Costa Rica 2016 - Reagan's Photo Galleries Updated with Costa Rica Photos

Sunday Night in Atenas, Costa Rica

Reagan's Photo Galleries Updated with Costa Rica Photos

I returned home from Costa Rica to Nashville Tuesday, February 23. Thanks to my friend Charlie Doggett for hosting me and literally showing Costa Rica from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean and much of the central valley including his town Atenas and Alajuela and San Jose.  The highlight of the trip was definitely the times spent at Charlie's home relaxing on his terrace in my favorite rocking chair.  Second highlight was Charlie's introducing me and emerging me into the simple lifestyle of Atenas.  The sightseeing highlight was a three day trip to Tortuguero National Park on the Caribbean Sea staying at Laguna Lodge and traveling on boats to see the birds and other wildlife of the Fuertes River.  

It took almost a week but I have uploaded over a thousand photos to fifteen photo galleries to Reagan's Photo Galleries in a new Folder Costa Rica.  The photo galleries are one for each of the fifteen days of my trip from February 8 when I traveled to and spent the night before my flights at the Hilton Garden Inn near Nashville International Airport until February 22, my last day in Costa Rica when Charlie took me to the airport Hampton Inn in Alajuela.  The San Jose International Airport is in Alajuela.  Sorry, no photos on my return flight on February 23. 

Click the photo below or the caption to see all fifteen galleries. You might want to bookmark that page or save this blog update to view each gallery as you have time.

Costa Rica 2016 February 9-23

I also would like to express a special "thank you" to our Tortuguero trip guide Robert Umaña pictured below.  Robert is a native Costa Rican and spoke Spanish and English fluently.  I especially liked that he took personal interest in each member of our group including me to make sure we were enjoying the experience.  I know he reached out to include me in the tours and be sure I was okay.  

Our Tortuguero guide Robert Umaña

And most definitely thanks to my wonderful host and friend Charlie Doggett who greeted me at the airport and made every single day a fun and happy day.  Charlie, you took very good care of me.

My host and friend Charlie Doggett

Thanks to all of you following me on my travels via this travel blog.  I'm home in Nashville/Franklin, TN, for four weeks.  My next travel is an Amtrak trip from New Orleans, LA, to Seattle for a week in Seattle and then return back to New Orleans on Amtrak.  In Seattle, I have family and friends I hope to visit - great nephew Neil Owens family and former First Baptist Nashville youth Jacob Moody family.  

Costa Rica is Pura Vida

My Next 2016 TRAVEL PLANS

Spring Amtrak Rail Adventure March 27-April 13 - Flying to New Orleans, LA, to travel via Amtrak's City of New Orleans and Empire Builder to Seattle, WA. After a week in Seattle, I will return to New Orleans via Amtrak's Coast Starlight(Sacramento), California Zephyr(Chicago) and City of New Orleans. Return trip is compliments of Amtrak Guest Rewards points I have been earning from all my Amtrak travels for the last few years.

Via Rail and Amtrak Trip to Canada and Albany, NY, May 28 to June 15 - Traveling by Via Rail in Canada to Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Returning to USA via Amtrak for visits to Albany, NY and New Orleans, LA.

You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. Also, click on the "blog title" at the top to view this blog on the web.

All my photos are available to view on Reagan's Photo Galleries website.

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Costa Rica 2016 - February 22 - Adios Costa Rica

Arrival Day on Charlie's Terrace

Adios Costa Rica!  It's Time to Go Home to Nashville!

Thanks, Charlie, for a great two weeks in Atenas, "the town of perfect weather", and Costa Rica, "the country of 'Pura Vida'". Charlie brought me to the Hampton Inn near San Jose International Airport this afternoon. After a late American lunch together at "Denny's", I am now realizing how fast yet how good these past two weeks have been. Tonight I am remembering that each day was full of "pura vida" and lots of photos.  Actual photo count on my Canon camera is 1,053.  Most of those photos will make my photo galleries in a new Folder Costa Rica in a couple weeks.  It was not easy but I have selected one photo per day from my blog updates to reminisce over.  So here are 14 days of photos.

Arrival Day - A perfect welcome!  That's Charlie with the sign waiting for me as I exited the immigration process.

Day 2 - I found my perfect spot to hang out at Charlie's in the rocking chairs on his terrace.  We stayed in his town Atenas and got familiar with the town.

Day 3 - We did a nice long car ride first to Volcano Poas but decided not to go in the park due to rain and fog preventing one from seeing the volcano.  We did go on to La Paz Waterfall Park to visit in the rain.  Beautiful and scenic even when wet.

Day 4 - Farmer's Market day followed by an afternoon at Charlie's.  I got photos of several birds in Charlie's garden from his terrace.

Day 5 - We visited ZooAve Park for rescued birds and other wildlife.  

