tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58610536770412668982024-03-18T21:16:54.732-04:00The Brown KnowserOttawa. Photos. Travel. Rants. Reviews. Musings. Fiction. Nonsense.Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.comBlogger2875125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-20726678067093091952024-03-18T00:00:00.020-04:002024-03-18T00:00:00.238-04:00Costa Rica Highlights<p style="text-align: left;">It seems like ages since I posted a YouTube video.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Last year, I promised myself that I'd create at least one video each month, and on the average, I did that. But there were times when a month would go by and I'd have nothing new on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@thebrownknowser/videos" target="_blank">my channel</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This year, I hadn't put out a single video in the first two-and-a-half months. That, however, changed this weekend.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">When I returned from <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/01/life-in-clouds.html" target="_blank">Costa Rica</a>, I had shot more than 1,000 photos and had hundreds of video clips. Most of the video was captured on my smartphone but I also had a couple of my Insta360 video cameras, which I used on a three-metre selfie stick, or mounted on our rental vehicle with a strong magnet, or strapped to my chest.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">It took time to extract all of the footage, edit the ones from the 360-degree camera, and organize them. On Saturday, I told myself that I'd start work on creating a video, with my goal of having the video uploaded to YouTube by the end of the month.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I finished and uploaded the video that day.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Usually, it would take me a couple of weeks to prepare a video, using my Windows laptop and my old software, Pinnacle. But this time, I was using our MacBook Pro with Final Cut Pro. The workflow was very easy and very fast.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I wanted to start out with a short video that offered only brief highlights of our Costa Rican trip. <a href="https://youtu.be/rwJ8Jb5IG3E?si=N4LwVhiMr1kofjhV" target="_blank">I made a similar video for when we went to Portugal, in 2022.</a> The hope was to get people to subscribe to my channel so that when I had a new video, they'd be notified.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I'm hoping that happens with my latest video. Have a look.</p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mstA5dBsiR4?si=LpKx2q8Fe8EDnX6p" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p style="text-align: left;">If you haven't yet subscribed to my YouTube channel, please consider doing so. The more people who subscribe, the more motivated I am to make more videos.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Happy Monday!</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-15828983319640303062024-03-15T00:00:00.003-04:002024-03-15T00:00:00.131-04:00Take My Breath Away<p>The other week, I mentioned how <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/03/back-to-mic.html" target="_blank">I've never fully recovered from the last time I caught COVID</a>, how I've had a cough since October, 2022, and that I've felt as though my lung capacity has been diminished. And I also said that in the weeks following my return from vacation, my coughing has worsened and my lungs feel as though they're taking a beating.</p><p>Last week, I was starting to become concerned after I started tasting blood every time I coughed. My lungs were burning, and I actually left karaoke night early. On Monday, I made an appointment to see someone at my doctor's clinic and got an appointment for Tuesday.</p><p>I love my doctor's clinic because if my doctor is unable to see me quickly, there are other doctors and nurse practitioners who can see me in what is considered "urgent care." Having trouble with your lungs falls in that category.</p><p>The doctor who saw me remembered me right away. I had seen her shortly after returning from Costa Rica because I had injured my hip, and she had prescribed physiotherapy.</p><p>It wasn't hard for her to quickly determine that there was something wrong. I couldn't complete my explanation of how I felt without coughing profusely behind my mask. She took my temperature and listened to my lungs. Breathing in and out, I hacked several times.</p><p>She acknowledged that my lungs don't sound good. There was no gurgling, no liquid in my lungs, which was a relief. But there was some wheezing and of course, the rough coughing.</p><p>She immediately told me that she'd like me to see a respiratory specialist and made a note in my records. I just have to wait for a call to get an appointment.</p><p>In the meantime, she prescribed two inhalers: a steroid, which I take once per day; the other, salbutamol sulfate, which helps open my lungs and is only used when my cough turns to a fit, up to four times a day.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IirGR4k3yaDsc4Ofewa54xRggl5D4xsI29yYPwyyFSjewiAvvSlFwOlrwNrmT55kR6CZDucYRZPlEcEPUjg2YiRpeJiRqg_oas6Poq43_sB4QL6o_GhwpsmroCZcKmsB27k7lDNQeGEtTvdpXaKAzqnFyniaf5u2iEBRwlERYXxbQVU8tpsCVhULl9BG/s4032/20240314_121511-01-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3IirGR4k3yaDsc4Ofewa54xRggl5D4xsI29yYPwyyFSjewiAvvSlFwOlrwNrmT55kR6CZDucYRZPlEcEPUjg2YiRpeJiRqg_oas6Poq43_sB4QL6o_GhwpsmroCZcKmsB27k7lDNQeGEtTvdpXaKAzqnFyniaf5u2iEBRwlERYXxbQVU8tpsCVhULl9BG/w640-h360/20240314_121511-01-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I'm familiar with these orange and blue puffers. Kid 1 suffers from asthma and keeps a blue puffer on her at all times. She uses the orange puffer only when her breathing gets bad, which thankfully is rare.<p></p><p>I've been using these inhalers for a few days now, and so far I haven't really noticed a difference. I don't know how long it takes to see any improvement but I'll continue to administer the steroid every morning, and I'll use the blue puffer when I have to.</p><p>And hopefully, I'll get an appointment with the specialist soon. I'm hoping that COVID hasn't done permanent damage to my lungs and that I didn't wait too long to report my condition to the doctor.</p><p>Stay tuned.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-78781865413072498132024-03-13T00:00:00.005-04:002024-03-13T11:05:08.003-04:00Four Years On<p>It was supposed to be my new commuter car, replacing my <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2020/04/losing-focus.html" target="_blank">Ford Focus</a>. It's now our main vehicle.</p>
<p>At the start of 2020, I had finally had it with my sporty, white hatchback. It was no longer fun to drive. In fact, for most of the seven-plus years that I had my 2012 Focus, it was more frustrating than fun.</p>
<p>The transmission was faulty and no matter how many times I took it in for service, it couldn't be fixed. The fob for the push-button start failed a couple of times—one time, taking six weeks in the shop to sort out. When the touch screen on the centre console went dim, effectively killing the radio/sound system and any voice commands, I reached my limit and it was the end of the road for that car.</p>
<p>It was and will be the only Ford I will ever own.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBf74-Nbw-phdKHc0UFFH-h63AJCZ4tvyXny6edLvrjTioDRSO2dksOrQH1e9xIPNlNGQty5xS76EyJmtLiwu_xWQSbQNZqeV-ztaN9pdnvBcawTMEdl16Y_4xN5FG5EyHFbnf4rwD6gH52AM36V3WL9K1FRUIGfvhBxu3_igeHIJrs3uUI7Q9AJBMupeZ/s536/Niro_headlight.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="335" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBf74-Nbw-phdKHc0UFFH-h63AJCZ4tvyXny6edLvrjTioDRSO2dksOrQH1e9xIPNlNGQty5xS76EyJmtLiwu_xWQSbQNZqeV-ztaN9pdnvBcawTMEdl16Y_4xN5FG5EyHFbnf4rwD6gH52AM36V3WL9K1FRUIGfvhBxu3_igeHIJrs3uUI7Q9AJBMupeZ/w125-h200/Niro_headlight.jpeg" width="125" /></a></div>I was reluctant when we went to the Kia dealership. When DW and I lived in South Korea, Kia did not have a good reputation. They were basic automobiles, and the fit and finish on them were pretty horrible. I had driven a couple of them over the two years that we lived in that East-Asian country, and they were gutless, sloppy-handling pieces of junk.<p></p>
<p>Since our time in Korea, Kia had been acquired by Hyundai and I heard some good reviews of them. Also, Hyundai had really cleaned up their act and were putting out some great vehicles.</p>
<p>It looked like they were sharing their technology and craftsmanship with their sister company.</p>
<p>When I test drove the Niro, I was impressed with how well it ran, how solid it felt. The steering was tight and the suspension firm. Being a hybrid car, the acceleration was impressive, especially with four people in it (the salesperson, DW, a friend, and me).</p>
<p>There was good cargo space and the back seats provided excellent head space and leg room. And there were more gadgets than I had in any other vehicle that I've owned.</p><p>There was no "we'll think about it" when we finished the test drive, though DW and I did feel a bit of pressure from the salesperson. "We have a hard time keeping these vehicles in stock and this is our last one... I don't know when we'll get more in... the 2019s are almost sold out and if you wait, you'll pay more for the 2020 model."</p>
<p><a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2020/03/our-modest-part.html" target="_blank">We took delivery of our Niro</a> two weeks later, on February 28. We could have had it sooner but winter storms through the week made us hold off for better weather. And even though it snowed on that Friday, it wasn't as bad as it had been previously.</p>
<p>Though, five minutes after driving off the dealership lot, I put the antilock brakes to the test.</p>
<p>I only drove my "commuter car" to the office six times after taking possession of it. It was impossible to tell how much I was saving on gas because after <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/03/four-years-in.html" target="_blank">March 10, 2020</a>, I was no longer commuting to work: the pandemic turned me into the work-from-home person that I continue to be to this day.</p>
<p>I do remember that it took more than a month before I needed to put gas in the tank.</p>
<p>With both DW and me working from home, we both choose the Niro as our primary vehicle. We only drive our Honda CR-V when we need more cargo space. And now that Kid 1 is living at home again, she drives the CR-V so much now that I practically think of it as her vehicle.</p>
<p>We may end up just giving it to her.</p>
<p>Four years on, we're loving our Niro. It still drives as well as it did on the day that we dumped off my Focus and drove home in our new wheels. We love how easily we can throw our kayaks onto the roof and head out for a paddle. We love how it cruises on our trips to Toronto and elsewhere.</p>
<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJTBBnkEQwPB_t7UX_mefJxAMIYH0SXJ2w-EaPJE7gxt8zVPcLVP9VaUSV0xrPjHwLX8U5BogNc0qJqjuKKCw4i-KOflhTAdhSYalPv1KEJjoSA32pK0x3cdH-LZQPPB0nXZqZVLLODB4vXnt6FTpcb0PoiQA0q7s82n8VbAu8hbxhLEk56lXCeM7yZp2/s2832/20231204_134138-01.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="2832" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJTBBnkEQwPB_t7UX_mefJxAMIYH0SXJ2w-EaPJE7gxt8zVPcLVP9VaUSV0xrPjHwLX8U5BogNc0qJqjuKKCw4i-KOflhTAdhSYalPv1KEJjoSA32pK0x3cdH-LZQPPB0nXZqZVLLODB4vXnt6FTpcb0PoiQA0q7s82n8VbAu8hbxhLEk56lXCeM7yZp2/w640-h512/20231204_134138-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">December, 2023.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>This week, I took it in for its first manufacturer's recall: a simple fix of replacing a potentially faulty fuse that could lead to a battery fire. In the 10 years that we owned our Honda Odyssey, we had three recalls, had to replace the alternator, and the automatic sliding doors stopped working.</p>
<p>And in seven years with the Ford Focus, I had countless service appointments and failures. One small fuse replacement in four years is pretty impressive.</p>
<p>Let's see how it does over the next four years. Will it outlive the Focus? Stay tuned.</p><p></p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-58971811365630405852024-03-12T00:00:00.001-04:002024-03-12T00:00:00.135-04:00Four Years In<p>Four years ago, today, I left the office after lunch to go home. I had a head cold coming on and I didn't want to spread my germs around, so I decided that I'd work from home for the rest of the day.</p><p>Because I usually worked from home on Wednesdays, nothing changed for me the next day. I was still battling that head cold but I was able to get my day's work in.</p><p>But the next day, on Thursday, my cold finally got the better of me and I took the day to rest and take care of myself. I had a one-on-one meeting with my director, which was a video call, but I turned off my camera because I looked like crap and was constantly blowing my nose.</p><p>Later that day, everyone in the company was notified to not return to the office, that the COVID-19 was forcing everything to shut down. And I never really returned to the office at full capacity again.</p><p>In four years, I've never spent more than a couple of hours in the office. I've gone in to replace my laptop or have a computer issue resolved. I've gone in to meet with developers, who have shown me processes that involve physical devices, that can't be shared on a screen. And I met, once, some developers who were reviewing my work, just because I wanted to show them that I wasn't just some disembodied voice that they hear over a conference call (I never turn on my camera during meetings).</p><p>I have no personal belongings in the office. If I were to leave my company today, I'd only have to return my laptop.</p><p>At home, I've moved my office four times. When I used to work from home on Wednesdays, before the pandemic, I'd simply plug my work computer into the area where I keep my home computer, using my own external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. But when I had to work from home because I wasn't allowed at the office, I set up shop in our basement, at a small desk next to the furnace. It was noisy and it was dark, but I had privacy and I was content.</p><p>DW called me "mole man."