cow power

Wind Turbine Farm / Quebrada Azul ,Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a country rich with renewable energy. In fact, it gets about 99% of all its electrical energy from clean sources and it’s aiming to be the first country to become carbon neutral. If you've ever stood behind a cow for any period of time you know what kind of wind power they are capable of.

passionately purple too

La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rica
Another - to go with the other.

passionately purple

La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rica
As anyone who has visited the tropical climates knows, the colorful floral vegetation is always an eye catcher. Living in Manhattan, even on the edge of Central Park, one doesn't see much in the way of colorful natural vegetation - other than green. Perhaps that's why all of the corner bodegas throughout the city seem to have flower stalls; allowing us to bring some natural color into our spaces.

pump it up

Tabacón / Arenal, Costa Rica
While walking through some dense rain forest in the Hanging Bridges area of the Arenal volcano, I came across two male Anole lizards - both simultaneously inflating their dewflaps. The males pump up these these brightly colored dewflaps to attract females for mating - strutting their stuff, you might say.

my, what big ears you have

Quebrada Azul, Costa Rica
After stopping at a macadamia farm advertising fresh macadamia nuts - but then finding out they weren't harvesting until the following week - we continued on our way back to Liberia via a short cut that the macadamia owner suggested. It was all pretty rugged dirt road over a ridge top crested with fascinating wind turbines - and cows. Lots of big eared cows. They seemed much more bored with me than I was with them.

la sandía

Carrera No. 4 / Santa Marta, Colombia
One of the best things about Latin America and the Caribbean is the abundance of fresh fruit year round. Though when in Costa Rica last week, while it seemed there was fresh picked watermelon (or la sandía) overflowing every roadside stand, it didn't taste nearly as sweet as what we get across the street at our local market. Perhaps ours are chemically-enhanced to improve that delicious watermelon flavor.

big boy tree house

Tree Houses Hotel / San Carlo, Costa Rica
Just returned from four great days in the Arenal Volcano region of northwestern Costa Rica. It was an adventurous trip made even more fun by spending our nights in a tree house in the jungle canopy. During the days in the jungle, I saw everything I went for: howler monkeys, two-toed sloths, tree frogs, a toucan - and even a deadly eyebrow palm pit viper. And some things I didn't ask for - like a flat tire on the rental SUV in the middle of nowhere in the scorching sun. Fortunately, after an hour or so on the side of the road trying to get a tire off that wouldn't come free, a kind gentleman who spoke no english rescued us two useless gringos. All in all - a fun trip.