Day 6 - Toured El Toledo Coffee Farm.  Here Charlie and I are taste testing different variations of roast.  Tour ended with a family farm dinner.

Day 7 - Two photos - We took a 3 hour motor coach ride with a breakfast stop and a 1 1/2 hour boat trip to Laguna Lodge in Tortuguero National Park.  That's Robert, our guide, in the second photo.  He met us with the motor coach in San Jose and stayed with us in Tortuguero and returned with us to San Jose.  He was simply one of the best informative and friendly guides I have met.

Day 8 - A full day at Tortuguero with Robert providing a 3+ hour exploration boat ride along the river and narrow canals leading away from the river to see birds, crocodiles and monkeys.  

Day 9 - Day to return to San Jose and on to Atenas back to Charlie's home.  While at Tortuguera I met new friends Colin and his dad Milo from Manhattan in New York.

Day 10 - A day of rest and hanging out at Charlie's.  These tropical petunias are in Charlie's garden.

Day 11 - Charlie's does not own a car so he uses the public transportation system including nice buses and economical taxis. Friday, we went to Alajuela by taxi and bus.  While there we visited the new USA style City Mall and ate lunch in the food court.  Of course I had to try McDonald's.  

Day 12 - We visited Crocodile Bridge and Jaco Beach on the Pacific Ocean but the highlight of the day and maybe the trip was stopping on the way back home at a nice souvenir shop where I found a painter finishing up this painting.  We waited for him to complete and partially dry and then I purchased it.  This will be a great memento of my visit to Costa Rica.

Day 13 - A quiet Sunday in Atenas at Charlie's and this fantastic view from his terrace.  Of course, I have multiple photo views from Charlie's terrace to share in my photo galleries.

Day 14 - This colorful art work is in front of the Hampton Inn where I am staying tonight awaiting my flight home tomorrow at 9 AM.  

I confess to enjoying nature but not really into bird and other wildlife names.  If you would like to see more bird photos and the names of birds we saw in Tortuguero I highly recommend you check out and even subscribe to Charlie's Blog.

It's almost 9 PM here in Alajuela tonight and my flight to Dallas/Fort Worth connecting with my flight on to Nashville leaves in 12 hours so time to wrap up this blog and get some rest before my 5:30 AM wake up call.

My next official blog update will be to let you know I have updated all my photos to Reagan's Photo Galleries.  That may be a week or so.  I'll be home five weeks prior to my next Amtrak trip New Orleans to Seattle, Washington.

Costa Rica is Pura Vida

My Next 2016 TRAVEL PLANS

Spring Amtrak Rail Adventure March 27-April 13 - Flying to New Orleans, LA, to travel via Amtrak's City of New Orleans and Empire Builder to Seattle, WA. After a week in Seattle, I will return to New Orleans via Amtrak's Coast Starlight(Sacramento), California Zephyr(Chicago) and City of New Orleans. Return trip is compliments of Amtrak Guest Rewards points I have been earning from all my Amtrak travels for the last few years.

Via Rail and Amtrak Trip to Canada and Albany, NY, May 28 to June 15 - Traveling by Via Rail in Canada to Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Returning to USA via Amtrak for visits to Albany, NY and New Orleans, LA.

You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. Also, click on the "blog title" at the top to view this blog on the web.

All my photos are available to view on Reagan's Photo Galleries website.

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to receive each new blog post to in your email inbox.

Costa Rica 2016 - February 21 - Sunday at Charlie's

A View I Never Tire Of from Charlie's Terrace in Atenas, Costa Rica

Sunday at Charlie's Home

The clock is ticking and my time with Charlie is coming to a close.  We are spending a relaxing day here in Atenas.  Earlier we drove into Atenas to meet a few of Charlie's ex-Pat friends briefly and then Charlie drove me up and around the hills surrounding his home to see all the homes built on the hillside in his neighborhood.  We then ate a late lunch near his home at "Restarurante Las Oropendolas".  Now we are back at Charlie's resting, napping, and reading. Planning to eat ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner.  Tonight is my last night to sleep at Charlie's. Thank you Charlie! Or better yet, "Muchas Gracias, Charlie. Usted ha sido un gran anfitrión!"

Monday morning, I will be packing my luggage for travel back to the Nashville. Charlie will drive me to Alajuela after we eat a late lunch to the Hampton Inn near the San Jose International Airport to spend Monday night and then turn in the rental car he has driven these past two weeks. He will then take the bus we rode Friday back to Atenas from Alajuela. Monday night at the Hampton I will reflect on these two great weeks visiting Charlie and prepare an update blog featuring a highlight photo from each of the daily blogs I posted. I hope you have enjoyed the blog updates as I have shared them.  

If you have missed it, I started ending each update blog with the words, "Pura Vida." You see it every where here and it means, "Pure Life."

Here are today's selected photos.