</p><p>But as the realization came in that working from home was going to be a permanent arrangement (apart from occasional visits to the office, I have no real need to be there), DW and I decided to transform Kid 1's old room into an office space for the both of us. Our kid had moved to the GTA for school and DW was tired of working at our dining-room table.</p><p>The room was bright and spacious, after we renovated it, and DW and I had matching desks that faced one another. With our big monitors, we couldn't really see one another, and the noise of tapping keyboards didn't distract us.</p><p>Our meetings, however, did.</p><p>DW gets quite loud when she talks to coworkers through her headset. She laughs, makes small talk, and is vocally engaged in her meetings, and that's great for her, but for me it was hard to focus. And when we had meetings at the same time, it was chaos.</p><p>When Kid 2 moved to Toronto, for university, I moved my desk into her room. Being north-facing, her small room was dark but that didn't bother me. I'm mole-man, after all, and I don't mind the dark.</p><p>Apart from replacing her desk with my own, which can rise and lower, getting me out of my chair, I left the rest of her room untouched. She needed a place to stay when she made trips home, just as we had a bed in Kid 1's room for when she was at home.</p><p>And Kid 1 came home a couple of years later, to stay.</p><p>DW had to move out of that room, and set up a space in a corner of our living room at the front of the house. We set her up with a privacy screen but she was in a space where there was no escape from anybody going up and down our stairs or coming and going from the house. And if someone was cooking in the kitchen or watching TV in the family room, there was no sound barrier.</p><p>It was only slightly better than when she was working at our dining-room table, only the privacy screen allowed her some visual blocking.</p><p>Last summer, we developed an issue where our WiFi started losing its ability to send a strong signal to where I was working, and I'd often find myself getting kicked out of meetings. But when this issue arose, DW was between jobs, so I simply moved my computer down to where she had been working and the issue was resolved.</p><p>We also changed Internet providers, which solved the problem of connectivity issues upstairs.</p><p>By the time DW had found a new job, I was firmly entrenched in her old space. I didn't mind being in a smaller space, where I could look out the front window and see who was at the door (especially when I was expecting a beer delivery). DW took my old desk in Kid 2's old room, which is a good thing because she's still loud during meetings and can close a door.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9rKcKKFefVOUfLQQV-YDjHm19DfI-3PkjIMe7D3OToJNftGGXRURMOXiNHGBpfUfs3-eYMvwU2xMqJfb5cY3-S8h5t2WgwotF4gH2XYRAtzee80cFSBICM4V90EV6gNHmidQWvt7B5Dvgf-w4lKKFNBHZ9YjU6a98AoqDi5bTha1PHd_ToPxjGXLMA_Rz/s4608/20240311_154341.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="4608" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9rKcKKFefVOUfLQQV-YDjHm19DfI-3PkjIMe7D3OToJNftGGXRURMOXiNHGBpfUfs3-eYMvwU2xMqJfb5cY3-S8h5t2WgwotF4gH2XYRAtzee80cFSBICM4V90EV6gNHmidQWvt7B5Dvgf-w4lKKFNBHZ9YjU6a98AoqDi5bTha1PHd_ToPxjGXLMA_Rz/w640-h360/20240311_154341.heic" width="640" /></a></div><br />Four years after I came home from work because I was under the weather, I can't imagine going back to the office. Sure, there are no watercooler chats but I do chat online with coworkers. At home, the coffee's better, my lunches are better, and I don't have to deal with the daily commute. I get my projects finished just as easily at home than when I was in the office, and usually faster, as there are fewer interruptions.<p></p><p>I'm hoping to work this way for four more years and then retire. That's the plan. All I know is that my days of working in an office are already over.</p><p>Four years in, I'm never going back.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-55846286250966679662024-03-08T00:00:00.036-05:002024-03-08T09:16:05.783-05:00Fun With AI<p>It's a new habit that serves a few functions, mostly, for fun.</p><p>A couple of years ago, just before my birthday, I decided to start taking some decent self portraits. About five years ago, I actually hired a photographer to take headshots of me and when I received them, I told myself that I could probably do as good a job.</p><p>Not to besmirch that photographer but the photos were fairly simple and there didn't seem to be much post-processing in the final results. I like to remove blemishes from portraits or any other mark that detracts from the subject, and this photographer liked to show me as natural as possible.</p><p>But to take photos of myself also called on using some equipment that I didn't have at the time, and over the years I've slowly been building up my photography gear so that I can take better portraits: better lighting, a backdrop, and remote triggers.</p><p>Two years ago, I shot myself with a pleasing background: a painted Korean screen that hangs on our living-room wall. <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2023/03/this-is-58.html" target="_blank">Last year</a>, I removed a large picture from one of our plain walls and used a softbox on a stand plus a second speedlight for better light and no shadows on that plain wall.</p><p>This year, I felt I had the equipment I needed. I now have a collapsible screen that can give either a black or white background. So for my most recent self portraits, I placed the screen behind me, used the softbox to my immediate left, and used natural light from our glass door in the kitchen. My camera was placed on a tripod, on our kitchen island about a metre or so away from me. And I had a remote trigger for a two-second shutter delay.</p><p>The setup worked well.</p><p>In post processing, I applied some touchups to my face to get rid of pimples and other unsightly marks and moles. Let me tell you, nothing makes you realize how old you are until you start touching up your own portrait.</p><p>I applied a vignette effect and softened the photo a bit, and on some portraits I transformed the image to black and white. You can one of the photos from my shoot in <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/03/this-is-59.html" target="_blank">this past Tuesday's blog post</a>.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0UcN7nO8dHhcTSTHHuxsxRxl7wH18cGQza4ai48KNpbCCdB7t9gglhUMuSqKr0a0ZpJGgT_vzEKM-s3gbsO0LDfVFQlYIuH7awACzhi93DMf_oCVs8zT3QRAl05p8PXdFmqmv8-fOeH4adl0zDQegZl4ZKsxUIwbKHER1Ukj2_ZDON9OAO1vV1XlDKvU/s1024/Me_illustrated57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0UcN7nO8dHhcTSTHHuxsxRxl7wH18cGQza4ai48KNpbCCdB7t9gglhUMuSqKr0a0ZpJGgT_vzEKM-s3gbsO0LDfVFQlYIuH7awACzhi93DMf_oCVs8zT3QRAl05p8PXdFmqmv8-fOeH4adl0zDQegZl4ZKsxUIwbKHER1Ukj2_ZDON9OAO1vV1XlDKvU/w200-h200/Me_illustrated57.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Self portrait in AI, 2022.</td></tr></tbody></table>But one other thing I've started doing to my self portraits, when I use them as my avatar for social media, is to run them through an AI editor. I started doing it for fun, with my first selfie, but when I didn't really like my photo from last year, I did it to try to make myself look better.</p><p>It didn't really make me look any better but for the first half of last year, that's what I used as my avatar.</p><p>This year, I don't mind my self portraits so much. I like them more than the portrait I paid for several years ago. But because I've seen what AI can do to a decent photo, I tried running them through it again.</p><p>Just for fun.</p><p>I didn't give the AI tool any parameters other than the photo. Not that I could do anything else with the tool that I used, which is accessed on a Web site: it simply has you upload a photo and it does its own thing.</p><p>The first result was really good, so I took it and am now using it for my profile pic for work, for some of my social media accounts, and even the picture of me for this blog.</p><p>But when the AI tool finishes cranking out your picture, it also offers several other takes, and the results were hilarious. So, for fun, I took another photo from my recent shoot—one with my glasses on—and ran it through AI.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLDu8MLOsfsg_6Mt5D0KaCJdusyHT-rorG6C42orachtWg_i0oX_eckenN-Dypp9S07EnVEb-VuesPFhzVEpIUqWLwyQtWP49iemOrMbGrP0PJYqoZJSEztnPoKjO9e2xS_Dqdxt-65WKp5VLMzW47IywMS2v5XWLPAIAH0U6ajC3UOJ16pV-6H0eDIco/s3457/20240303.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3457" data-original-width="2766" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLDu8MLOsfsg_6Mt5D0KaCJdusyHT-rorG6C42orachtWg_i0oX_eckenN-Dypp9S07EnVEb-VuesPFhzVEpIUqWLwyQtWP49iemOrMbGrP0PJYqoZJSEztnPoKjO9e2xS_Dqdxt-65WKp5VLMzW47IywMS2v5XWLPAIAH0U6ajC3UOJ16pV-6H0eDIco/w512-h640/20240303.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My photo, with basic edits.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkzIi1_yEmJFh79acAsVdLPf6lchSEDzZgsxqLrwCbqrpU0STznx3MCcHhpu7FR1teqc6Ek634hqnoShGPE3NE5vfzTsaVeb_bBr1ep3amnGJ0HNsg-JjSsO7b2U_i8KANjmfW96MQudjzEdJu8t1h7ZSUEfW8U5VkdRtxGjqjJgVoyCRgRcASokpmm6OG/s1001/Me_illustrated59a.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="1001" height="594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkzIi1_yEmJFh79acAsVdLPf6lchSEDzZgsxqLrwCbqrpU0STznx3MCcHhpu7FR1teqc6Ek634hqnoShGPE3NE5vfzTsaVeb_bBr1ep3amnGJ0HNsg-JjSsO7b2U_i8KANjmfW96MQudjzEdJu8t1h7ZSUEfW8U5VkdRtxGjqjJgVoyCRgRcASokpmm6OG/w640-h594/Me_illustrated59a.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">AI transformation of the same photo.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>These ones had me in stitches. There's me, looking like I'm on the set of <i>The Bachelor</i>...</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxxGbxpXHKK2BcmFxlXOhwW8xKHU9U0d7FpCREiOXfwJ75OZDwuOtuGRCgZvTFD6bYPsRfrSa6sYUfLGg_HjuonBvSG7IzQ-pqdgPh9gEr9LYKyD3WBX629gjA9ZFHTKLnV6h9fBSVGELZmFns3eHhC0g-z7z0zk6HEDiLo3YZh28baJBWEuXzmw5l5AX/s1148/AI_Bachelor.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1148" data-original-width="832" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxxGbxpXHKK2BcmFxlXOhwW8xKHU9U0d7FpCREiOXfwJ75OZDwuOtuGRCgZvTFD6bYPsRfrSa6sYUfLGg_HjuonBvSG7IzQ-pqdgPh9gEr9LYKyD3WBX629gjA9ZFHTKLnV6h9fBSVGELZmFns3eHhC0g-z7z0zk6HEDiLo3YZh28baJBWEuXzmw5l5AX/w464-h640/AI_Bachelor.jpeg" width="464" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I choo-choo-choose you!</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Another AI edit has me as a business-casual jet setter. I like how it's shed some weight off me. My head is still big (it really is huge) and they've cleaned up my hair.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHEGLaSINb6989RiMMZbAucDSST9DnVvzoT2LeHMaUJNwFNJUkbDlaeT3DUrJY8oeKWKEQ8KqVqF423ofbBRqHtVYDivP04kGKAQvw189bLYD6f01P6wgW9Gl9ARs8nAjA2F287MwfkgVp593z5TR5u6FXPOwDIlM7WdhkSdk9v1-gWynFnUZexppo0Sc/s941/AI_JetSet.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="941" data-original-width="831" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHEGLaSINb6989RiMMZbAucDSST9DnVvzoT2LeHMaUJNwFNJUkbDlaeT3DUrJY8oeKWKEQ8KqVqF423ofbBRqHtVYDivP04kGKAQvw189bLYD6f01P6wgW9Gl9ARs8nAjA2F287MwfkgVp593z5TR5u6FXPOwDIlM7WdhkSdk9v1-gWynFnUZexppo0Sc/w566-h640/AI_JetSet.jpeg" width="566" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Damn, I look good!</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I don't know if I'd ever use AI for modifying any of my other photos, beyond what I've controlled in some of my enhanced photos. Even then, I was still in control of the changes.</p><p>But it's fun to play with AI. Happy Friday!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-77602905797564741152024-03-07T00:00:00.082-05:002024-03-07T00:00:00.135-05:00Beer O'Clock: Sober Suds<p>My beer fridge is pretty empty, these days.</p><p>By pretty empty, I mean that there are 10 cans of various brews, which take up about a third of the available space. But was surprised me, when I looked in the fridge the other night, was that 60 percent of the beer being chilled is non-alcoholic.</p><p>I haven't been drinking much beer, lately. When I saw some of the video that I shot in Costa Rica and my belly really stands out, I think I subconsciously slowed down my beer intake. Much of the non-alcoholic beer in my fridge is only 25 calories per can, so I've been reaching for those more times than for regular brews.</p><p>I had a case of 24 hazy ales from <a href="https://drinkpartake.com/" target="_blank">Partake</a>, and they've been my go-to for having a drink, but I'm down to my last four cans. The other two non-alcoholic cans were picked up on the weekend.</p><p>I've seen cans from this brewery many times but I finally decided to go for a couple of cans of their session IPA, just to try this Montreal company. Let's take a look.</p><p><b><span style="color: #ffa400;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #ffa400;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCe1dYP3CGeNsgq8eGb0igzd1oN_w8Te_wdVGm1bh8FAkOXmBIOMlHYKbVtvIa7qdoIb_XIYjqo-E2H6TKHyh0cdSO6Tp4FAH4mBe5U1hSUrZpQftnCitVNnLmJQ9L5tHwQKCu4oqUlm_tO9AHu50OBfFabCXMrH2VuFfpUReYWwBEpdoU0SIxBm_upF0-/s2800/20240306_131736-02.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2800" data-original-width="2240" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCe1dYP3CGeNsgq8eGb0igzd1oN_w8Te_wdVGm1bh8FAkOXmBIOMlHYKbVtvIa7qdoIb_XIYjqo-E2H6TKHyh0cdSO6Tp4FAH4mBe5U1hSUrZpQftnCitVNnLmJQ9L5tHwQKCu4oqUlm_tO9AHu50OBfFabCXMrH2VuFfpUReYWwBEpdoU0SIxBm_upF0-/s320/20240306_131736-02.jpeg" width="256" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="color: #ffa400;">Organic Session IPA</span></b> (0.5% ABV; 30 IBUs)<br /><a href="https://sobercarpenter.com/" target="_blank">Sober Carpenter</a><br />Montréal, QC<p></p><p><b>Appearance:</b> pours an unfiltered, effervescent pale straw that reminds me of ginger beer. The foamy white head settles quickly to a dense lace. Lots of sediment floating around and on the bottom of the glass.</p><p><b>Nose:</b> it's a pretty closed nose but there are traces of lemon and what I can only describe as almost a vanilla pudding. But the aromas are very faint.</p><p><b>Palate:</b> the malt comes first with a plain, biscuity flavour. My impression of ginger beer seems to be influencing my taste buds, as I detect almost a mild ginger with a similar bite on the back of the throat, much like I get when drinking ginger beer. The body is light, and with successive sips I get almost a cedar flavour.