Seasonal Suffering......

I'm a mess! I'm drugged up, feeling woozy, have a scratchy palette, watery eyes, runny nose and am itching all over! Not the vision of beauty that most of you may think I am! Yes folks....it's that time of year....ALLERGIES! From now until the first hardy frost I'll be a snotty mess. Some days are not as bad as others; however, if it's humid, breezy and the pollen is flyin' you know it's not a good day. While the main culprit is ragweed, other weeds can trigger reactions. I was in a farmer's field / weed field this evening trying to capture a weather shot. I ended up focusing on my archenemy: a weed field and ended up really liking this gnarly beast. After quite a few shots, I could feel the allergy symptoms kicking in--uncontrollable sneezing, , scratching my leg until it bled and my eyes closing up. I knew it was time to call it a day.......

Mags.

Pura Vida!

August 1, 2010

From the minute we were picked up at the airport, until the minute we were dropped off, "Pura Vida" was an expression we were taught and used on a daily basis several times a day. 

Pura vida literally means "pure life", but the meaning is closer to "full of life", "purified life", "this is living!", "going great", or "cool!" It can be used both as a greeting and a farewell, to express satisfaction, or to politely express indifference when describing something. The phrase has become widely known; this highly flexible statement has been used by many Costa Ricans since 1956. Some foreigners view the phrase as an expression of a leisurely lifestyle, of disregard for time, and of wanton friendliness. However, Costa Ricans use the phrase to express a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, resilience in overcoming difficulties with good spirits, enjoying life slowly, and celebrating good fortune of magnitudes small and large alike. 

As our plane took off from the tiny airport, I looked down with sadness as I left the beauty behind. I thought of this expression and what it meant. As I prepare myself for reality, I know the daily stresses of life will soon rear it's ugly little head again. With perseverance, a positive attitude and learning to relax and enjoy life more, I hope to adopt this phrase and incorporate it into my daily life......

PURA VIDA!

Mags.

Monkey Business

July 30, 2010

Another early morning, another full day of adventure. This time, we went to Palo Verde National park where we took a boat ride along the Tempisque River, which borders the 45, 000 acre park, and flows into the Gulf of Nicoya. The Gulf is a habitat that encompasses fresh and brackish waters, surrounded by a mixed deciduous forest, gallery forest and golden brown savannahs. 

It was during our boat travels that we came across many different species of birds, iguanas, lizards and monkeys. While the Howler monkey's are cute and make unique noises, I fell in love with the White Faced Capuchin monkeys. However, I don't believe this alpha male fell in love with us.....he became quite aggravated and started throwing branches and leaves at us until we decided to move along. Cranky pants? Perhaps he was annoyed because we disturbed him during his mid-day nap. Nonetheless, he was adorable and I wanted to take him home with me........

Mags.

Thrills, Chills and Spills........

July 29, 2010

Today was another 5:45 a.m. start as we prepared to head off and partake in the "Mega Combo" adventure. We were driven to the Buena Vista resort about three hours away from our resort. At just over 2460 feet (750 metres) above sea level, this property is close to the Rincon de la Vieja volcano and provided a breathtaking view of todays adventures.

We started off zip lining through the transitional forest, with 12 stations and a hanging bridge. Once completed, we hiked through the forest to get to the top of a 1400 foot water slide down the side of a mountain. After lunch, we rode horses an hour through the forest up and down some pretty steep hills and ended the day at a Spa where we sweated in a steam room, caked ourselves in volcanic mud, showered to wash it off and relaxed in the mineral hot spring pools in the middle of the forest....whew....what an exhausting day!

Mags.

Tamarindo Treasures

July 28, 2010

Today was my birthday and as per usual, it rained buckets. But I didn't let that stop my fun! Guy surprised me with some champagne and chocolate covered strawberries in the afternoon and later on that night, a birthday cake complete with the staff singing "Happy Birthday" in spanish......

In the afternoon, I took a quick (but bumpy) cab ride into Tamarindo to peruse the shops for some unique finds. Sadly, every shop seemed to carry the same tacky souvenirs but I did quite enjoy the character and colours of the shops and enjoyed watching all the barefoot surfers stroll around town with their surf boards in tow.... I wanted to take a stroll on the beach in hopes of capturing one of the infamous sunsets, unfortunately, the rain came pouring down and dusk had started to come and as we were warned, walking along the beach in Tamarindo at night wasn't the safest thing to do....All in all, I enjoyed the sights, smells and sounds that the small town had to offer.......

Mags.

Arenal Adventure

July 27, 2010

Today started off bright and early at 5:45 am ( I thought I could sleep in on my vacation?) as we were picked up at 6:30 a.m. by our tour guide who was going to take us on an adventure that would include visiting a volcano, hiking through the rain forest and relaxing at a hot springs. 

It was difficult to choose a picture for today as there were so many great ones taken. I chose this one since it's a unique one..... Unique in the sense that it is very rare to see the top of the volcano. Usually, it's covered in clouds but thanks to the heavy downpour we experienced while hiking in the rainforest, the clouds were pushed away for a few moments and we were able to capture some great shots. 

Located in Costa Rica's northwestern area, in the province of Alajuela, the Arenal volcano is considered to be a young volcano and is the most active one in the country. It's also unique in the sense that it has two craters....the one on the left side is the older crater of the two and isn't as active as the one on the right, thus lush vegetation is able to be grown on one side. On the right hand side, we can see that it remains very rocky . A few minutes after this photo was taken, the clouds rolled in and covered the volcano top again.

Mags.

Mary Iguana

July 25, 2010

We got up early to explore the resort and walk along the rocky beach. The weather was beautiful (hot and HUMID) and the sun was shining brightly. Guy became rock lobster red after being out a half hour or so in the sun (Costa Rica is only 9 degrees away from the equator and the sun is a scorcher!) so we decided to take it easy in the afternoon and hang out poolside under the shade of the palapas. As I drifted into a little afternoon siesta, I was startled by a little scream. A woman was running past my chaise freaking out in spanish. I sat up to see what all the commotion was all about. And there she was.....sunning herself in the sun, Mary Iguana was out in all her glory as if to say "Here I am! Take some photos of me!" I'm not sure if she is really a she or a he, but, the iguana seemed to really like having her photo taken......

Mags.

A Refreshing View on a Stinking Hot Summer Day

With the humidity, it was over 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 degress Fahrenheit) today. You can understand why I was feeling lethargic and not really motivated to create an exciting masterpiece today. I picked up my P&S and decided to stick my nose out the door to see what was close by. I took some shots of this flower from my neighbour's side garden. I croped the photo to give it a little added interest. Hoping tomorrow will be a better day for pics.......

Mags.