Treasures of Costa Rica

Something about this photo speaks to the traveler in me. I'm always paranoid about bed bugs in hotel rooms. But I rested with ease at this luxurious Marriott ...



Many of the native things I saw had hand painted designs on them:

This fruit is called grenadilla. I've never had them before, and they were sooo good that I was tempted to bring some back to the States. It tastes similar to passionfruit.

This fruit is called mamón chino or rambutan. This was a big staple of what I ate there, as they were plentiful and much cheaper than they are here, in the States.

Flora:

The delicious contentment was evident on this Amazon's face.

Not sure of the type of frog on the leaf, but the one below it is a poison dart frog:

Pura Vida Costa Rica

The term Pura Vida, according to Wikipedia, is used by Costa Ricans since 1956, and when literally translated, means "Pure Life." Contextually, it means "Full of Life," "Purified life," "This is living!", "Going great!" It is used as a greeting, a farewell, and to express satisfaction. Costa Ricans use the phrase to express a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, good spirits, enjoying life slowly, celebrating good fortune, whether small or large.

I experienced pura vida firsthand as I immersed myself in the lush land, rainforest air, fresh food and the culture of the easy, peaceful and friendly ... They don't have an army. To me, that speaks volumes ...

Anyway, below are a few pictures from my stay there, in August. There's much more to come, it's just a matter of finding the time to post process.

I changed the hues and added a bokeh texture to this:

Here's a modest house found in the rural area. I turned the photo into a water color and added my signature. I just learned how to create a signature today --- truly simple to do, and neat! :) The signature, once created, becomes a paint brush, so I could sign until my heart's content in a rainbow of colors, with but a click of the mouse ...



The bulls and their colorful, pulling wagons were prevalent throughout Costa Rica. Nothing is for free; I jumped out of the car to grab this shot, and when the fellow saw me as I was running back to the car, he yelled in Spanish how I must pay him for the shot. I grabbed a dollar to give to him, and that made him happy.



So many views to snap pictures of ... but then we'd be stopping the car every few moments. Here's another shot I took in haste, with the hope composition would turn out, if not the focus. I turned it into an oil painting, which I'm still challenged by. Hopefully with practice, I'll get better. I also posted the pre-oil painting shot.

I love the sliced DOF of this shot, which was taken with my macro lens.

This Toucan found a sizeable morsel.

Ok, that's it for now ... :)

Autumn

In case you can't tell, my theme for today is the season, Autumn or Fall :)

This was taken in San Jose, Costa Rica. It wasn't taken in the Fall (it was summer time), but the fallen flowers reminded me of it. For this shot and the one subsequent, I used my 18-55 Nikkor lens. I created a gradual blur to both using the lens blur filter and linear gradient ...

This was taken at Flamingo Gardens, and is another shot of fallen flowers. For this shot, I also added spotlight lighting and experimented with a color wash look for the first time. Lots of steps behind it ... I followed the directions in the very, user-friendly book I bought today. If you'd like the title, drop me an E-mail and I'll be happy to share it with you :)

Fall

Fall fills me with promise of cool winds and darker skies;
Halloween's knocking, a harborbinger of eerie surprise.

The veil between the worlds is thinner, this I was told;
Stories of ghosts and goblins -- they make my veins go cold.

With shades of burnt oranges, reds and brown;
Warm smells of spices and and feasts abound.

Camping and carnivals, are but weeks away;
Hoping the rain holds up, lest hopes go astray.

A nip in the air and textures I adore;
A season to favor, of this I am sure.

~Lita

This was taken at the Bonnet House. Ok, I'm sure I could find a colorful array of fallen leaves, I just haven't been looking for them.

I will see my son tomorrow at long last. Yay!

I hope your weekend is filled with peace and pleasant comforts :)

Melting composure

The fan whirs behind me, yet my skin is not cooled. It remains sticky with sweat and glistens, in tune with the stale, toasty and humid air. Little remains of my composure. Feeling uncivil, unfriendly and impatient, my caged temper is ready to explode. Yes, my air conditioning is still not fixed ... yet, anyway. But fortunately, help is finally on it's way - Yay!

It felt appropriate to upload these pictures of Volcano Poas at this time, considering the heat challenges I've undergone this week. These were taken while I was in Costa Rica this year ...

During our ascent, we smelled the not-so-pleasant sulphur air, but I still found it kinda' cool :). As you can see from these photos, this volcano is still active, yet relatively calm. I've always wanted to see a volcano, so feel blessed that my dream has finally been realized.