We loved our tour in Costa Rica.  The photo/birding tour was great and we were able to see different areas of the country as well as stay in nice hotels.  The highest mountains are 12,000 feet and the birds, animals and vegetation varies with the elevation.  The country may now be the most environmental aware country in the world with newly passed laws to protect the birds, animals, vegetation and water.  40% of the countries income comes from mostly eco friendly tourism. The last two days we spent with the parents of a college student that has been visiting with our son Cary.  He and his family were her family away from home for two years while she attended the United World College near Las Vegas, NM. Visiting Nicol's parents organic farm turned out to be the highlight of the trip.  The have a lovely family and an interesting lifestyle that may be common in Costa Rica.  Organic farms may be the most popular type in this country.  They are able to make, or grow almost all they need for eating.  They have cows, pigs, chickens, milk cows, a vegetable garden, fruit & nut trees, sugarcane and fields of crops for the animals.

The large kitchen was equipped with four stoves, one electric, one gas, one wood and another with gas they produced from some sort of composting process.  The large refrigerator was necessary for all the fresh fruits and vegetables.

One daily shore was cleaning the eggs for market

Guillermo showed us how cocoa is grown and made

I took this photo from Nicol's bedroom window. There are many kinds of beautiful birds all around  the farm

Luz made great meal including breakfast of fried bananas, rice and beans,  eggs and as for all meals fresh squeezed juice and fresh fruit. 

Luz and her garden

Neighbors on a Sunday ride

An outside bathroom sink and cabinets with a sink large enough to clean fruit and veggies.  The river was just below and out about 100 feet. 

Cattle were spoiled with bananas, sugarcane and other hardy foods before going to market.

Reed helping to squeeze the sweet juice out of the sugarcane.  They make and sell sugar from the sugar cane as well as feed it to the cattle. 

We are spending a great 20 days in Costa Rica.  I have been too busy to send out notices but we are now on our way to the air port.  I am just posting these photos of the Red eyed tree frog that I fell in love with.  She is so cute and about 3 inches long.  

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Grandson Declan and parents visit

Our son Charlie, his wife Susan and their six month old son Declan arrived on the evening of Thursday, Jan 31^st.  The weather here is about 50 degrees warmer here than in Fort Collins from where they just arrived.  They hit the beach first thing in the morning and then Charlie, Reed and a friend went fishing with Tacho, catching 22 fish.  Tacho helped us ready the fish for cooking and then we had a great fish feast.  In fact we had fish tacos last night and our freezer is still full of more fish.  Guess what we are eating tonight.   

As much time as possible Charlie, Susan and Declan could be found on the beach snorkeling, splashing in the waves or just soaking up the sun.  Declan loved sitting where the waves would come over his legs.  Instead of being afraid of the water he smiled and splashed his arms in the water with delight.  After a face plant in the soft sand he was ready for a shower. 

Saturday we toured Tulum and Charlie and I practiced HDR shots with cameras.  After a walk we climbed into a boat that was able to give us a good view of the archeological site from the seaside.  It was an exhilarating boat ride with a great view of Tulum.

On Sunday Charlie, Susan and Declan headed for the Now Sapphire 4 star resort where their friends Mesa and Justin were holding their wedding.  We joined them on Monday for a nice afternoon and beautiful beach wedding.  This is one of those all- inclusive resorts where the gourmet food is fantastic and waiters are continually encouraging patrons to try another alcoholic drink.   We ate and drank tooooo much.

Our son Charlie, his wife Susan and their six month old son Declan arrived on the evening of Thursday, Jan 31^st.  The weather here is about 50 degrees warmer here than in Fort Collins from where they just arrived.  They hit the beach first thing in the morning and then Charlie, Reed and a friend went fishing with Tacho, catching 22 fish.  Tacho helped us ready the fish for cooking and then we had a great fish feast.  In fact we had fish tacos last night and our freezer is still full of more fish.  Guess what we are eating tonight.   

As much time as possible Charlie, Susan and Declan could be found on the beach snorkeling, splashing in the waves or just soaking up the sun.  Declan loved sitting where the waves would come over his legs.  Instead of being afraid of the water he smiled and splashed his arms in the water with delight.  After a face plant in the soft sand he was ready for a shower. 

Saturday we toured Tulum and Charlie and I practiced HDR shots with cameras.  After a walk we climbed into a boat that was able to give us a good view of the archeological site from the seaside.  It was an exhilarating boat ride with a great view of Tulum.

On Sunday Charlie, Susan and Declan headed for the Now Sapphire 4 star resort where their friends Mesa and Justin were holding their wedding.  We joined them on Monday for a nice afternoon and beautiful beach wedding.  This is one of those all- inclusive resorts where the gourmet food is fantastic and waiters are continually encouraging patrons to try another alcoholic drink.   We ate and drank tooooo much.

