Costa Rica: Living Life One Step At A Time

Under a sinking Sunday afternoon sun, people converse outside a Catholic church they just exited in Rosario, a village of Costa Rica’s Central Valley.

 To view more Costa Rica photos on this blog, write the word in the search box.

All the photographs of this blog are copyrighted.

No usage permitted without prior authorization.

Costa Rica: Otherworldly Dawn

A blue dawn shrouded in mist near the Costa Rican town of Cervantes surrounds a truck with an otherworldly aura.

To view more Costa Rica photos on this blog, write the word in the search box.

All the photographs of this blog are copyrighted.

No usage permitted without prior authorization.

Costa Rica: Beautiful Hurricane Damage

Brooding sky along Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast at Cahuita National Park after a hurricane uprooted palm trees.

From beaches to volcanoes and mountains, and from rain forest to semi-desert, Costa Rica offers an amazing variety of beautiful scenery for such a small country. Nothing as dramatic as in South America, but all of it of it of easy and quick access, It’s the perfect destination for a short vacation, though you'll find plenty to see and do there if you have more time. To sample South America requires more time and preparation.

To view more Costa Rica photos on this blog, write the word in the search box.

All the photographs of this blog are copyrighted.

No usage permitted without prior authorization.

Costa Rica: Caribbean Coast At Dusk

End of day at Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast along Cahuita National Park.

To view more Costa Rica photos on this blog, write the word in the search box.

All the photographs of this blog are copyrighted.

No usage permitted without prior authorization.

 

Costa Rica: Peaceful Naranjo

In the peaceful central square of Costa Rica’s Naranjo, two fountains featuring representations of children are attracting three siblings watched by their mother, sitting on a bench behind. The way to the Catholic church in the background is enhanced by natural arches.

To view more Costa Rica photos on this blog, write the word in the search box.

All the photographs of this blog are copyrighted.

No usage permitted without prior authorization.

Ecuador: Quito’s San Francisco Church and Plaza

I traveled so often to Ecuador since 1971 that I sometimes lose track of the dates of some of my pictures there. It’s the case with this one, shot with a panoramic camera, which shows Quito’s San Francisco Church and Plaza. The cars’ styles should help date it, but in those days Ecuadorian drivers held on to their old cars to their last breaths, so that the picture could be 10 years younger than it appears. So it may be safe to say it was shot sometimes in the eighties.

To view more Ecuador photos on this blog, write the word in the search box.

All the photographs of this blog are copyrighted.

No usage permitted without prior authorization.

Ecuador: The Lure Of A River

In Ecuador’s Guayas Province near Salitre, a teenage cowboy can’t resist a dip into the warm Vince River as a canoe just brought him across it.

    

Most travelers visiting Ecuador limit themselves, no doubt for lack of enough time, to its Andean region. The reasons are its spectacular snow-capped volcanoes, its picturesque indigenous villages and markets, and its capital Quito, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

     But Ecuador’s western lowlands and coast hide equally wonderful sights and culture. They include, from north to south, jungle villages of Indians and Afro-Americans, a colorful fishing activity, a Panama-hat-weaving industry, cattle ranches and cowboys, banana plantations, beaches and surf, and a net of rivers that periodically floods the surrounding country, transforming its whole landscape.

     There, too, is Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city and, under its palm trees, a world apart from Quito in appearance and culture. But it has its own charms, including the stunning four-kilometer long malecòn, or promenade, and Las Peñas, an area of the city built on a hill (Cerro Santa Ana) whose 400-year-old wooden houses have been artistically remodeled. The top of the hill gives a panoramic view of the city and Guayas River.

     The wonderful thing about Ecuador is that it’s small enough, by South American standards, to allow you to drive from Quito to the Amazon, to its most impressive Andean mountains and markets, and to the coast in only a few hours.

To view more Ecuador photos on this blog, write the word in the search box.

All the photographs of this blog are copyrighted.

No usage permitted without prior authorization.

Ecuador: Blue-eyed Mestizo

Man of an Andean tribe known in Ecuador as Cholos Cuencanos, or Indians of Cuenca, the country’s third largest city. These people are cholos only in the way they dress and live. But they are really mestizos, and to me this blue-eyed man could easily pass for a European.

To view more Ecuador photos on this blog, write the word in the search box.

All the photographs of this blog are copyrighted.

No usage permitted without prior authorization.

 

Ecuador: Bringing Home The Flock At Dusk

Little indigenous girls herding their family’s sheep home at dusk near Ecuador’s Andean town of Ambato, south of Quito. The  sheep are all dragging leashes behind them.

To view more Ecuador photos on this blog, write the word in the search box.

All the photographs of this blog are copyrighted.

No usage permitted without prior authorization.

Ecuador: Eating Breakfast At The Market

Hearty indigenous market breakfast at Ecuador’s Zumbahua, an Andean village in the Cotopaxi Province. The female cook is dropping a plate to be washed in  a pot of hot water on the fire.

To view more Ecuador photos on this blog, write the word in the search box.

All the photographs of this blog are copyrighted.

No usage permitted without prior authorization.