STL DPB ON THE ROAD - TRUST

In the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Liberia, Costa Rica. The scroll on the bottom means Jesus, I trust in you. It's a big church by local standards and has interesting architecture. The side walls are made of cement bricks in a geometric pattern and contain lots of holes. This lets the air through and, since the roof provides shade, makes the interior tolerable even in hot weather. 

Probably won't have any new local material until the weekend, unless the snow predicted mid-week provides something interesting.     

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - CARDINALS FANS ARE EVERYWHERE

Back in the farmers market in Liberia, Costa Rica. I did not notice until I started editing photos that this man was wearing a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap. As we walked by, I remember my eye being drawn to his shirt - it was in English and I tried to read it. Had I been more observant, I would have tried to engage him in my bad Spanish.

As it happened, one of the Cardinals' all time great players, Ozzie Smith, was on our flight from Miami to St. Louis Friday night. Ellie was wearing a bright red Cardinals tee shirt and we encouraged her to go shake his hand in the boarding area. She hid behind mom.         

LIBERIA

Liberia is the principal town of Guanacaste Province in the northwest of Costa Rica. Wikipedia says it has about 58,000 people. We took a walking tour with a guide on Thursday. Above, a sample from the tiny church on which the village was founded in 1769. Below, the Thursday-Friday farmers market. Produce in the US can hardly compare in freshness and flavor with what we find here. The middle picture shows plantains, not bananas. Fried pieces are a part of every traditional Costa Rican meal.

Home very late tonight. Hope to get more editing done on the plane.      

STL DPB On The Road - A Parade In Liberia

After our walk around in Liberia we found that there was a local festival starting. Not sure what it was about but there was a parade at noon that Friday. Worst possible light and fill flash wasn't up to the job at a distance. Still, it was a lot of fun. Some of the horses are trained to prance, almost to dance. Note the Los Angeles car wash and parking lot. This is Costa Rican cowboy country.     

STL DPB On The Road - People in The Market

The power was out here last night for about four hours during the time I usually edit photos. We were lucky to find a small restaurant that had a propane stove where we could get carry out dinner. These pictures were difficult to work with because  the vendors all had green translucent awnings over their tables, creating a color cast that was beyond my Photoshop skills.

Some people were cheerful, others not. It was hot and the market wasn't very busy. The boy in the second picture is wearing a variation on a St. Louis cardinals cap.

Home late tonight. Long layover in Miami. May get more editing done. There is more to see.   

STL DPB On The Road - Farmers Market

We took a tour yesterday of Liberia, a city of 57,000 and the capital of the province, Guanacaste. It has a Walmart now. (Sigh.)

One of the highlights was a walk through the farmers market, bursting with color and unusual flavors. We don't know what the things in the top picture are. I think the second has plantains, not bananas. More to come.       

Go to Costa Rica, Speak French And Enjoy Life

No surprise, but we arrived back in Costa Rica yesterday afternoon. Since the  condo in Tamarindo isn't available until later today, we spent the night in Liberia, where there is an international airport serving the many tourist areas in the northwest. 

We had dinner at Cafe Liberia, the number one rated restaurant on Trip Advisor. Chef-owner Sebastien Devenelle presides. He is from Reims, France. It was too difficult to start a business in France so he came to Costa Rica and fell in love (as all visitors do). Devenelle opened a restaurant in the oldest building in town, where he serves simple and simply perfect food. My review on Trip Advisor has a description of our meal.

Highly recommended if you find yourself in this part of the world.    

City Daily Photo Monthly Theme Day: Entry

Two Costa Rican entries for the price of one, which is a really great deal since they're free.

The first is the old castle where the music school is located. Mrs. C and our guide, Esteban, approach from the left.

The second is the back entry to the town of Filadelfia. There is a shot of the front entry out on the highway here. There are important archeological sites of pre-Columbian peoples there. The arch shown below refers to roots and identity. The one in the link calls the town "archeological city."

God Bless You

Graffiti can be awful, an insult, a desecration. See, for example, Nathalie's recent post about some sad destruction in Avignon. 