Mike and Reed relaxing in Tacho's boat on the way to a great fishing spot.

A bucket of fish. 

Declan all decked out for a day on the beach.

Declan's favoriate place was where the waves would come over him.  He would laugh when being sprayed by the water even when it went onto his face.  He is a real water boy.

Susan and Declan on the beach

Susan & Declan at Tulum

The stroller worked great in some places and not in others in Tulum

Charlie taking an HDR photo in Tulum

View of Tulum from the boat

Declan and  Susan watching the Volodores,Mayan men hanging by one leg.  They gradually come down as they swing around the poll as the man on top plays a musical instromunt

Colorful Volodor just before arriving to the ground.  I would be so dizzy I  would not be able to walk let alone stand up after such an experience, but it is beautiful to see. 

After long hikes and boat rides the tired crew enjoyed a good chicken dinner on the street in the town of Tulum

OSCAR & LALO

Wednesday Peggy and I were off to farmer’s market day where we get the best fresh fruit and veggies.  We then headed to Wal-Mart in Playa de Carmen where I picked up a very cheap stroller for Declan who arrives this evening.  Sorry, no photos of the market,  or of Wal-Mart which is the same everywhere except that here they have a great fresh fish market and a bakery, which of course we who avoid wheat never imbibe.

The late afternoon activity has been planned for several days.  Four couples, including us, went OSCAR AND LALO’S.   Reed and I have considered going there for the past three years but it took our friends to finally get us there.   This garden restaurant is located away from the beach but the ambiance is wonderful.  Upon entering, one is thrust into a different world of greenery.  We walked through what seemed like a tunnel of trees and over a bridge over a pond filled with brightly colored fish.  A diapered Spider Monkey that was swinging on a hammock was gathered up and taken away soon after we arrived at our round table.  I had the mango shrimp and Reed the Yucatan chicken and of course flan for desert.  Expensive?  The bill came to $32 for the two of us including drinks. 

Pat, Shirley and Mike

Pat & Rob getting ready to join the others who are enjoying the views of fish and statues  

Fish in pond

Shirley, Rob, Pat, Mike, Helen and Paul give waiter drink orders.

As loon as the food came we all dug in.  All said their meals were outstanding. 

A special treat was this beautiful butterfly that flew by our table and landed on this banana leaf.  It was approximately 6 or 7 inches from wing tip to wing tip. 

Snorkeling in Puerto Morelos with friends

It was a lovely day for snorkeling and eight of us headed all the way to Puerto Morelos to take a snorkeling tour in a National Ocean Park.  It took only a few minutes once the boat left the dock to reach our first of two diving areas.  We were required to follow all National Park regulations that required us to wear life vests in the water and follow a guide.  The clarity was much better than in XPu-Ha as there is a larger reef just off shore.  We saw many of the same fish and two new ones.  It was another fun day with our XPu-Ha RV friends.

Mahogany Snapper

Blue Tang

French Angle fish

Trumpet Fish

Barracuda, about 3 ft. long

After all that swimming we sat on a beach restaurant for a nice grouper  meal and ceviche 

Pat clowning at the bano

The candy man walked down the street  easily balancing a load of candies on his head. 

We just had to finish up the day with ice cream as we enjoyed people watching on the plaza. 

Birding at Pablo's.

We started out early with our birder friend Mike and went looking for Pablo who comes by selling eggs.  Pablo is not a Mexican, though he is fluent in Spanish.  He moved here with his German wife about eight years ago from the USA and is homesteading about five kilometers into the “jungle”.   We call it jungle but technically it is really thick tropical forest.  The only way to keep an area free of plants is to constantly pull them up and keep your machete swinging.  We were hopping to see the beautiful Mot-mot birds and photograph them.  We did get some quick views of Mot-mots but no photos.  Luckily we finally did see the elusive beautiful blue Bunting which Reed has wanted to see for for three seasons.  All in all it was a wonderfully interesting day and Pablo took us all through his property looking for birds and seeing his neighbors cenote.  

Three Turkey Vultures gracefully sunned themselves in the early morning sun

Walking through this cleared area was very easy compared to the narrow trails we mainly hiked through.  Pablo carried his machete to make the walking easier as vines continually wrapped around ones ankle.

Pablo's well looked like a small cenote and we saw many holes like this one and ones much smaller as we carefully made our way through his property. 

We heard bees and saw this old bee hive in a flowering tree also frequented by many birds. 

A masked Tityra  we saw high on a tree.

The cenote on Pablo's neighbors property was a collapsed cave leaving a circle of caves about  200 feet in diameter.   Pablo's dogs were having a great time romping in the water as we watched large bats fly in and out of the cave. 

This part of the cave had old walls built out of rocks and pottery chards. 

There were many beautiful butterflies but most were  impossible to photograph.  We were able to see the beautiful  Blue Morpheus butterfly.

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