</p><p>Carpenter's shavings?</p><p>The finish is light to medium, with piney notes that border on turpentine.</p><p><b>Overall impression:</b> this session IPA is refreshingly light but does not make me think of a session ale, nor an IPA, nor a session IPA. It's a piney ale that drinks almost like an unsweetened ginger beer. I like it and would probably drink it again, but I don't know if I'm ready to add it to my list of non-alcoholic beer that I would keep in my fridge.</p><p><b>Beer O'Clock rating:</b> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">🍺 + .5</span></p><p>You can find Sober Carpenter brews in various grocery stores and in the alcohol-free section of your friendly neighbourhood LCBO.</p><p>Cheers!</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-69305126847634367592024-03-06T00:00:00.012-05:002024-03-06T09:10:35.448-05:00Back to the Mic<p>Ever since I've recovered from my second round of COVID, in October of 2022 (and I use the word "recovered" loosely), I've had a persistent cough and my lung capacity has diminished. I've never returned to my old self.</p><p>I notice my lungs when I try to sing, which is often. I sing in the shower. I sing while emptying the dishwasher or cleaning the kitchen. I sing just wandering the house.</p><p>I love to sing.</p><p>But I'm no longer able to sustain long notes and when I inhale deeply to belt it out, I'm more likely to start hacking. This makes singing a challenge because there are certain songs that I like to sing that I can no longer sing as strongly.</p><p>A couple of weeks after returning home from Costa Rica, my coughing has worsened. I suspect that because of the early thaw in Ottawa, allergy season is hitting harder, sooner. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTWHChHsYMhFvdhxKcxFPBpEwnkFv0EAyx1ot4H5nKqhRaUQcC8tZqQwWwuU3a6a-fjOTBpsQ6JBJJRvYE7wGMkZN-CQVGczprSglMCd0tYEr2eIjC0ARwHyoUjibU72vW_GPm6cs3lOgTQa6YJkb2TxSvmdkVpxc_KXUekS3b9Qg0M8YFwWPAd3aXKexS/s983/Screenshot_20230506_080048~3.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="951" data-original-width="983" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTWHChHsYMhFvdhxKcxFPBpEwnkFv0EAyx1ot4H5nKqhRaUQcC8tZqQwWwuU3a6a-fjOTBpsQ6JBJJRvYE7wGMkZN-CQVGczprSglMCd0tYEr2eIjC0ARwHyoUjibU72vW_GPm6cs3lOgTQa6YJkb2TxSvmdkVpxc_KXUekS3b9Qg0M8YFwWPAd3aXKexS/s320/Screenshot_20230506_080048~3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Recently, I made some plans to meet a couple of friends for karaoke night, this Friday. Ever since one of my friends gathered the courage to sing to a crowd, he's wanted to do it as often as possible, and that's great. We look for various venues to try, rather than stick to one spot.<p></p><p>We've gone to a couple of breweries in Orleans, tried going to a popular spot downtown but it was reserved for a special event, and tried a place in Gatineau, in addition to our old usual spot, near Alta Vista. And this Friday, we're going to return to the place in Gatineau to try our luck again.</p><p>The first time that we went to <a href="https://www.original-bar.ca/" target="_blank">Bistro Bar l'Original</a>, on Eddy Street in the Hull sector, last December, we were told that karaoke started at 9:00 and so wanting to ensure that we got a table, we arrived almost an hour early.</p><p>The place was pretty much dead.</p><p>Apart from my three friends, there was the bartender, a couple of patrons gambling on some gaming machines, and the DJ. As 9:00 came around, our table was the only one with people singing. By 9:30, a couple came in: the woman sang one song and then they left.</p><p>Other people came and went, with only a few of them actually intent on singing a song before moving on. But it was my friends and I who were the main entertainment of the evening.</p><p>On a usual night of karaoke, I will get in three songs; possibly, four; rarely, five. But on this night at l'Original, I sang nearly 20 songs. When the place finally filled up, near midnight, I figured that I could sing some of the songs that I had sung at the beginning of the night, because only my friends, the bartender, and the DJ had heard them (the gamblers had moved on).</p><p>We stayed until after 1 in the morning.</p><p>We're returning to l'Original on Friday but we're not getting there until 9. We're hoping that this time, now that the weather is getting better, that more people will show up.</p><p>I'm also hoping that my cough is kept at bay and that my lungs will cooperate. If you're in the area and have no plans, and if you like to sing, come on out and join us.</p><p>If you're nervous about singing in front of a crowd, come early. There may be very few to hear you.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-11506139217868744722024-03-05T00:00:00.008-05:002024-03-05T00:00:00.132-05:00This Is 59<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNACsMLVrhhjTttUhZbZiZoOAtE6mtYDynnvZRW-zIxm629g6XJ6YjWhYq8C3j-7sItjIMFl1YhXRFBY3fEDORsD4xHZdAG9FkCZBlUaO95yptmB1adWIkNx8Fph-NwTetRO4ZJqb9KcuipTL8Hq9Clrq14MgOQDEFi5KGFeXjtflfoXMiKQm9rYYclGRf/s3457/FXD_8377%20-glam.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3457" data-original-width="2766" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNACsMLVrhhjTttUhZbZiZoOAtE6mtYDynnvZRW-zIxm629g6XJ6YjWhYq8C3j-7sItjIMFl1YhXRFBY3fEDORsD4xHZdAG9FkCZBlUaO95yptmB1adWIkNx8Fph-NwTetRO4ZJqb9KcuipTL8Hq9Clrq14MgOQDEFi5KGFeXjtflfoXMiKQm9rYYclGRf/s320/FXD_8377%20-glam.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>And so, it starts: my final year in my 50s.<p></p><p>Next year, I'll officially be a senior citizen. I may even stop counting the years after I hit 60.</p><p>It's funny. Most of the time, I feel younger than I am, as though my brain hasn't quite caught up with the rest of my body. Until I look in the mirror.</p><p>I see more of my dad than I recognize of my early self. And he died at 62. I have three more years to reach that age.</p><p>But I'm going to live 59 like I have no time at all. I want to make every moment count, want to go to bed every night knowing that I didn't squander the day. <i>Carpe diem</i>, as they say.</p><p>This is 59. There may be a lot of mileage and a few dents and scrapes, but there's still gas in the tank.</p><p>Let's go.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-16321958973529377422024-03-04T00:00:00.001-05:002024-03-04T00:00:00.142-05:00Better Safe Than Quick<p>At the end of last year, DW and I were looking to cut some expenses, and because our antivirus software was up for renewal in January, we looked to see if we could get a better deal on other software. We were paying more than $100 a year for protection and we were hoping to reduce that amount.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_6KeodN_jZrTS-jYkMSLAajTYme7jRCVljy91g3OMxkZYBQySt7EIXxO9Ydl-3Ri2a1Ov3BDrhk_gstfcrH5LTTxt2wErBqypoZwjkFSUIDBu9pMhukBmcXn7uj391I9Zs0X7SLxicFpfh9qV0hzpbtVAtn29t2N_Rc59lkwGUeMbDIQ4YbQRomjLu0R/s4032/20240303_161849~2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC_6KeodN_jZrTS-jYkMSLAajTYme7jRCVljy91g3OMxkZYBQySt7EIXxO9Ydl-3Ri2a1Ov3BDrhk_gstfcrH5LTTxt2wErBqypoZwjkFSUIDBu9pMhukBmcXn7uj391I9Zs0X7SLxicFpfh9qV0hzpbtVAtn29t2N_Rc59lkwGUeMbDIQ4YbQRomjLu0R/w640-h360/20240303_161849~2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />We saw that one of the competitors, another well-known antivirus software company, was offering the same sort of protection as our current AV company but at less than a third of the price. We did a line-by-line comparison of features and functions, and we couldn't discern any noticeable difference, so we dropped our old provider and signed up to the new one.<p></p><p>Our old AV provider wanted to keep us and offered to reduce the annual fee, but it was still more than the competitor. In a last-ditch effort, they offered a renewal for only $40 but weren't willing to match the $30 price of the competitor, so we bid them a fond farewell.</p><p>So far, the new software seems to behave like the old folks but with one major difference: my laptop has slowed to a crawl. Looking up Web sites, accessing files, and performing photo editing have all slowed down. It's as though the antivirus software is stopping everything at a gate, padding it down, and interrogating it before it lets anything through.</p><p>The biggest slowdown comes through working on my blog posts. Sometimes, the keyboard lags. Adding images to my posts takes at least a minute to upload; sometimes, longer. If I'm uploading several photos at once, such as for a <i>Wordless Wednesday</i> post, it takes forever.</p><p>When I click the <b>Publish</b> button, sometimes my screen goes blank and it can take ages for it to refresh and tell me that my post has queued up successfully. In that time, I worry that something will go wrong and I will lose the content.</p><p>I have tried to figure out a way to increase the speed at which the computer can operate but so far, I can't find a solution without turning off some of the functionality of the AV software, and I don't want to do that.</p><p>The MacBook that DW bought last year seems to handle the software without any slowdown, and I'm almost tempted to start using it, instead of our Windows laptop.</p><p>We'll see.</p><p>But when this subscription comes up for renewal, I might see if our old protection provider will offer us that $40 to come back. The extra 10 bucks is certainly worth the hassle of having to wait.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-11178311828897869272024-03-01T00:00:00.048-05:002024-03-01T00:00:00.135-05:00Deserving of an Explanation<p>I have to admit: on Tuesday night, I was sitting in front of the TV, watching the news, when I had to remind myself that I hadn't yet put a blog post together for <i>Wordless Wednesday</i>. I still have hundreds of photos that I've shot but haven't looked at, from Costa Rica, but I wasn't in the mood to go through them.</p>
<p>After several weeks of posts about my latest vacation, I was getting bored. Were you? You didn't want to see more pictures of Costa Rica, do you?</p>
<p>I went from watching the news to streaming another episode of <i>For All Mankind</i>, an Apple TV+ series that I've wanted to watch for a long time but only started watching upon my return from my recent vacation. I'm hooked.</p>
<p>But after watching the episode, I started thinking that I needed something for the next post.</p>
<p>I <i>needed</i> it.</p>
<p>Feeling the <i>need</i> to post something is exactly why I stopped blogging for several months, in 2019. If, at any time, I felt that <i>The Brown Knowser</i> was more of a job than of something that simply brought me joy, I told myself that I would stop, and so <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-last-post.html" target="_blank">I hung up writing on my blog</a> for more than four months.</p>
<p>It seemed like much longer, for me.</p>
<p>So on Tuesday, I did what I often do when I need ideas or inspiration for blogging: I turned to old photos. I have literally thousands of photos that I've shot and done nothing with. I also have old slide photos that I digitized years ago, also just sitting in folders, untouched since I scanned them.</p>
<p>I went to that unorganized folder of scanned images and my eyes fell on a bunch of photos that I had shot shortly after I got my first SLR, my Minolta X-700, and I saw a bunch of experimental images that I had basically rejected after the slides came back from the lab. They were mostly photos that I had taken at night, practicing with a tripod and guesstimating how much exposure I needed to make the photo worthwhile.</p>
<p>The shutter speeds of this camera ranged from 1/1000 of a second to 4 seconds. If you wanted to take a longer exposure, you had to set the camera to Bulb mode and then either count or use an independent timer. Even today, my preferred method of timing in Bulb mode—even with my D-SLRs—is to count (although, my D-SLRs can expose for as long as 30 seconds on their own).</p>
<p>Using Bulb mode with film photography can be a bit of a crap shoot. Because you can't see your results right away, you had to make a note of each shot and the corresponding settings. I kept a notebook every time I took experimental photos.</p>
<p>One evening, I visited my sister Jen and her boyfriend at their apartment, not far from the Baseline and Merivale intersection. Their building was surrounded by townhouses and single family units on quiet residential streets.</p>
<p>I decided to set up my camera on a tripod and take some long exposures from high up. Focused on one of the quiet streets, I waited for a car to come along. I took a couple of shots at different exposure times.</p>
<p>Most of the shots didn't turn out and I ended up throwing out either black slides, with nothing exposed, or washed-out slides, with little to no definition. Even the one slide that I kept wasn't very good and sat in my collection of slides, never looked at again until I bought a slide scanner and digitized all of my photos, regardless of the subject or condition of the image.</p><p>You never know <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2021/10/a-shot-in-dark.html" target="_blank">what future technologies can do to a poor shot</a>.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, looking through old photos, hoping to find something to inspire me, my eyes fell on a shot from that night, in 1986, on my sister's balcony. And at first, I told myself, "You're never going to use that image. Why not just delete it?"</p>
<p>But I rarely delete photos. The subject has to either be so out of focus as to not be discernable, a head has to be cut off, or be an absolute duplicate for me to throw it away. I'll shove it into an obscure folder, rather than permanently discard it.</p><p>The photo was pretty awful: a residential intersection with a street lamp, the yellow, illuminated street signs glowing. An overall green hue fills the frame. You can see the painted stop lines on one of the roads, and curved streaks of headlights as an invisible car moves on the other street.</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqv_y658PcWkpcmMm2TjnQBi83CaMggG_ltX-D4TqZne2ITdtPkhY_ZtVKXuBC67rqztMFFbOKgFJ82tQxzBLA2c-iWkvFZn6wGUacLz25lfp1zGozhB_55HR5Jz13DkUbMC-fQcaU_yRCcL8m4L3osUAT13eizjmVxa0MDDcucvcV3xNZlu8u03Q-Gw4/s2544/DSC00245.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1696" data-original-width="2544" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqv_y658PcWkpcmMm2TjnQBi83CaMggG_ltX-D4TqZne2ITdtPkhY_ZtVKXuBC67rqztMFFbOKgFJ82tQxzBLA2c-iWkvFZn6wGUacLz25lfp1zGozhB_55HR5Jz13DkUbMC-fQcaU_yRCcL8m4L3osUAT13eizjmVxa0MDDcucvcV3xNZlu8u03Q-Gw4/w640-h426/DSC00245.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>Something about the photo made me want to keep it just as much as part of my brain was telling me to delete it. But I decided that I'd ultimately try to do something with it before taking any drastic action.</p>