We ate lunch at Restaurante Las Oropendolas near Charlie's home

We ate lunch at Restaurante Las Oropendolas near Charlie's home

We ate lunch at Restaurante Las Oropendolas near Charlie's home

We ate lunch at Restaurante Las Oropendolas near Charlie's home

We ate lunch at Restaurante Las Oropendolas near Charlie's home

That's all for today.

Costa Rica is Pura Vida

My Next 2016 TRAVEL PLANS

Spring Amtrak Rail Adventure March 27-April 13 - Flying to New Orleans, LA, to travel via Amtrak's City of New Orleans and Empire Builder to Seattle, WA. After a week in Seattle, I will return to New Orleans via Amtrak's Coast Starlight(Sacramento), California Zephyr(Chicago) and City of New Orleans. Return trip is compliments of Amtrak Guest Rewards points I have been earning from all my Amtrak travels for the last few years.

Via Rail and Amtrak Trip to Canada and Albany, NY, May 28 to June 15 - Traveling by Via Rail in Canada to Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Returning to USA via Amtrak for visits to Albany, NY and New Orleans, LA.

You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. Also, click on the "blog title" at the top to view this blog on the web.

All my photos are available to view on Reagan's Photo Galleries website.

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EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS --  CLICK HERE to sign up your email

to receive each new blog post to in your email inbox.

Costa Rica 2016 - February 20 - Jaco Beach and Crocodile Bridge

Painting I Purchased Today

Crocodile Bridge and Jaco Beach 

Today, Charlie drove us to town of Jaco to visit the Pacific Ocean beach. Our first stop was Crocodile Bridge where you walk over the bridge to see the crocodiles lounging in the sun or swimming in the river.  After the stop at Crocodile Bridge we continued on to town of Jaco where we walked out on the beach.  We visited in Jaco and I found a couple of souvenir gifts for my sister Shirley and myself.  After visiting a couple ocean overlooks we visited a nice resort and ate lunch in the marina restaurant.  After lunch we started back to Atenas and made one last stop at a souvenir shop Charlie had meant to stop at on the way to Jaco but missed.  A very good shop and after shopping as we were leaving, we saw a man painting many scenes of Costa Rica on canvas.  I saw what he was painting and really wanted that painting so we waited for the painting to be completed and dried some before purchasing and bringing home to Charlie's.  The painting is now continuing to dry for another 24 hours on the dining room table.  The photo above is an IPhone photo of the painting. Another photo of the painting is included in the photos below along with a couple photos of the painter.  Now my limited shopping is complete.  Come visit me when I get home if you would like to see the actual painting.

Here are today's selected photos.

Crocodiles at Crocodile Bridge

Crocodiles at Crocodile Bridge

Crocodiles at Crocodile Bridge

Vista across the the Crocodile Bridge

Crocodile Bridge

The Beach at Jaco

The Beach at Jaco

Town of Jaco

View of Jaco Beach

View of Jaco Beach

Lookout of Jaco Beach

Heading to lunch at the marina

The Marina

Crossing Crocodile Bridge again

Typical Costa Rican Road We Traveled On

Comida Tipica Souvenirs  

Fruits of Costa Rica

Soda Shop at Souvenir Stap

S

Souvenir Shop

Painter and his beautiful Costa Rica Pointings

Photo of Painting I Purchased

The Painter of my Painting

Driving on Costa Rica's version of toll road

Tonight and Sunday night are my last nights with Charlie. While I am ready to come home to Nashville/Franklin, Charlie has been a great host and I will miss him. Tomorrow, Sunday, only definite plans are "to eat". Monday morning will be packing time for me. Monday afternoon Charlie will drive me to the Hampton Inn at San Jose International Airport for an overnight on my own before departing on American Airlines to Dallas/Fort Worth connecting there with my flight to Nashville. Scheduled arrival time is 4:55 PM.

Costa Rica is Pura Vida

My Next 2016 TRAVEL PLANS

Spring Amtrak Rail Adventure March 27-April 13 - Flying to New Orleans, LA, to travel via Amtrak's City of New Orleans and Empire Builder to Seattle, WA. After a week in Seattle, I will return to New Orleans via Amtrak's Coast Starlight(Sacramento), California Zephyr(Chicago) and City of New Orleans. Return trip is compliments of Amtrak Guest Rewards points I have been earning from all my Amtrak travels for the last few years.

Via Rail and Amtrak Trip to Canada and Albany, NY, May 28 to June 15 - Traveling by Via Rail in Canada to Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Returning to USA via Amtrak for visits to Albany, NY and New Orleans, LA.

You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. Also, click on the "blog title" at the top to view this blog on the web.

All my photos are available to view on Reagan's Photo Galleries website.

************************************

EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS --  CLICK HERE to sign up your email

to receive each new blog post to in your email inbox.