Spectacular Scenery

I don't care how long I live here, I will never get over Costa Rica's absolutely stunning scenery.  Come on down and check it out!  

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Sunsets

Some pictures from San Gerardo de Dota.  It's a little village tucked in a magical valley 7000 feet up in the mountains, just off the road to San Jose.  It's a great place to stop and break up the trip to the city.  My friend Jane introduced me to a great little inn called Los Lagos (740-1009).  This was the view from our very private cabina.   


The climate and ecosystem is so different from where I live.  We saw lots of new flowers and trees, like these.


Two different kinds of orchids are growing here: lavender ones and little yellow ones.


Hummingbirds are everywhere, and come in varieties I've never seen before.




San Gerardo is known as the "cradle of the Quetzals."  The "resplendant quetzal" is one of the more famous birds in Costa Rica.  This is a rather bad picture of the back of one.  However, since most people here have never seen one, I guess I'll take what I can get.  (Richard, who has been coming here for over 15 years, saw his first quetzal on this trip.)


Another bad quetzal picture.  


Here's what they really look like (from a brochure).


This is the San Luis waterfall.  I rode up there on the horses the other day.  
It's about a 2-hour ride from my house.


I got out in a boat the other day.  Check out this waterfall flowing right onto the beach.  This is part of Corcovado, a national park on the Osa peninsula.  It is only accessible by water, there is no road.  

Arenal Volcano, from the plane coming into the country.  If you fly in, get a seat on the right side of the plane & you can see it also.	Diamante waterfall is running hard right now, due to the vast amounts of water pouring out of the sky.
Nauyanca Falls is famous in this part of the country.  It is just a short horseback ride away from my farm.