<p>Using my smartphone, I imported the image into Snapseed and immediately cropped out most of the photo, keeping the light trails. I then used the Healing tool to brush out any lights or spots in the shot, so that only the light trails appeared in the frame.</p>
<p>I then brought the contrast all the way up and took the saturation all the way down. I sharpened the lines of the light trails, and that was it. Here's the resulting image, which I shared for <i><a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/02/light-trails-from-1986.html" target="_blank">Wordless Wednesday</a></i>.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOv13gNwm7ZnwhWDknQbAkXo8sNiES4m-CvTG9V0dldif4DRvgnlAJd4sIj1sAuuNLiKPp7vEaD53zRCrqwkqg0S6jnKPlkW7pnC_kA6N2tsEGKBMW171yFvEfERuBkvlnsA1rn2mhlpSEoCuI4uCpdX4MRPYp2ZER92tu3tPCcRVhLsLiJKcPQUUrDcY/s1696/DSC00245-01-01.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1696" data-original-width="1132" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOv13gNwm7ZnwhWDknQbAkXo8sNiES4m-CvTG9V0dldif4DRvgnlAJd4sIj1sAuuNLiKPp7vEaD53zRCrqwkqg0S6jnKPlkW7pnC_kA6N2tsEGKBMW171yFvEfERuBkvlnsA1rn2mhlpSEoCuI4uCpdX4MRPYp2ZER92tu3tPCcRVhLsLiJKcPQUUrDcY/w428-h640/DSC00245-01-01.jpeg" width="428" /></a></div>
<p>What do you think? Should this image still go in the waste basket? Should I have skipped posting anything on Wednesday and just gone back to watching <i>For All Mankind</i>?</p>
<p>Spoiler, I made these edits and prepared the blog post, from my phone, while I listened to an episode of <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ProfessorofRock/videos" target="_blank">Professor of Rock</a></i>, on YouTube. And then I went back to watching my space show.</p>
<p>Happy Friday!</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-60894869271139715352024-02-29T00:00:00.004-05:002024-02-29T00:00:00.140-05:00Beer O'Clock: Florida Stole My Parents<p>My parents never took me to Florida. As a kid, I think that would have been a great vacation but today, you couldn't pay me to go. And though I've been to that messed-up state a couple of times as an adult, my parents have never gone.</p><p>I have such distain for Florida, these days, that I almost passed on this quirky-labelled can when I saw it on the shelf of my friendly neighbourhood LCBO. But my eyes also fell to the large-printed OJIPA and I had to look closer. Was this an orange-juice-infused IPA?</p><p>The ingredients list says different: barley, wheat, and oats. But surely, there must be more to the contents? I mean, what about water, to start? Elsewhere on the label, I learned that this strong beer is also brewed with Comet and Eclipse hops, and is a "fresh squeezed delight."</p><p>Did they simply not list all of the ingredients?</p><p>I also learned that this ale is made by a brewery that I like, so I grabbed two cans and made my way to the cashier. At home, I'd determine if orange juice is included in the can.</p><p><b><span style="color: #ffa400;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #ffa400;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczouzCUwEv0gKH2pcDGHui4uTxy8xdaceTgr3PBo8B-Pdvlci45NvMcz-XuTKLo7ozEZvQlPUZtgijWZmA6uysyMWwOnbYSwD2O7fInj97RetwVcucTLheJ4CP6efmqbVEpiBuDRnubLrxxG44FuwzZZ1q1d0ut__DGK6Flm7HsweBGcbv75QLEyJtiXw/s2703/20240228_143528-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2703" data-original-width="2219" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczouzCUwEv0gKH2pcDGHui4uTxy8xdaceTgr3PBo8B-Pdvlci45NvMcz-XuTKLo7ozEZvQlPUZtgijWZmA6uysyMWwOnbYSwD2O7fInj97RetwVcucTLheJ4CP6efmqbVEpiBuDRnubLrxxG44FuwzZZ1q1d0ut__DGK6Flm7HsweBGcbv75QLEyJtiXw/s320/20240228_143528-01.jpeg" width="263" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="color: #ffa400;">Florida Stole My Parents</span></b> (6.5% ABV)<br /><a href="https://www.refinedfool.com/" target="_blank">Refined Fool Brewing Company</a><br />Sarnia, ON<p></p><p><b>Appearance:</b> pours a hazy, deep orange (almost matches the label) with plenty of sediment and an off-white head that comes out thick and remains a solid, foamy cap.</p><p><b>Nose:</b> more of lemon-lime citrus than oranges and slightly dank.</p><p><b>Palate:</b> bitter orange and pineapple. The hops are there but aren't overpowering and blend well with the fruit. The alcohol is noticeable on the medium-length finish but again, is not overpowering.</p><p><b>Overall impression:</b> it's a solid, full-bodied ale with the right balance of bitterness and fruit. There's not much that can be compared to a traditional IPA and I can't even say with any confidence that there's any orange juice added. The name confounds me.</p><p>It is a good beer, though. Worth trying, and I'd have one any time it was offered. But there are so many hazy, fruity ales out there that I find there's nothing that would urge me to buy this one over one that I truly love.</p><p>If you like hazy, fruity, and hoppy ales, this OJIPA is worth trying.</p><p><b>Beer O'Clock rating:</b> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">🍺</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">🍺</span></p><p>Cheers!</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-57863526000687952812024-02-28T00:00:00.005-05:002024-02-28T13:23:14.931-05:00Light Trails from 1986<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTC9IMYW64Gg83g2Viy16YbKeLSJnTCu0sPqGVNBCLvkF6k9z0ehVm-Qijr_Wg4B8oGlFs2a0Nl4iTVt0wWtJ22ent4ceImsFzyQEX2ybiK7529fOu4YYlIRexOWBnaGz4-i1H2yPbqeioM7i7WSMhNEwjimoYIkjz-htiisXVQjbaJggC5JCk0sGPfnh/s1696/DSC00245-01-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1696" data-original-width="1132" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTC9IMYW64Gg83g2Viy16YbKeLSJnTCu0sPqGVNBCLvkF6k9z0ehVm-Qijr_Wg4B8oGlFs2a0Nl4iTVt0wWtJ22ent4ceImsFzyQEX2ybiK7529fOu4YYlIRexOWBnaGz4-i1H2yPbqeioM7i7WSMhNEwjimoYIkjz-htiisXVQjbaJggC5JCk0sGPfnh/w428-h640/DSC00245-01-01.jpeg" width="428" /></a></div>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-68870546863677155052024-02-27T00:00:00.002-05:002024-02-27T00:27:00.282-05:00Back on the Juice<p>I'm starting to believe that, yeah, caffeine is addictive.</p><p>Almost a year ago, <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-end-of-cup.html" target="_blank">I swore off my favourite hot beverage</a> because I felt that the ill after-effects of drinking it weren't worth it. I had developed a racing heart rate and started feeling exhausted after as little as two cups.</p><p>So I went for many months in 2023 without touching coffee. DW, who is equally addicted to the stuff, continued to drink it at home and whenever we went for brunch, while I moved onto tea, something I used to drink at home, as a youngster, before I discovered the wonders of the roasted bean (I was about 13 when I had my first cup at a greasy spoon, just down the road from my high school).</p><p>Last September, when DW and I were visiting <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2023/10/vacationing-in-ontario-toronto-weekend.html" target="_blank">Toronto</a>, we ducked into a coffee shop in Cabbagetown, delightfully called <a href="https://www.jetfuelcoffee.com/" target="_blank">Jet Fuel</a>. The aromas were intoxicating so I caved, ordering an espresso. I hoped that the small cup, which is generally lower in caffeine because of the preparation process, would have little effect on me.</p><p>I was right.</p><p>Where past cups of coffee would have my heart pounding against my chest in minutes, this espresso did nothing for my heart rate. I had no jittery reaction and didn't feel as though my day was done, that I needed to lie down.</p><p>Victory.</p><p>I still kept my consumption of coffee to a minimum but when I craved the flavour, I'd make myself a small espresso at home, would occasionally order one to finish a meal when we dined out.</p><p>When DW and I visited Costa Rica, a few weeks ago, I knew I'd be tempted to have a full cup of coffee. How can you not in a coffee-growing country? But I paced myself: I didn't have a cup every day and would limit myself to only one small cup at a time. I wrote about my experience <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/02/coffeetime.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>Naturally, DW and I wanted to bring some coffee beans home, and we bought as much as our carry-on luggage could fit (though, we gave half of it away as gifts to friends). And as much as I was interested in having the coffee in our house, I knew that my consumption would be at a minimum. Or so I thought.</p><p>In the past couple of weeks that we've been home, DW has started each morning by making a small pot of coffee from the production facility/restaurant that we visited in Santa Maria de Dota. And the smell was so tempting that on the second day that she made a pot, I asked her to make enough so that I could have a cup, as well.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Ikq1-yFLUcFCVPfuMuzMs4UsMOu3ZOJSCSR2a9H7sYJcHkS_FG6jJ0SWkUuNuf75orIlo1ME-JBhjY9jGrM9wSGbcNU3Ojh_60NiJcc0kRHjjek-fyMFQjJsnEn8pbMLzOPCOFU8zH-joVa4zChhksb1mTS35yOrqqdXu3YMWrFHeQ2D-JGzC6m29_AT/s2957/20240214_105217.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2957" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Ikq1-yFLUcFCVPfuMuzMs4UsMOu3ZOJSCSR2a9H7sYJcHkS_FG6jJ0SWkUuNuf75orIlo1ME-JBhjY9jGrM9wSGbcNU3Ojh_60NiJcc0kRHjjek-fyMFQjJsnEn8pbMLzOPCOFU8zH-joVa4zChhksb1mTS35yOrqqdXu3YMWrFHeQ2D-JGzC6m29_AT/s320/20240214_105217.jpg" width="245" /></a></div>I used my mug that I used to keep at the office, but now that I worked from home and wasn't drinking coffee, had gathered dust at the back of our cupboard. I expected that this cup would get my heart racing but even an hour after consuming it, I felt fine.<p></p><p>Not wanting to push my luck, I waited a couple of days before having another cup. And again, I was fine after drinking it.</p><p>I now have a cup almost every day. I'm wondering, is it the type of bean or the roast? Has whatever caused this reaction (which only developed a couple of years ago, only to peak last April) run its course?</p><p>Time will tell. When we've used up the current bag, we have another bag from another company in that region. I'll see when we start making coffee with it. And after that, we'll see what happens when we return to buying beans that are sold locally.</p><p>It was really hard to give up my favourite hot beverage and it's with caution that I return to drinking it. Perhaps the magic number of cups is just one per day, though that wasn't the case when I gave it up. As I said, time will tell.</p><p>In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy every sip.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-88421594325104906132024-02-26T00:00:00.006-05:002024-02-26T00:00:00.248-05:00Feeling Old<p>In just over a week, I'll be starting my final year of being in my 50s. Yet, these days, I feel much older.</p>
<p>It's hard to believe that less than two years ago, DW and I were walking all over <a href="https://youtu.be/rwJ8Jb5IG3E?si=6rVadP5r5O-UBRh6" target="_blank">Portugal</a>, climbing the stairs and steep streets of <a href="https://youtu.be/xHQc31HGwBg?si=OVPs1cTm7Ed1r7xk" target="_blank">Porto</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/fUO9pSvdHbE?si=pqSAnx3hZg1Gjsbv" target="_blank">Lisbon</a>, and hiking over a small mountain in the <a href="https://youtu.be/pYs4fSZILmQ?si=cotd6VYvm9Q7VrYF" target="_blank">Douro Valley</a>. We'd be tired at the end of the day but felt ready to do it all over again the next day.</p>
<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3-57nkl253PcsIAXjCG_0MBYGNf4bB95RGxvBAg5S8ckNT9Gh2i9s_CVQLqgc_bTi4-9h92JTfN7LOZY-xRmLPlnF0eohbzRU6hRKGwcpnBcRvFVyLqyScLwgOEEqXVe6M50S3VNggqD-2nLsGq14unM_x9RZsPBdQCnYjQEVUsRYrEnzjellEoVEuvjY/s3378/20210317_165940-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3378" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3-57nkl253PcsIAXjCG_0MBYGNf4bB95RGxvBAg5S8ckNT9Gh2i9s_CVQLqgc_bTi4-9h92JTfN7LOZY-xRmLPlnF0eohbzRU6hRKGwcpnBcRvFVyLqyScLwgOEEqXVe6M50S3VNggqD-2nLsGq14unM_x9RZsPBdQCnYjQEVUsRYrEnzjellEoVEuvjY/s320/20210317_165940-01.jpeg" width="215" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In 2021, I was in better shape.</td></tr></tbody></table>In 2022, I was on my spin bike almost every day and when I wasn't riding it, I'd be on my road bike, covering even more kilometres. So, yeah, I was pretty fit and feeling good.</p>
<p>On our most recent trip, I was winded just climbing a single set of stairs. Hiking through cloud forests and through jungles, I was constantly out of breath, required many breaks, and was out of energy by lunchtime.</p>
<p>Thankfully, we often had days in between our mountain treks, where we'd either be driving to our next destination—in which case, I was sitting behind the driver's seat—or we'd relax on a beach.</p>
<p>But our last excursions got me thinking: I'm out of shape and it's important that I change that situation. As I head toward my 60s, it's even more important that I take care of myself.</p>
<p>I slowed down on spinning and cycling, last summer, because I had appendicitis and needed to address that issue. Because it was <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2023/07/never-simple.html" target="_blank">a complicated issue</a>, it wasn't the standard removal operation and the month-long recovery.</p>
<p>When DW and I decided to <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2023/11/new-reno-old-idea.html" target="_blank">renovate our second floor</a> and replace our carpeting with hardwood floors, my spin bike, which occupies a corner of our bedroom, became surrounded by the furniture of other rooms while we laid down the hardwood in those rooms. And when we did our own room, things got rearranged and my spin bike was never accessible.</p>
<p>With the flooring finished, my spin bike is back in its spot and I thought that there was no excuse not to use it. Except, we discovered, that the bike could leave marks on the wood and we didn't want to ruin our new floor. Plus, DW didn't want me sweating onto the hardwood.</p>
<p>Excuses, I know.</p>
