. On the left, the view from Tamara's terrace (note the jacaranda tree - could just as easily be in Brisbane!). Just on the other side of the big red gates is a boom gate with a 24 hour guard (for the whole street). On the right is the view from our bedroom window. Next thing to imagine is the cat (pictured far right, and above far right with Veronica) INSIDE the razor wire after hastily escaping an altercation with a neighbouring cat! That's why he ended up with two deep gashes, a very unwelcome visit to the vet and a week of utter frustration with the vet collar! (Had to feel for him, but it was often quite funny watching him try to figure it out!)

Below: Rodrigo and Vicki (wearing a sarong just in case you were wondering!) Rodrigo was featured in our blog a while back when we had a very strange Christmas, and he was also the one who rang Iside (from the radio station) and told her she absolutely must attend the Fire Ceremony event (back in December, which is also on a previous blog). From Iside attending we ended up on the radio, and at the Chinese New Year event, where we met Grammy award winning Carlos Vargas (from Editus 360) who we are now going to be performing with in April! (And I'm sure the thread will continue and also continue to be amazing!) And of course, we met Rodrigo through Vicki (and just about every other connection we have here!) We have been boomerangs and have stayed three times now at Vicki's. (We highly recommend her Fountains Guesthouse!)

Above: Clodagh and Margot, from Ireland - facilitators of the EFT workshop. A great connection, great people and no doubt we'll be seeing them again and again - partly because they love Costa Rica, and partly because they would and probably will happily come to Oz once we get back andd get settled.