Beautiful Women

So beautifully easy to photograph.

Lizard Heaven: Cahuita

As in, I was in heaven because there we so many lizards in Cahuita. Once I dreamt as child I was catching anoles twice the size of the anoles I caught at home in Florida. They were big, masculine, beefy lizards. Anyone who says lizards don't have personality, couldn't be more wrong. Look into their eyes. A little lizard soul lies there. Cahuita was a dream.








The Holy Grail of Lizards

Puerto Viejo

En Route to Arenal

Mistaken Fanciness.

Intermission: Hurricanes and Louisiana

I found this video while doing some research for an article I'm writing about Louisiana's marshes and Hurricane Katrina. I thought it made destruction almost look graceful.

The Forgotten Feline of Pension Santa Elena.

The town of Santa Elena is a short bus ride to Monteverde, which isn't as much a town as it is a dirt road. Quakers established Monteverde in the 1950s to escape the United States and its proclivity for violence and war. Now, fifty years later the cloud forest of Monteverde attracts more people a year than any other spot in Costa Rica.

This cat was the guardian of the kitchen at Pension Santa Elena, a busy hostel where English dominates and guided nature tours are the new black. I didn't fall for their trickery, and saw plenty of animals, including the elusive Quetzal.

From the Center of the Earth

Arenal is the most active volcano in Costa Rica. It can erupt up to 20 times a day but sometimes it won't erupt for days. Arenal is a perfect example of the the luck we had in Costa Rica, almost missing buses, but not, having full days of sun on the beach in the raining season, finding free hot springs and streams when others paid 70 dollars, and hearing and seeing Arenal erupt four times when we were there. Usually an eruption consisted of a poof of smoke and a loud rumbling sound. But once I saw a little flash of red at the top. Molten rock is a magical thing.

Life Squared.

In Monteverde, the sun shines through the trees with a sense of purpose. Plants grow on plants and a gentle mist hovers in the air. I went to Monteverde alone. I went to see how my conception of tropical rain forest differed from the actual thing. I went to Monteverde because before my feet touched that lush Latin land, Monteverde was what I imagined when Costa Rica came to mind.

Montezuma Side B

Similar but different.

Costa

I was in Costa Rica for three weeks and two days. I will be posting pictures of my trip intermittently for the next few weeks. And I think I'll go backwards. The last place we went was Montezuma.

Montezuma is often called Montefuma. The minute we got off the bus, I smelled it. The town, a small collection of shops, sodas, and one bar, is unimposing. The tour guides stay within the confines of their offices and the hippies don't nag you to buy their woven jewelry. For 2000 colones (roughly 3.5 dollars) you can get a Latin American style hamburger, which is "like no other hamburger you've ever tasted" says the cook. Fresh water streams meet the ocean every quarter mile or so and white-throated magpie jays steal your crackers. Every once and a while, if you're looking for them constantly like I am, you'll see a spiny-tailed iguana perched upon a rooftop as if he were a king addressing his plebeian subjects.