<p>But returning from <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/02/completing-circuit.html" target="_blank">Costa Rica</a>, I knew that I had to get myself back into shape. Since we've been home, I've felt joints stiffen and I get tired walking up the stairs. Less than a week after being back, I hurt my left hip and experienced acute pain just climbing up a single stair.</p>
<p>I've been doing some stretching and strength-building exercises, and my hip hurts a lot less. I've decided that getting back on the spin bike is the best way to get me back to where I was before my appendix knocked me down. But I still had the issue of how to protect the floor to solve.</p>
<p>Yesterday, DW made me go with her to IKEA. I hate shopping in that monstrous, labyrinthine store. It's crowded, everybody has to navigate the same aisles to get anywhere, and it always takes us longer to get out than we expect.</p>
<p>But DW had a purpose, knew exactly what she wanted, and said we could go straight to the warehouse section to pick things up. She needed me because she feared some items would be too heavy for one person to lift.</p>
<p>She was right.</p>
<p>We got what she needed and we were through the checkout in no time. But when we were approaching the elevator to get our items to the main floor and out to the car, I saw someone carrying one of those thick, plastic sheets that you place under an office chair to protect a floor, and it was if a light came on.</p>
<p>I pointed to the person and to DW, said, "I can use one of those protectors for the spin bike. I'll take our cart to the car and load it up: you run back and grab one."</p>
<p>It's in place and fits well. Enough coverage, not only to protect the floor from the bottom of the bike but lots of coverage to catch anything that drips from my during a workout.</p>
<p>My return to the spin bike starts today, after work. I'm not going to sign up for a <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-last-virtual-challenge.html" target="_blank">Conqueror virtual challenge</a> but I'm going to turn on the television in our room and watch a one-hour show while I work out. I imagine it'll go slow, at first, as I get used to working out again.</p>
<p>But I'm determined to be in shape that, come spring, when the roads are clear, I'll be able to ride like I used to. And I only have one more year in my 50s. I don't want to hit 60 and feel like I'm 90.</p><p>Wish me luck.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-48173341906684824962024-02-23T00:00:00.007-05:002024-02-23T07:46:18.701-05:00Best Sunsets<p>There are lots of things that I will hold in my memories of Costa Rica: the landscapes, the people, the food, and the fact that you can't flush toilet paper.</p><p>But one of the things that really comes to mind are the gorgeous sunsets that we witnessed.</p><p>There are only a couple of times when DW and I didn't actually witness a sunset: our first two evenings, in La Fortuna, when the clouds covered Arenal Volcano and blocked out most of the sky; and our first night in Monteverde, when we were in the woods, participating, in a night tour. Every other evening in the full two weeks that we travelled the country, we saw a Costa Rican sunset.</p><p>And they were spectacular, even when we were witnessing one from the pool area of our San José hotel.</p><p>But when I think of Costa Rican sunset, only four places feature prominently in my mind: Monteverde, on our second evening, when the clouds were moving over the mountains but were light enough to let the sun penetrate them; Playa Santa Teresa, on our first evening; Santa Dominicalito, on our first evening, as seen from a restaurant that faced slightly away from the actual sun and looking along the coastline; and Playa Santa Dominicalito, looking straight out to the Pacific Ocean.</p><p>I don't often share different photos for <i>Photo Friday</i> but these all capture one theme: the best Costa Rican sunsets.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9hZsISZa4lzqA8dYTf1tEyk0RMJLhi5GTvjCLQ4bS1Ok1grW0cDMdyEs8z-GH4SxBkyvzjQlbTj-38sQO91x6EmbQacJ5SXZtQz3ymYXQ23ntDyjyy_cWYr9Zo-pdhFF6jGlfJhufYXRuTun-vgW_uEG8yOjiv1z1BuWCUtpq3Fv-CAXNXKTskBPlsUZ/s6016/GRB_3070%20-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6016" data-original-width="4016" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9hZsISZa4lzqA8dYTf1tEyk0RMJLhi5GTvjCLQ4bS1Ok1grW0cDMdyEs8z-GH4SxBkyvzjQlbTj-38sQO91x6EmbQacJ5SXZtQz3ymYXQ23ntDyjyy_cWYr9Zo-pdhFF6jGlfJhufYXRuTun-vgW_uEG8yOjiv1z1BuWCUtpq3Fv-CAXNXKTskBPlsUZ/w428-h640/GRB_3070%20-1.jpg" width="428" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnelA5nvcu_9Sr_5TpES0dW0Z1ipdgjd-DUvUxfhyEp87QQT33vgoonBYZZ0BAIudgQLk8Vlfsw3kuWupM1RAPdPk6QKos-So2Ff8UmjtQbuXK_rLPV0_8SInm95f7SqrbvDBc0K5aG3On5SgD4gXL6Ai8SPYGA6DntlpeE9fXaZVh0ukgJ_BrwYdn-gnA/s6016/GRB_3111%20-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6016" data-original-width="4016" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnelA5nvcu_9Sr_5TpES0dW0Z1ipdgjd-DUvUxfhyEp87QQT33vgoonBYZZ0BAIudgQLk8Vlfsw3kuWupM1RAPdPk6QKos-So2Ff8UmjtQbuXK_rLPV0_8SInm95f7SqrbvDBc0K5aG3On5SgD4gXL6Ai8SPYGA6DntlpeE9fXaZVh0ukgJ_BrwYdn-gnA/w428-h640/GRB_3111%20-1.jpg" width="428" /></a><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJg5g9z4dXKQtDFYiYuX-Gh55NR43lh6uBJkbYPNEm53q-Ei8OvUnf32hZgNPDW8iR3P4BzmkLamgZWM5ADkSppGlObQ8fQvsgklJfJHsJFNmTH4QieG6WJ2p40QOwFKVKN-G43fgYDW9lZv9w8YHjBbdX4aE_Mn9uVgu2uwB1QcP5UfhAIFBX4b6IAxEi/s4608/20240203_172906-01.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="4608" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJg5g9z4dXKQtDFYiYuX-Gh55NR43lh6uBJkbYPNEm53q-Ei8OvUnf32hZgNPDW8iR3P4BzmkLamgZWM5ADkSppGlObQ8fQvsgklJfJHsJFNmTH4QieG6WJ2p40QOwFKVKN-G43fgYDW9lZv9w8YHjBbdX4aE_Mn9uVgu2uwB1QcP5UfhAIFBX4b6IAxEi/w640-h360/20240203_172906-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiGDP6vmWL8Xz6O7FIjovTAVuLRakiow3zho1b_Xd6-mXImWtMSR7YUe9jdFLh2rIIizo4euBdCyGeHuOsX6QcYwtL6NBJeKYW1GFeDueMHFIVbJtlHygDfU1avusGkUPvxtR4Fw2LVnlx8M8AQDBmA7-mb14yqspRZ5-E5EJ_3BeZiel3HKUcrtQzelBb/s4032/20240205_173233.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiGDP6vmWL8Xz6O7FIjovTAVuLRakiow3zho1b_Xd6-mXImWtMSR7YUe9jdFLh2rIIizo4euBdCyGeHuOsX6QcYwtL6NBJeKYW1GFeDueMHFIVbJtlHygDfU1avusGkUPvxtR4Fw2LVnlx8M8AQDBmA7-mb14yqspRZ5-E5EJ_3BeZiel3HKUcrtQzelBb/w640-h360/20240205_173233.heic" width="640" /></a></div><p>This post ends my reflections of our vacation. Plans are already underway for our next trip. May we also get the chance to witness brilliant sunsets in that country.</p><p>Happy Friday!</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-40523067656963033942024-02-22T00:00:00.002-05:002024-02-22T08:49:32.902-05:00Beer O'Clock: The Taste of Costa Rica<p>Typically, when I find myself in the Caribbean (and by that, I mean the only other two Latin-American countries I've been to: Mexico and Cuba), I don't reach for beer. I'm usually at a resort and tend to opt for easy-to-drink cocktails, like a margarita or a Cuba libre (rum and coke), with the occasional piña colada thrown in.</p><p>Cuba is where I discovered the <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-brownfoot-mulata.html" target="_blank">mulata</a> and made it my own when I returned home.</p><p>But in Costa Rica, signs for its national beer, Imperial, were everywhere. And in the videos that I watched while researching my trip, people tended to go for this <i>cerveza</i>. Naturally, I'd have to try it.</p><p>On our first full day in Costa Rica, we drove from San José to La Fortuna. It was a nearly three-hour trek that had us climbing up mountains and literally into clouds before we descended again and ended up in this popular volcanic town.</p><p>Our first goal was to find a place to eat, and we quickly found Pollos La Familia, not far from the centre of the town. I ordered a place of rice and shrimp, and of course, a glass of the flagship lager from Imperial, which was on tap.</p><p>It came in a large glass mug and tasted exactly as I expected it to taste: it's an American lager that smells grassy, tastes of grass and corn, and goes down easy. But there's no character to it. Think Miller or Blue or Canadian or any other macro brewery. They all taste the same.</p><p>Later, that evening, as DW and I were enjoying a meal at Soda El Turnito, where I had an amazing chifrijo meal, I tried another Imperial brew, Silver. It was lighter in body than their classic lager and had a bit more citrus flavour to it, and I actually enjoyed it. In some ways, it's more like Corona but more flavourful.</p><p>Not surprisingly, when I was offered a choice between the classic Imperial and Imperial Silver, my server would acknowledge that the Silver was their preferred choice, too.</p><p>But I really strove to find local craft brews from Costa Rica and I actually was quite successful. Some were offered on menus of upscale restaurants or in grocery or liquor stores.</p><p>In Uvita, when we were grocery shopping, the store had a huge liquor section that had several microbrewery offerings and I happily filled my shopping basket. I also visited a couple of craft breweries around the country and had some good success.</p><p>Here are a couple of brews that stood out from my travels:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCN_YgHrnVSLi3MHxutEol2sLSdPv1o5lFjt16r7Ns2M_tnPTD88cwttLRQiYYT39xxgdVREoE_jaM-PX89czKUcrIZt9Zqe1b7jHsk8ev4jI2J0zN2yriXz9RHL8v6tjTh1V2TumjehmdkrflvZnxOzJOosJkub5-vMCDw-ghrOf05nwVyoExPgcWXZ9R/s4032/20240207_164621.heic" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCN_YgHrnVSLi3MHxutEol2sLSdPv1o5lFjt16r7Ns2M_tnPTD88cwttLRQiYYT39xxgdVREoE_jaM-PX89czKUcrIZt9Zqe1b7jHsk8ev4jI2J0zN2yriXz9RHL8v6tjTh1V2TumjehmdkrflvZnxOzJOosJkub5-vMCDw-ghrOf05nwVyoExPgcWXZ9R/w113-h200/20240207_164621.heic" width="113" /></a></div>Segua, by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/craftbeercostarica/" target="_blank">Costa Rica's Craft Brewing Company</a> (4.8% ABV; 0 IBUs): this Red Ale had nice malts and notes of caramel, mixed with fruit and floral aromas and a hint of spice. It went down surprisingly well as I sat on the edge of the pool in the pool of our Dominicalito Airbnb, soaking my feet in the cool water, at the end of a long day. I'm not sure I would have been so welcoming of this ale at the height of the heat, but with the sun gone and the distant sound of the Pacific Ocean with the gently buzz of night bugs in the surrounding jungle, it was perfect. <span style="font-size: x-small;">🍺🍺</span></li><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbp_u6Qk1MSkpx_cr8USQ8WRDIJu6b3FjhX0DSP-omJpIlbPnNb4AGKBY1-7pbUVlkEPVleDZx2RU-2QPdVMgkrz0CkR-h93npfaJtYwzO5UD90pDApsdcf3Rp1mCrr3eXY7oBa0KQF0xEte6rXOwpVK6EkLmIoF58LtW1OucLk65DjCg7hLx4SV1AThqX/s4032/20240205_194739.heic" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbp_u6Qk1MSkpx_cr8USQ8WRDIJu6b3FjhX0DSP-omJpIlbPnNb4AGKBY1-7pbUVlkEPVleDZx2RU-2QPdVMgkrz0CkR-h93npfaJtYwzO5UD90pDApsdcf3Rp1mCrr3eXY7oBa0KQF0xEte6rXOwpVK6EkLmIoF58LtW1OucLk65DjCg7hLx4SV1AThqX/w113-h200/20240205_194739.heic" width="113" /></a></div>Indómito, also by Costa Rica's Craft Brewing (7.6 % ABV; 70 IBUs): this was a heavy-hitting brew and also the best IPA that I had in Costa Rica (to be fair, I only tried four). It was unfiltered but not hazy, with a copper-amber colour that is traditional in a British-styled IPA. The nose presented citrussy hops and the palate was cleansing yet full-bodied, with a lingering finish. I also enjoyed this ale in the evening from our Airbnb, actually while writing a blog post as others went to bed. I liked it so much that I had two, and slept like a baby. I wish I could have brought some home. <span style="font-size: x-small;">🍺🍺🍺</span></li><li>Tropical IPA, by <a href="https://papagayo-brewing.com/" target="_blank">Papagayo Brewing Company</a> (6.2% ABV; 0 IBUs): it was hard to believe that his fruity, hoppy IPA registers at 0 IBUs, but it did give the impression of more sweet fruit than any bitterness. I ordered it from the patio of a soda on Playa Santa Teresa, on the Nicoya Peninsula, after sunset. Paired with shredded beef tacos, it was a great combination. Even though the IPA is fruit-forward, it did retain solid characteristics of a classic IPA. Unfortunately, because I drank straight from a brown bottle, I couldn't see the colour: I had to go to the Brewery's Web site to see that it was slightly hazy and more golden than a traditional IPA. It was my first IPA in Costa Rica and was initially my favourite beer thus far in our journey, and was only beaten by Indómito later on. I kept my eyes open for more but sadly never saw it again. <span style="font-size: x-small;">🍺🍺🍺</span></li><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3rgHtWreOubYgg2r_SHcTnpAkrn4Os1Re538znGVd3HxtkYIcZSBA74iL7T7_tn_ReBcFP2DIuev4KWSGML-Aly7YeCWqy47sDv_y55Msu6Tyd2fFLMBf_In0M2GgNI6l5NgAX4FlceS1eaTXB9uQSvleuv18WAGH5yLVpsiglWCS2CDeo9fRHAWuizTo/s4032/20240131_151000.heic" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3rgHtWreOubYgg2r_SHcTnpAkrn4Os1Re538znGVd3HxtkYIcZSBA74iL7T7_tn_ReBcFP2DIuev4KWSGML-Aly7YeCWqy47sDv_y55Msu6Tyd2fFLMBf_In0M2GgNI6l5NgAX4FlceS1eaTXB9uQSvleuv18WAGH5yLVpsiglWCS2CDeo9fRHAWuizTo/w113-h200/20240131_151000.heic" width="113" /></a></div>Murciélago, by <a href="https://www.monteverdebrewingco.com/?lang=en" target="_blank">Monteverde Brewing Company</a> (5% ABV; 30 IBUs): we visited the brew-pub for lunch, after trekking through the Monteverde Cloud Forest and standing on the continental divide. Surprisingly, we were served by a man from New Jersey who has now made Costa Rica his home. I had started with a session IPA, which was light and refreshing and went well with my burger, but wanted finish my meal with this coffee stout. It was more of a dark-roast ice coffee than a stout: eye-opening on both the nose and the palate. There was also a creaminess to it, no doubt from the nitro infusion. Though heavy on coffee, the body was surprisingly light. It was delicious. <span style="font-size: x-small;">🍺🍺🍺</span></li><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibotc10ENQcrD3sTFFreiTNw4IfidRu0VJvtGmdIBY61pLS-Dy-8_1tgep7k-r2UsDTwSYrnuXAP0FEuv_aX0aoJr70vYbUb3r9in1KFcT6LJM8cVAMx0tbg6Mc_CKXpm5IAv55a5NOYMCcKaS07ZHeYYigmT3KvUYc2W63uw_a9g4RCzxPZuN7V9ogw14/s4032/20240210_144029.heic" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibotc10ENQcrD3sTFFreiTNw4IfidRu0VJvtGmdIBY61pLS-Dy-8_1tgep7k-r2UsDTwSYrnuXAP0FEuv_aX0aoJr70vYbUb3r9in1KFcT6LJM8cVAMx0tbg6Mc_CKXpm5IAv55a5NOYMCcKaS07ZHeYYigmT3KvUYc2W63uw_a9g4RCzxPZuN7V9ogw14/w113-h200/20240210_144029.heic" width="113" /></a></div>Botánica, by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CalleCimarrona/" target="_blank">Calle Cimarrona</a> (5.5% ABV; 20 IBUs): the last beer that I had in Costa Rica (in fact, the last beer that I've had, period!) was a perfect choice for the perfect end to a perfect vacation. Served at Café Rojo, which I've now mentioned in a couple of posts, this lovely saison had a classic banana nose, mineral palate, with an added flavour of tamarind spice. It was refreshing and matched my pork ban mi perfectly. <span style="font-size: x-small;">🍺🍺🍺</span></li></ul>There are many more craft beers that I tried over our two-week vacation but these were the best. If you ever get to Costa Rica, I recommend that you seek these out.