But it can also be innocent and charming. I did not see any American or European style tagging in Costa Rica (although I bet there is some in San Jose). These pictures are from the inner walls of the castle where the music school is located. Not just Billy Loves Erika but rather a bold declaration: Billy Says, I Love You Erika. The top one isn't even romantic. It says simply God Bless You. Go find that in London or New York. Banksy doesn't write such things. Another reason to love Costa Rica.

OH, BY  THE WAY, THIS IS STL DPB'S 2,500TH POST. Am I nuts or what?                          

Pura Vida

You could say that pura vida is the national motto of Costa Rica. It has a simple literal translation - pure life - but the levels of meaning are much deeper than that. It expresses an attitude toward living in a complete, happy and content way. The words describe how we should treat one another.

This young man was a member of a crew setting up at the farmers market. (He didn't just fall off the plantain truck.)  Our guide asked him for me if I could take some pictures. He thought the idea was terribly funny. Pura vida.                        

Fruit & Veg

There is an outdoor farmers market in Liberia. It seems to get going about mid-afternoon and run into the evening. There was every kind of edible tropical plant, plus eggs, queso fresco, breads and I don't know what.

It's all very inexpensive - to us. The pineapples above were about US$ 2 each. Limes had strange skins that would put off American shoppers, although we never saw one like these in a cocktail. I'm less certain about the next two. Maybe casava root, followed by red potatoes and a kind of squash, or maybe something else altogether. The lush fruit at the bottom is mango.
                    

A Last Visit With The Music Students

Some final shots of the music students. The first one got the most views of the set on Flickr (where there are several more - link in the right sidebar). We needed to have an ensemble shot, too.

The school is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Youth.  If you read some Spanish (you can machine translate, of course) and care to look, there is information about Costa Rica's national music education program here. Pretty cool.

While I was shooting, one of the young violinists started playing the Ode to Joy. I began to sing along in the original German: Freude, schöner Götterfunken . . .  She gave me the most puzzled look and then, as I persisted in my low-quality baritone, the biggest smile. That's why I love to travel.      

Music Students 2

A commenter yesterday mentioned that the students looked so serious. Well, not completely. Besides, it is not possible tor a trombone to be serious, ever.

I think Blogger must be messing with its photo algorithm again. All my blog pictures are linked to originals on Flickr, where the color looks a lot better. You can click any of these photos to go to the Flickr version if you care to.

Really sorry I haven't made any comments while we've been away. We get up a little late, diddle through breakfast, go do something, come back to the condo, I edit pictures and edit pictures and edit pictures. We go out to dinner and come home full and sleepy. Cold St. Louis should get me going again.

Music Students In Liberia

Liberia is the provincial capital of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The international airport is there. The center of town has an old fort that is currently being used a a music school for the equivalent of junior high and high school students.

I asked our guide if the students would let me take some pictures. All of them were delighted to get in front of the lens. Some lovely candid portraits were the result. 

There are many more to edit. I have some kind of Tico tummy bug and spent most of yesterday in bed, now sleeping, now editing. Hope to get more done on the plane today.

Trmporarily Tamarindo: Why To Be Here (Plus Confused Religious Symbols, Thursday Arch Series On Wednesday And A Visit To Philly)

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So why bother to come all this way? The images above were shot a couple of minutes apart on opposite sides of the sky last night (and thanks for the help from our friends at Adobe). Plus, it's way below freezing at home and a snow storm is moving in.

We took a day trip yesterday but less than we would have liked. It's been taking us so long to get our butts up and out of here in the morning (well, we are on vacation). We were going to drive to Liberia, the big town in the region, and Guaitil, known for its pottery production. We only got to the former. It has some interesting architecture and a pretty new main church. The statue below is supposed to be the the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I think, but it looks pretty Hindu to me, what with the flaming topknot and brightly colored lotus in his hand. The elliptical wire halo looks, I don't know, Copernican.

The town of Filadelphia (W. C. Fields alleged epitaph: I'd rather be in Philadelphia than here) is not far south of Liberia. The arch at the entrance to town suggests that there is something of archeological interest there but none of the guidebooks mention it so we didn't stop.

Today's agenda: booze cruise.

Big monuments today on Downtown St. Louis 365.