<p></p><p>Cheers!</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-86568804147208614362024-02-21T00:00:00.037-05:002024-02-21T00:00:00.136-05:00Feeling Anti-Social Media<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvfchoxV_Z1gaNsjsID1VawxNOh0au4MsLmdVX7QHcJtS2g9OilscQdsjLatGD6oxeOauZfopnCVePViYyg7ZjCWC4R77ODF9o1r_c6ogOcIC3s36CqKVxZziVmvuiUBWoYtdHUkxD0pS3A0uo3hKnzsx84axYJmW63ohtF3IosxrfpHygvbPpPOJD4Rdg/s700/Mastodon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="624" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvfchoxV_Z1gaNsjsID1VawxNOh0au4MsLmdVX7QHcJtS2g9OilscQdsjLatGD6oxeOauZfopnCVePViYyg7ZjCWC4R77ODF9o1r_c6ogOcIC3s36CqKVxZziVmvuiUBWoYtdHUkxD0pS3A0uo3hKnzsx84axYJmW63ohtF3IosxrfpHygvbPpPOJD4Rdg/w178-h200/Mastodon.png" width="178" /></a></div>For those of you who know me not only for my blog but also for my presence on social media, you may have noticed that I've been a bit absent of late.<p></p><p>Or maybe you haven't noticed at all.</p><p>I've been reducing the amount of time that I spend on <a href="https://mstdn.ca/@BrownKnowser" target="_blank">Mastodon</a> and on <a href="https://www.threads.net/@brownknowser" target="_blank">Threads</a>, and I've even given a rest to posting images on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/brownknowser/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> (mostly, because I feel that I've shared enough photos of Costa Rica and I haven't used my cameras since my return). I feel sort of burned out from the stream of information that comes not only from people I follow but mostly from the stream of people I don't follow, who simply show up in my timelines.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMuQN4j8T7HW65NvoyjRB3y0VVyoEqutP2p3RqJaH6hxXydEV-vI3yn-6VEips5W65ozQvN5XBEEL1p7nDCGNGXOAiDNsavxb0lqdmuEcZJ-MJRFmuLYJci70_Uq6LFQgZdi-iPco6ou8KLsx3Z3UwNfVlkQV73I3l3qhmA_oGLtCUtnS_TGdQIofQxYRu/s885/Threads.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="740" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMuQN4j8T7HW65NvoyjRB3y0VVyoEqutP2p3RqJaH6hxXydEV-vI3yn-6VEips5W65ozQvN5XBEEL1p7nDCGNGXOAiDNsavxb0lqdmuEcZJ-MJRFmuLYJci70_Uq6LFQgZdi-iPco6ou8KLsx3Z3UwNfVlkQV73I3l3qhmA_oGLtCUtnS_TGdQIofQxYRu/w168-h200/Threads.png" width="168" /></a></div>In Mastodon, I've placed filters on subjects that I don't want to hear about: Elon Musk; Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin, to name a few people that occupy too much space in my feeds. I also feel that I want to filter out Taylor Swift.<p></p><p>Don't get me wrong: I don't equate Swift with the vermin that the other three people are. Taylor Swift is a talented and successful icon who also seems to be a genuinely nice human being. It's just that her music doesn't speak to me (not that I expect her songs to relate to a man in his late 50s) and I'm generally not a fan of the genre in which she writes.</p><p>I certainly have nothing against her.</p><p>While I do respect her for the talent that she exudes, I'm just tired of hearing about her several times a day, every day. I think I'd also grow tired of hearing about any of my favourite artists with the same frequency.</p><p>I'm also tired of people who report about those who are anti-Swift. Yes, it's annoying how people have to hate out loud. It's also annoying to hear about people complain about the haters. It's as tiresome as those who complain about pineapple on pizza (just don't eat it and shut up, already!).</p><p>So far, I haven't found a way to filter posts on Threads or to exclude people that I don't follow from my timeline, so I feel a bit of a barrage of information that I've neither asked for nor wanted. I try to stay positive when I post anything to Mastodon or Threads, but sometimes it's simply exhausting.</p><p>I like interacting with the people that I follow on social media and sometimes respond to people that I don't follow but who are active in a conversation with the folks that I do follow. The rest, though, is noise.</p><p>And so I've toned down my presence on these social-media sites. I've stopped my morning greetings and my end-of-day farewells. I've stopped sharing random photos. I've stopped sharing my Wordle results (I've given up playing <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2023/09/new-game-in-town.html" target="_blank">Connections</a> because I wasn't finding it challenging enough).</p><p>Since last Friday, I've only posted announcements of new blog posts (that actually started on Monday because I didn't have a post for Friday). I've only spent a few minutes on Mastodon and Threads since Friday, and only occasionally like a post from those who I follow.</p><p>I've needed a break. At the moment, I've feeling anti-social media.</p><p>Have you ever felt this way? Have you taken a break from these or other social-media sites? For how long did you stay away, or have you given them up altogether?</p><p>I don't know how long I'll stay away. So far, I honestly don't think anyone has noticed, so if and when I do return, I won't start back by writing, "Sorry I've been absent."</p><p>There's nothing more humiliating than saying that and having no one respond.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-13167700565891710402024-02-20T00:00:00.011-05:002024-02-20T10:25:42.806-05:00Good Eats<p>DW and I had budgeted so that we'd be eating out most of the time that we were in Costa Rica. Some of our lodgings included breakfast, while others did not. But we were able to check out typical restaurants and small dining spots, called sodas, online before we left, and so we had an idea about how much each meal would cost.</p>
<p>Our first lodging, just a short distance from the San José airport, included a light breakfast of warm croissants, fresh fruit, and a carafe of coffee. It was the perfect start to our first full day in the country and set us up for our trek to La Fortuna.</p>
<p>Wherever possible, DW and I chose sodas for our meals, which were typically the least expensive of restaurants, charging between 4,000 and 5,000 colones ($10.50 to $14 CAD) per dish. We also preferred typical Costa Rican dishes, which gave us an authentic taste of the country and also tended to be less expensive than going with more North American-styled dishes, like burgers and pizza (though, I did have a few burgers over our two-week stay).</p>
<p>I'm not going to share every meal that I had during our vacation, though I did photograph almost every meal so that I could share it in a Google review. But what I would like to do is share the best meals that I had on our trip so that if you ever plan to visit this beautiful country, you'll know what to expect.</p>
<p>Typically, I started off my day with the traditional breakfast of eggs, rice and beans, fried plantains, and fresh fruit. But one morning, in Dominicalito, when we stopped at a café at the bottom of the hill from our Airbnb, I had one of the best breakfasts I have ever had, period. At <a href="https://kunjanicafe.com/" target="_blank">Kunjani Café</a>, I had a skillet meal that consisted of homemade chorizo in a tomato sauce, onions, and beans, with a fried egg on top. The flavours were incredible and the meal was filling.</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgESaLV-P0lOVDeImFLjm4ai2p1UHk_j1Kc33BM6X-GDwkNB8CjGBhRVG35myKmfk7p8sGJhuvvyti536e1I-yEuYdGZGikkFS-yDhhHVVhA5KrF7NihsYj2gpJvmms25SgXSEpojpnEXVyTRS6BDvo2w8arrvbqa13c4SVY680ZJAlVXNS8y15n38ebI15/s4032/20240204_091135.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgESaLV-P0lOVDeImFLjm4ai2p1UHk_j1Kc33BM6X-GDwkNB8CjGBhRVG35myKmfk7p8sGJhuvvyti536e1I-yEuYdGZGikkFS-yDhhHVVhA5KrF7NihsYj2gpJvmms25SgXSEpojpnEXVyTRS6BDvo2w8arrvbqa13c4SVY680ZJAlVXNS8y15n38ebI15/w640-h360/20240204_091135.heic" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9LU5SDW9pCO019wpqDKl3v-OzdpjfPaaI5zTUYRLpvzZBGY_GVZX9aipxii5Ox10JiV8gde4bX2r3yhfHGJdDTe059RDSJh-XJn40BeopPVOlq_BI7O5KJhKpGGSBaBmhmpVxqqyB2Mvpj4WgfCJ6ZVLc1d6RHuj6Ch_6GpIi9OqX_1o5WVYpvMedNVZx/s4032/20240204_085058.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9LU5SDW9pCO019wpqDKl3v-OzdpjfPaaI5zTUYRLpvzZBGY_GVZX9aipxii5Ox10JiV8gde4bX2r3yhfHGJdDTe059RDSJh-XJn40BeopPVOlq_BI7O5KJhKpGGSBaBmhmpVxqqyB2Mvpj4WgfCJ6ZVLc1d6RHuj6Ch_6GpIi9OqX_1o5WVYpvMedNVZx/w225-h400/20240204_085058.heic" width="225" /></a></div>
<p>I washed it down with a smoothie made from mangoes, collagen powder, avocado, and peanut butter, that made me not even think about food until the late afternoon.</p><p>The best typical breakfast, <i>gallo pinto con huevos</i>, or rice and beans with eggs, was served at a restaurant just to the west of La Fortuna, at a place called <a href="https://redfrogcoffeeroaster.negocio.site/" target="_blank">Red Frog Coffee Roasters</a>, in the community of Zeta Trece. It was so good that we returned to Red Frog for dinner, later that day.</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpH6OBVEp5tLV-xHxG8lEibBaI2Am0sAkiAumFoSpaWkjVarp_8lQ3waltpGLvppVe8UFMSknMLKB9eBA4etVgprs4x4G2vtgl5PblZuYt_P_HvWDWx3UHZ_-w4CQ1QqHSdyLp0q9spJU9JwFV2M86NJ1qjl-XAQ1hFZ56uRgxAYhkqO019goNl4SRqzpN/s4032/20240129_101621.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpH6OBVEp5tLV-xHxG8lEibBaI2Am0sAkiAumFoSpaWkjVarp_8lQ3waltpGLvppVe8UFMSknMLKB9eBA4etVgprs4x4G2vtgl5PblZuYt_P_HvWDWx3UHZ_-w4CQ1QqHSdyLp0q9spJU9JwFV2M86NJ1qjl-XAQ1hFZ56uRgxAYhkqO019goNl4SRqzpN/w640-h360/20240129_101621.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>The rest of my breakfasts were fine but no other stands out like these two. Most mornings at our Airbnb in Dominicalito, I would make a fruit smoothie for all of us. I'd use pineapple, papaya, mango, avocado, ginger, carrot, and orange juice to make a thick, tasty treat. We'd have it with eggs, toast, and coffee.</p>
<p>When I think of places where we had lunch, three places stand out. When DW and I first arrived in Santa Elena, in Monteverde, we were a bit early for checking in at our hotel, so we sought out a highly rated place, <a href="https://stellasmonteverde.com/menu/" target="_blank">Stella's Monteverde</a>. It was a small café/bakery with a lovely garden patio in the back, and I had a wonderful chicken and bacon sandwich on fresh bread. Served with fried wedge potatoes and an herbed cream dip, it wasn't exactly traditional Costa Rican fare but it was exactly what I needed.</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg49JaQLFwOoBEcAR3K1aYbr_6y98hkIcWzsYIuwweHUZFviHWAVKTVmb-4d95Jih3QmYXBNr6SsCR8Wnyhc-7ke6ctiNMo6HQoWkxU19havpAMPghurO8MwqMajOfsJAGPu0lRtuFR7Bf1vWXsc4djfYrmF9ZXU3BAmslBTcA-RxDclg_YzAc3vpV38OSk/s4032/20240130_132455.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg49JaQLFwOoBEcAR3K1aYbr_6y98hkIcWzsYIuwweHUZFviHWAVKTVmb-4d95Jih3QmYXBNr6SsCR8Wnyhc-7ke6ctiNMo6HQoWkxU19havpAMPghurO8MwqMajOfsJAGPu0lRtuFR7Bf1vWXsc4djfYrmF9ZXU3BAmslBTcA-RxDclg_YzAc3vpV38OSk/w640-h360/20240130_132455.heic" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6MrT8b0yhi1cNpfY1CLcZBmjRXAYPm5MJp7gGpEqGXUX-XNQAyCDWlABaCV4k-7gpCqTjZJOnXRHE4l47c1Cp44k3QzyFrDidG4qqKfKa2MwN_R_fpfWMuKAhWgB8yeYR7jQ-42PCUksytzxCFR-EkQEj5JhfJD-22MZ_ql8n7-qvchL3T2BQixYhNFZZ/s4032/20240206_121706.heic" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6MrT8b0yhi1cNpfY1CLcZBmjRXAYPm5MJp7gGpEqGXUX-XNQAyCDWlABaCV4k-7gpCqTjZJOnXRHE4l47c1Cp44k3QzyFrDidG4qqKfKa2MwN_R_fpfWMuKAhWgB8yeYR7jQ-42PCUksytzxCFR-EkQEj5JhfJD-22MZ_ql8n7-qvchL3T2BQixYhNFZZ/s320/20240206_121706.heic" width="180" /></a></div>
<p>The next best lunch came in Dominical, after we had spent the morning hiking to <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/02/getting-shot.html" target="_blank">Nauyaca Falls</a>. We were hot and we were hungry. And, as luck turned out, it was Taco Tuesday at Del Mar Taco Shop. This meant that all tacos were half-priced, as were bottles of Imperial beer, the national brand.</p>
<p>I ordered shrimp tacos and learned that I'd have to wait, as they had just sent someone to the fish market to buy the fresh catch. I sipped an Imperial Silver, a lighter ale, while I waited. To make up for the delay, the owner stuffed my tacos to bursting with shrimp, and the taco was already generously filled with fresh guacamole and veggies.</p>
<p>And with their house hot sauce, it was a perfect lunch.</p>
<p>Another great non-traditional lunch but one that hit the spot was from a place that we discovered in San José, on our last full day in Costa Rica. I mentioned this spot, just outside the crowded central shopping district, in <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/02/completing-circuit.html" target="_blank">a previous post</a> but it bears mentioning again.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.caferojo.net/en" target="_blank">Café Rojo</a> serves a fusion of Asian and Costa Rican food that was worth the extra walk to get to. And even though DW was a bit nervous about the neighbourhood to start with, the food gave her the energy to venture deeper into it afterward, as we tried to find a good spot from which we could order an Uber ride.</p><p>That ban mi and pork meatball sandwich is still on my mind.</p>
<p>Of notable mention is the <a href="https://www.kahawa.co/" target="_blank">Café Kahawa</a>, at the bottom of a deep valley near the Quetzal National Park. We never thought our RAV4 would be able to climb back out so I went for a great meal, if it was going to be my last.</p>
<p>Also not a traditional meal, it was at least made with an ingredient that the area is famous for: trout. I had a spaghetti bolognese dish that was loaded with fresh trout, instead of ground beef. Served with two mini paninis that were stuffed with melted cheese, this was a tasty meal, for sure.</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZCxbyDiAShcPccEO9rxWSGUFlR659ST7AOrPiYoWyQpGbXaegLRvBKlDxw5LXXqR58HvTRvgdEciY_Lzu6ICc8nMvyiwzsEhZtyw7zKvdjbVz_ZhExJNWfbRYe_vaHEKhtaJOM_BwgduDpBv01Bgpr8PEC9wzU4Cq2BIWIMY2d1iN-AT6rsNMI3XZEPTk/s4032/20240208_124557-01.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZCxbyDiAShcPccEO9rxWSGUFlR659ST7AOrPiYoWyQpGbXaegLRvBKlDxw5LXXqR58HvTRvgdEciY_Lzu6ICc8nMvyiwzsEhZtyw7zKvdjbVz_ZhExJNWfbRYe_vaHEKhtaJOM_BwgduDpBv01Bgpr8PEC9wzU4Cq2BIWIMY2d1iN-AT6rsNMI3XZEPTk/w640-h360/20240208_124557-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>There are very few dinners that stand out as exceptional. We had lots of rice dishes and I ate a bucketload of shrimp over the two weeks. But there are a few dishes that will stick with me for a long time.</p>
<p>The first was the very first dinner that I ate in Costa Rica, on our second night, in La Fortuna. DW and I had spent the late afternoon soaking in the hot springs of <a href="https://www.tabacon.com/thermal-experience/" target="_blank">Tabacón</a>, relaxing after a harrowing day of driving through clouds at the tops of mountains.</p>
<p>Driving back toward La Fortuna and our hotel, we stopped in Zeta Trece and found <a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063479920987" target="_blank">Soda El Turnito</a>. Lots of other sodas along the main strip seemed to be closing but this one was hopping.</p><p>Always a good sign.</p><p>When we got our table, I ordered a dish that I hadn't heard of before but whose description sounded perfect. It was a chifrijo.</p>
<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5iwvwLhsjAQgwamT7hmRgS3qIAbSvQO3n9I-OOEQ1gmQ90BAAyiutaw-d-h1Yd6HGfO3vpgbZBHcOaMV45zRLvbc0utGZnFc_VA-eCxGbUtSq-T6ei9wF_jJoKOIQBY1lfgCJH3H9PBSrvfRgOc7jAMnO2MlOFnCUmXC-b42m2ZHCh6IJEWD9oIZNMeuu/s4032/20240128_195437.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5iwvwLhsjAQgwamT7hmRgS3qIAbSvQO3n9I-OOEQ1gmQ90BAAyiutaw-d-h1Yd6HGfO3vpgbZBHcOaMV45zRLvbc0utGZnFc_VA-eCxGbUtSq-T6ei9wF_jJoKOIQBY1lfgCJH3H9PBSrvfRgOc7jAMnO2MlOFnCUmXC-b42m2ZHCh6IJEWD9oIZNMeuu/w640-h360/20240128_195437.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The photo isn't the sharpest but I was tired and hungry.</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Basically, this dish is filled with cubed pork, rice, fresh veggies and avocado, and is surrounded by tortilla chips. I squeezed fresh lime over the whole thing and tucked in.</p>
<p>Fresh flavours exploded in my mouth. I shared a bite with DW, who told me that it was one of the best dishes she's ever had, too. I saw chifrijos on menus at other restaurants throughout our travels but I didn't want to jinx this perfect experience. But if I ever see them on a menu in Ottawa, I'll be sure to give them a try.</p>
<p>The absolute best dinner I had on the entire trip came from the family-run hotel, <a href="https://www.booking.com/hotel/cr/belcruz-bed-and-breakfast.en-us.html?aid=898409&label=affnetawin-index_pub-641103_site-BB_pname-CatchHotels.com%20s.r.o._plc-_ts-awin_booking_clkid-6776_1708400620_8342b861df0d27f39073505fb4cec9d5&sid=db6da2fc81b52b86103e5031e64c7b60&dist=0&keep_landing=1&sb_price_type=total&type=total&utm_content=641103&utm_source=affnetawin&utm_term=index&" target="_blank">Belcruz</a>, in Monteverde.</p>
<p>The son of the family had training at the Cordon Bleu cooking school and put his knowledge on display. We had to order our meals by 2:00 on the day of the dinner. I ordered the Tamarind Pork, which was served with a sweet potato purée and a grain and rice muesli.</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizE2idGKyhIo1pGoA54e-p74ElFLiu78itGfBKlOuDrC3_7sRpp-wL_MpaxB3AiI2gRP8Hmh7QF70zdquRJ0zY-IaMeowjUUWfbfjVpUs9G8n_UsEpZO9ngxpXo0UbF1ttYdPeTB3_iZk9OXJXBVWOBRRhg6Ha5X0rd8yS-PDOYh7ZH6e0EAS3uJUma_KC/s4032/20240131_195642.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizE2idGKyhIo1pGoA54e-p74ElFLiu78itGfBKlOuDrC3_7sRpp-wL_MpaxB3AiI2gRP8Hmh7QF70zdquRJ0zY-IaMeowjUUWfbfjVpUs9G8n_UsEpZO9ngxpXo0UbF1ttYdPeTB3_iZk9OXJXBVWOBRRhg6Ha5X0rd8yS-PDOYh7ZH6e0EAS3uJUma_KC/w640-h360/20240131_195642.heic" width="640" /></a></div>
<p>The pork melted in my mouth. I would swear that we were in an upscale restaurant. I sent my compliments to the chef and the next morning I told the owner of the hotel just how wonderfully talented his son is.</p><p>The man beamed with pride.</p>
<p>That meal is one of the reasons why Monteverde is one of my personal highlights of our trip.</p>
<p>DW and I can't really say that we're foodies. We like a lot of different types of food but dislike many types as well. I can be an absolutely fussy eater but Costa Rica always offered something that would send me on a happy dance.</p>
<p>I can't really comment on the food that DW ate because I only took a few photos of her dishes and she would have to rate her own experiences. But in addition to the beauty of the country, the friendliness of its people, and the wonderful food, there are many reasons for us to want to return.</p>
<p>Happy Tuesday (hey, it's Taco Tuesday at Del Mar!).</p><p></p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-50001062533666804392024-02-19T00:00:00.015-05:002024-02-19T00:00:00.145-05:00We're Not Birders<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrl7ZixnXY6aQ47NetJSiw4jmZm6vlyc0Pu-9b8vtBDEuSxY-qaZQojE9kL7j2V2ogbxkXHsnJKA7QqZGgm0TyQKjOtV9bIAeoD0vA610Bc7XKBKWQhdOK5NcF6x-EYwJEj7VNotFW3zDGOlU3S6l6kme5i-zIYRoJu-sUVIMWfGTYDKFA7YfNVtY6RJij/s2015/Screenshot_20240218_142531.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2015" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrl7ZixnXY6aQ47NetJSiw4jmZm6vlyc0Pu-9b8vtBDEuSxY-qaZQojE9kL7j2V2ogbxkXHsnJKA7QqZGgm0TyQKjOtV9bIAeoD0vA610Bc7XKBKWQhdOK5NcF6x-EYwJEj7VNotFW3zDGOlU3S6l6kme5i-zIYRoJu-sUVIMWfGTYDKFA7YfNVtY6RJij/s320/Screenshot_20240218_142531.jpg" width="172" /></a></div>DW has said that birders would laugh at us while non-birders would simply laugh at us.<p></p><p>Whenever we've gone for hikes, one or both of us would bring a camera. When we've seen birds, at Mud Lake or in the Gatineau Hills, we'd naturally capture them, or attempt to capture them, through our lenses.</p><p>When we got into kayaking, we'd often see or hear birds that we don't normally see on trails. DW, with her Canon camera and zoon lens, would listen for these birds and try to photograph them, if possible. She's captured <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2020/07/wordless-wednesday-bird-shots-by-dw.html" target="_blank">some amazing shots</a>.</p>Last year, we both downloaded a birding app, <a href="https://www.appdecider.com/merlin-bird-id-by-cornell-lab?gad_source=5&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyILLh821hAMVJkpHAR0kfge4EAAYBCAAEgJf_PD_BwE" target="_blank">Merlin</a>, so that we could identify the sounds we heard while hiking or kayaking. Merlin has been pretty accurate and has helped us identify so many birds.<p></p><p>But still, we don't consider ourselves to be birders.</p><p>When we left for Costa Rica, last month, we knew that this mountainous country was full of diverse wildlife, including myriad birds. We were excited to think that we'd see and hear birds that we've never even heard of, in addition to toucans and parrots. So, when we arrived in La Fortuna, we downloaded the Costa Rican bird pack onto Merlin and put it to work.</p><p>It didn't disappoint.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvHW2cc5BFb3mkoK6px-vxvmSbN33FExRdKYGh1CKbelrqZcQ4d_LPbu98TLlfRhZTDA6Rx5-qSPzdgEV14D1cdXCJaQuyW3maJw9Q2w_IFrGdMhjoTKk90HQq1ieee940I8B1xvi9k34plWPDRtcFAnB4NfvDAX_Zutr5AYm1qfYB3i0MMDjuUaStvgDA/s1620/GRB_2716-01.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1620" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvHW2cc5BFb3mkoK6px-vxvmSbN33FExRdKYGh1CKbelrqZcQ4d_LPbu98TLlfRhZTDA6Rx5-qSPzdgEV14D1cdXCJaQuyW3maJw9Q2w_IFrGdMhjoTKk90HQq1ieee940I8B1xvi9k34plWPDRtcFAnB4NfvDAX_Zutr5AYm1qfYB3i0MMDjuUaStvgDA/s320/GRB_2716-01.jpeg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buff-throated Saltator</td></tr></tbody></table><p>There were so many <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/01/birds-of-la-fortuna.html" target="_blank">bird species in La Fortuna</a> that at times it felt hard to keep up. Though we hadn't intended to spend much time watching and listening to birds, we couldn't help ourselves.</p><p>In Monteverde, it was the same, as we wandered the cloud forest. We even ran into some young birders, with their binoculars, looking into a dense patch of woodland. Faster than Merlin, they'd identify the sounds and point the birds out to us.</p><p>Of course, the one bird that we thought would be great to see but didn't think we'd actually see it was the Resplendent Quetzal, which is a sacred bird and is rare to spot. And we were lucky enough to see several, in both Monteverde and in the Quetzal National Park.</p><p>Sitting on the patio, outside our Airbnb house, in Dominicalito, we'd hear so many different birds. I would activate Merlin, set my phone on the table, and in a few seconds the app would pick up half a dozen different species. It was hard not to be fascinated by the songs surrounding us.</p><p>Though we're not birders, we were certainly excited.</p><p>Upon our return, I started listing all of the birds that DW and I either heard or photographed, and I was shocked to discover that we saw and heard at least 70 different birds. Here they are, in alphabetical order:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Acorn Woodpecker</li><li>American Redstart</li><li>Bananaquit</li><li>Black Guan</li><li>Black-hooded Antshrike</li><li>Black Phoebe</li><li>Blue-and-white Swallow</li><li>Blue-black Grassquit</li><li>Blue-black Grosbeak</li><li>Blue-gray Tanager</li><li>Boat-billed Flycatcher</li><li>Bright-rumped Attila</li><li>Brown Jay</li><li>Buff-throated Saltator</li><li>Chestnut-backed Antbird</li><li>Chestnut-sided Warbler</li><li><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5NjOgKTY0V0Ocksg9vpM-nFz1Xj3HLX-MfKtWfbZJ00k2cG9zwDr8sFT27LUuegsOsJOJGN7GgiGfSOK7GCl0Xp_2QNo8no-dpiJG0nGdhxjFZR4KLIYlt0Avv8fjzsYy9v6sNPvzj52LdM9XP9sXBg8wTwlYdSp5DHg0y6KATOhrlL5Fs-s078BWBCsP/s1374/GRB_2724-01.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1374" data-original-width="916" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5NjOgKTY0V0Ocksg9vpM-nFz1Xj3HLX-MfKtWfbZJ00k2cG9zwDr8sFT27LUuegsOsJOJGN7GgiGfSOK7GCl0Xp_2QNo8no-dpiJG0nGdhxjFZR4KLIYlt0Avv8fjzsYy9v6sNPvzj52LdM9XP9sXBg8wTwlYdSp5DHg0y6KATOhrlL5Fs-s078BWBCsP/s320/GRB_2724-01.jpeg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clay-coloured Thrush</td></tr></tbody></table>Clay-coloured Thrush</li><li>Collared Forest Falcon</li><li>Collared Redstart</li><li>Collared Trogon</li><li>Common Pauroque</li><li>Common-tody Flycatcher</li><li>Crested Guan</li><li>Crimson-fronted Parakeet</li><li>Dot-winged Antwren</li><li>Gray-breasted Wood Wren</li><li>Great Crested Flycatcher</li><li>Great Curassow</li><li>Great Kiskadee</li><li>Great Tinamou</li><li>Green-crowned Brilliant (hummingbird)</li><li>Hairy Woodpecker<sup>*</sup></li><li>House Wren</li><li>Indigo Bunting</li><li>Keel-billed Toucan</li><li>Laughing Falcon</li><li>Lesser Greenlet</li><li>Lesser Violetear (hummingbird)</li><li>Melodious Blackbird</li><li>Montezuma Oropendola</li><li>Mountain Elaenia</li><li><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin7JwnhmaRIXhr6GKP8tMeAiCpumfNKnKi0qAzS2tJeWVyOlhW_32Tjg2xDB4A9eSo-YFVo44vRxVqd7MmPUduvxPXfhlhPb1yZdOnf2WfqCjX4Fugw0DCI8n2qlFI_NGHTgzUvxgnNItzsqf6DuMd-iCl2KDedmKX3AYOVi0weI2pJrrirRNvXIQlh-_B/s1184/20240131_094342.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1184" data-original-width="1184" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin7JwnhmaRIXhr6GKP8tMeAiCpumfNKnKi0qAzS2tJeWVyOlhW_32Tjg2xDB4A9eSo-YFVo44vRxVqd7MmPUduvxPXfhlhPb1yZdOnf2WfqCjX4Fugw0DCI8n2qlFI_NGHTgzUvxgnNItzsqf6DuMd-iCl2KDedmKX3AYOVi0weI2pJrrirRNvXIQlh-_B/s320/20240131_094342.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Northern Emerald Toucanet</td></tr></tbody></table>Northern Emerald Toucanet</li><li>Orange-billed Nightingale Thrush</li><li>Orange-billed Sparrow</li><li>Piratic Flycatcher</li><li>Red-billed Pigeon</li><li>Red-crowned Woodpecker</li><li>Red-lored Parrot</li><li>Resplendent Quetzal</li><li>Ruddy Gound Dove</li><li>Ruddy Pigeon</li><li>Rufous-browed Peppershrike</li><li>Rufous-collared Sparrow</li><li>Rufous-tailed Hummingbird</li><li>Scaly-breasted Hummingbird</li><li>Scarlet-rumped Tanager</li><li>Social Flycatcher</li><li>Squirrel Cuckoo</li><li>Summer Tanager</li><li>Three-striped Warbler</li><li>Townsend's Warbler</li><li>Tropical Kingbird</li><li>Violet Sabrewing (hummingbird)</li><li>Western Flycatcher</li><li>Western Tanager</li><li>White-fronted Parrot</li><li>Yellow Warbler</li><li>Yellow-bellied Flycatcher</li><li>Yellow-headed Caracara</li><li>Yellow-throated Toucan</li></ul><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQWYnc7SukXvUgFSMgbBZptx_MhZoukYYXCmO-rN3G7z7lGCg8UBegEoUNG45zbaleDZFLm6Q4Sw5mVXVPwYbucFiu3PSaFP45uA8PoYPu0e5Evs0Ofqv70ZkL2Z6-uOLSn3osbUsAMGHhw2nTK8-roLPBqV0nF1p0ab-HjkX4tLstCkD29ZgPm8u4Y-N/s925/GRB_2797-01.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="925" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQWYnc7SukXvUgFSMgbBZptx_MhZoukYYXCmO-rN3G7z7lGCg8UBegEoUNG45zbaleDZFLm6Q4Sw5mVXVPwYbucFiu3PSaFP45uA8PoYPu0e5Evs0Ofqv70ZkL2Z6-uOLSn3osbUsAMGHhw2nTK8-roLPBqV0nF1p0ab-HjkX4tLstCkD29ZgPm8u4Y-N/w640-h426/GRB_2797-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keel-billed Toucan</td></tr></tbody></table><br />We may not be birders but we're bird admirers. Which reminds me: I've got to replenish the seeds in our backyard bird feeder.<p></p><p>Happy Monday!</p><p><br /></p><p><sup>*</sup> We get these birds in the Ottawa area. Maybe it was on vacation, too.</p><p></p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-28591098135864613992024-02-15T00:00:00.066-05:002024-02-15T00:00:00.135-05:00Completing the Circuit<p>I'm not a fan of San Jose.</p>
<p>When DW and I first arrived in Costa Rica, we landed in darkness. The only thing I could discern from the port side of our craft, from the window seat, was that we were landing on high ground, with some small valleys and more hills surrounding the Juan Santamaría International Airport.</p>
<p>We were met outside the arrivals area by the owner of our hotel, who drove us through darkened streets. Once in our room, looking off the balcony, we could see only darkness, as there was only jungle before us. It was only after looking at Google Maps, to find our location, that I knew which direction we had headed from the airport.</p>
<p>Basically, it was north, just northwest of the town of Alajuela, which itself is to the northwest of the greater San Jose area.</p>
<p>Leaving Alajuela, we got onto a highway and headed north, and then west, to La Fortuna. On the route, we saw no urban buildup and, as soon as we reached the mountains, we were immersed in jungle.</p>
<p>Our first taste of a sizable city was on our last full day, having left the Quetzal National Park, winding our way down the mountains to the city of Cartago, Costa Rica's first capital city. Almost immediately, we were caught in traffic and construction. Even on a Saturday morning, we moved at a snail's pace.</p>
<p>Every once and a while, Highway 2 would pick up and we'd move at a decent speed. But as soon as we entered San Jose, our GPS mapping system took us off the highway and through congested roads. And we were back to a crawl.</p>
<p>Looking around the city, while stopped in traffic, I was initially reminded of some South Korean cities that I had driven through in the late 90s. Buildings of all sorts, surrounded by mountains, with really crappy drivers who were more interested in getting ahead of you than in following the rules of the road.</p>
<p>I was never happier than I was at pulling in to our hotel and parking the RAV4. We had arrived at noon and couldn't check in until 2:00, but the hotel let us park the car and keep our luggage in safe keeping. Though the vehicle had served us well in the country, I was happy to know that I'd never drive it again.</p>
<p>To kill time before check-in, DW and I hailed an Uber cab and went into the heart of San Jose. It was great to let a native driver worry about traffic but the car had no air conditioning and we had to keep the windows down, which meant that we had to endure smoke and exhaust from other vehicles. Throughout our time in the country, we had seen so many vehicles that seemed desperate for oil changes.</p>
<p>In San Jose, a haze of black smoke seemed to hang in the air (again, reminding me of South Korea in the late 1990s).</p>
<p>We were dropped off outside the <a href="https://museosdelbancocentral.org/exhibiciones/museo-del-oro-precolombino/" target="_blank">Pre-Columbian Gold Museum</a>. This is a highly recommended stop in the heart of San Jose. It was interesting to see life in Central America before the conquistadors: I was surprised to see so many gold and clay artifacts that were in pristine condition. One can only wonder what this fascinating civilization could have grown to be if not for the Spanish and Portuguese invaders.</p>
<p>The museum took about an hour to go through, and by the time we were done, we realized how hungry we were. We hadn't eaten since we had sat with our friends, for breakfast, at our lodge, nearly six hours earlier.</p>
<p>We walked westward along Avenida Central, looking for the San Jose Central Market, a tight, crowded, labyrinth of a market that offered just about everything you can think of. Again, I was reminded of the Namdaemun Market of Seoul or the Nambu Market of Jeonju, South Korea.</p>
<p>DW was looking for a plush toy of a quetzal bird: something that she had seen in the gift shop of the <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/02/coffeetime.html" target="_blank">Cafetería Don Cayito</a>, the day before, and had wanted to buy as a souvenir but decided to hold out. Walking almost every corridor in the market and visiting several gift shops, we saw lots of toy parrots, toucans, monkeys, and sloths, but no quetzals.</p>
<p>The plushy, it seems, is elusive as the real <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2024/02/searching-for-quetzals.html" target="_blank">bird</a> (she finally found one in the Duty-Free section of the airport, the next morning).</p>
<p>We found the market just a bit too claustrophobic for lunch so we made a Google search for the best non-chain restaurant in the area, and found <a href="https://www.caferojo.net/en" target="_blank">Café Rojo</a> as the highest-rated. And it was only a seven-minute walk from the market.</p>
<p>As we left the core of Avenida Central, DW became nervous. There were fewer people on the streets and the buildings became less commercial. When we were walking along Avenida Central, which is a pedestrian street, closed to vehicles, I was hounded by someone who was begging for money. When I told him that I didn't have any money (which was true: DW and I tapped with our phones at almost every place we had visited on our vacation), he became more animated more desperate, and kept trying to touch me (he was also speaking in English).</p>
<p>DW was worried that he would try to grab my camera, which was hanging off my shoulder, and when she spied a shop with a security guard at the entrance, she grabbed me and led me inside. The security guard, seeing what was happening, shooed the man away. When the coast was clear, the security guy nodded to us and we continued on our way, but still had others begging for change or trying to sell us trinkets (but not as aggressively as the other guy).</p>
<p>DW was about to suggest heading back toward the busier streets when we spotted Café Rojo. It was tucked away but had a nice, gardened patio, which hid patrons from the traffic. The staff was friendly and greeted us immediately, in perfect English, and had us sit on a picnic table.</p>
<p>The food was exactly what I needed. They even had local craft beer and I had an excellent saison with my pork meatball <i>báhn mí</i> sandwich. DW had a chicken salad and a tasty red gin cocktail. For a short time, it made us forget about the bustle of the downtown core.</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii_Cx7h6scp3N_AJzPgo0-5fbwq3FmNZ1WeFtqMp1W4ybGMrCxBIPWiAcStix_ZR4rqTnV-bQbFeABWlQ1PQP0qlnqsyRy75uH23Bnba9sFUDnRExkVxSfKWYPxGEhoBMIUkBnHsOUnFP2BsOdzr7W0x7k9woxfT12kBYfzlAIaczgFhy6PE01L8XFsuQj/s4032/20240210_145255.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii_Cx7h6scp3N_AJzPgo0-5fbwq3FmNZ1WeFtqMp1W4ybGMrCxBIPWiAcStix_ZR4rqTnV-bQbFeABWlQ1PQP0qlnqsyRy75uH23Bnba9sFUDnRExkVxSfKWYPxGEhoBMIUkBnHsOUnFP2BsOdzr7W0x7k9woxfT12kBYfzlAIaczgFhy6PE01L8XFsuQj/w225-h400/20240210_145255.heic" width="225" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-qoB7-61PT7z5jweqcdWxfsUasu5aSMwaQksf_BJY-pymEu_jwQZPsXd2wbnXkxpvFvespWLWHGNO3V9H_QUgbPB1WlXZMriya4GWduVOLZOT7AdmEPTXoEXRfkzN5NHUpWuzt5aNmK0Pm86KPP4rTA5omeApe1hR4qqAw_j4MBPiI6cfvGld3sA0yqG/s4032/20240210_144029.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-qoB7-61PT7z5jweqcdWxfsUasu5aSMwaQksf_BJY-pymEu_jwQZPsXd2wbnXkxpvFvespWLWHGNO3V9H_QUgbPB1WlXZMriya4GWduVOLZOT7AdmEPTXoEXRfkzN5NHUpWuzt5aNmK0Pm86KPP4rTA5omeApe1hR4qqAw_j4MBPiI6cfvGld3sA0yqG/w225-h400/20240210_144029.heic" width="225" /></a></div><br />We didn't have a lot of time left to get back to the hotel, where our car-rental agent was to meet us to retrieve the RAV4. We wanted to leave a buffer because we knew that the traffic was bad and that estimates of travel time were incorrect, based on how long our GPS told us it would take to drive to our hotel, and how long Uber said our ride into town would take.<p></p>
<p>We arrived at our hotel around 4 and immediately checked in. DW carried our luggage to our room while I went to the RAV4 and started emptying it of our non-valuables and garbage. When I thought I had retrieved everything, I had DW come down to the vehicle for one last look, to make sure I hadn't missed anything.</p>
<p>On this trip to the Toyota, we saw a man in a blue t-shirt near the car, watching us approach. Though his shirt had a logo from some other company, he was holding papers from our rental agency, with my name on them. He didn't speak English but we were able to communicate with our limited Spanish and Google Translate.</p>
<p>He already noticed the small scrape on the front-passenger side of the vehicle. When DW and I took the ferry across the Gulf of Nicoya, one of the attendants in the car port kept guiding me closer and closer to the side wall. I trusted that he was watching closely, even though I thought I was getting too close to the wall, and when I felt the RAV4 make contact with the wall, I knew that I should have trusted my own judgement.</p>
<p>I explained this to the rental agent, and he seemed sympathetic. He thought that it could be buffed out, but I doubted the plastic could handle any buffing. He didn't seem to care.</p><p>We signed off on the vehicle and he told me that his manager would assess the damage and contact me. We shook hands and he drove away.</p>
<p>"Did you check the compartment between the front seats?" DW asked as we headed to our room.</p>
<p>"The only thing I placed in it was the USB cable to connect my phone to Android Auto," I said, "and I removed that cable with my phone when I first parked the car."</p>
<p>"I kept snacks in it," she said, "and I had a cable for charging my phone."</p>
<p>"I asked you to double-check for me," I replied. "That's why we returned to the vehicle. I thought you would have checked while you were making a video."</p>
<p>DW and I always take a detailed video of a rental vehicle, both when we take possession and when we return the vehicle. It's our proof of the condition before and after. I saw that she was taking video but because I was trying to communicate with the agent, I never noticed if she had looked inside the Toyota.</p>
<p>"I was so focused on recording that I didn't look inside anything. Plus, I was listening to you."</p>
<p>The snacks were no great loss and the cable was purchased in La Fortuna when DW discovered she had left hers at home.</p>
<p>We headed to the pool area of the hotel in time for sunset. As the light waned, we felt a coolness settle in. I snapped the very last photo of our trip before we headed to our room.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5cSNGaGSO4pxPmAKeqieQ9pLIDgwG1I5uqkQ2LmJaD4x6_du0vXQ4EiFBUsHTeBjFfZ1UWXCtnMrpRfMzZ_ZpAwG6EJoeKsyKyqovEtc2UXX2XM8l0qlz38oxFpmyR-Mdq8tsIV-_cHc-0fvMOqFcpyi-P5eIOyVsRvHNZlxdyVZLsD-Iin7DbNWMi5TD/s4032/20240210_173553.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5cSNGaGSO4pxPmAKeqieQ9pLIDgwG1I5uqkQ2LmJaD4x6_du0vXQ4EiFBUsHTeBjFfZ1UWXCtnMrpRfMzZ_ZpAwG6EJoeKsyKyqovEtc2UXX2XM8l0qlz38oxFpmyR-Mdq8tsIV-_cHc-0fvMOqFcpyi-P5eIOyVsRvHNZlxdyVZLsD-Iin7DbNWMi5TD/w360-h640/20240210_173553.heic" width="360" /></a></div>
<p>Our flight to Toronto was for 8:50 the next morning, which meant that we had to be at the airport by around 6:30 or so. Because neither of us wanted to go to bed too early—we were always waking up between 4 and 5—we found a TV station that was playing old episodes of the original <i>CSI</i>, back-to-back, and we forced ourselves to stay awake until about 10:30.</p>
<p>We still woke up before 5.</p>
<p>With our shuttle to the airport, our circuit of Costa Rica was complete. We had made a good-sized ring route of the country and we decided that there were areas that we hadn't yet seen but would like to see, as well as wanting to return to some of our favourite spots.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxgcL-5STghkDm6Gkz47G9Ja6o-r-zJHYhi68oWAZmu9PsetluKG4Tg053NdxxhiszfHESt6BQdJZJbaTvV51OI71PIeqLlv8e1odFoDBepLt8leLt-o4sgKGgLBuo-JxWWS1U5Z4p8wIy4qy_p-iCEYMyHE0SCY5oXmfe77uNpKp8vdL7Lh-kr9I0J3R/s960/CR%20circuit.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="960" height="582" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxgcL-5STghkDm6Gkz47G9Ja6o-r-zJHYhi68oWAZmu9PsetluKG4Tg053NdxxhiszfHESt6BQdJZJbaTvV51OI71PIeqLlv8e1odFoDBepLt8leLt-o4sgKGgLBuo-JxWWS1U5Z4p8wIy4qy_p-iCEYMyHE0SCY5oXmfe77uNpKp8vdL7Lh-kr9I0J3R/w640-h582/CR%20circuit.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Screen capture of Google Maps.</span></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>We'll have to return some day but who knows when? We're already in the process of planning our next vacation.</p>
<p>Where to? I'll let you know when we've made concrete plans but we're aiming for September.</p>
<p>And I've already started work on upcoming <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@thebrownknowser/videos" target="_blank">YouTube videos</a> from this trip. Stay tuned.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-18329782835512407462024-02-14T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-14T00:00:00.150-05:00Hummingbirds in a Cloud Forest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOh1e3at_O14qpR3vL7dB6jltCo9HBr672MAtnBu4IkWVBb4BZQSRmvDoi1eFvfTN5mIKLPPjTZn-z8QCTE9ogfpMhoe0U5ETQDd_3TijzFpawBmrR_82D5lY20z6Hp4oJSRfKSVSx3fMV7lGR8UQ6VKtgbUOsKskbYmTsLsI_ORtJpQro5Z6gdECPV2zt/s6016/GRB_2905%20-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6016" data-original-width="4016" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOh1e3at_O14qpR3vL7dB6jltCo9HBr672MAtnBu4IkWVBb4BZQSRmvDoi1eFvfTN5mIKLPPjTZn-z8QCTE9ogfpMhoe0U5ETQDd_3TijzFpawBmrR_82D5lY20z6Hp4oJSRfKSVSx3fMV7lGR8UQ6VKtgbUOsKskbYmTsLsI_ORtJpQro5Z6gdECPV2zt/w428-h640/GRB_2905%20-1.jpg" width="428" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3592" data-original-width="3590" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc0aSJR_D2I8hY2FvHBu_jmZmqVsyw8YjOe-MiRN4z5w6uaAFH5NMoeM_YEHPUMt5NMb1r2sx557K_pq-ZL8DafXUBNn9w3zSSSOwsrh4CurZoXvDMfboOwc89YB1-VQG2vb7TA9yVYTmjkPhN9qpaZOsigm20SbDjs8myXNmlY-m1lmM76WGx4m4Id_so/w640-h640/GRB_2938%20-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoFM4Bpmln4D3ZHvpYDpnkZv-DjKRatRqsqb3-SsFLQH7bwBSfTuYtmE9j-BrxEmJk2J59wxVutFQ8ZkqZ7xjncCd7UJTXhD6-41QStvKYp9SOf0h8rE6klaR9cTeqxcGOfKrol51r_O_XLR3kemHi1xPpaVJK-hkDvg2JR3Mp_jAWKgRgvBD2bPFUI8P_/s5510/GRB_2947%20-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5510" data-original-width="3678" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoFM4Bpmln4D3ZHvpYDpnkZv-DjKRatRqsqb3-SsFLQH7bwBSfTuYtmE9j-BrxEmJk2J59wxVutFQ8ZkqZ7xjncCd7UJTXhD6-41QStvKYp9SOf0h8rE6klaR9cTeqxcGOfKrol51r_O_XLR3kemHi1xPpaVJK-hkDvg2JR3Mp_jAWKgRgvBD2bPFUI8P_/w428-h640/GRB_2947%20-1.jpg" width="428" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdra8LiM6yf445j22_TfgRIxqwn8NtfTx5GB30ZtO778h_ujZ79T1jlmGVq7ZWnAXd7CGouhP9weCNHa7FD5JIr78GRTPrAwgxZfzX_lISwtHztHT9sNnb9ODPmQ6bLKngkphGJNp2dngJkoZaJIEnF-14jrdGgIYnjSPZ25E8Ie7zD-RMd_joriMxUOrQ/s6016/GRB_2979%20-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6016" data-original-width="4016" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdra8LiM6yf445j22_TfgRIxqwn8NtfTx5GB30ZtO778h_ujZ79T1jlmGVq7ZWnAXd7CGouhP9weCNHa7FD5JIr78GRTPrAwgxZfzX_lISwtHztHT9sNnb9ODPmQ6bLKngkphGJNp2dngJkoZaJIEnF-14jrdGgIYnjSPZ25E8Ie7zD-RMd_joriMxUOrQ/w428-h640/GRB_2979%20-1.jpg" width="428" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiJY9ZfJQ4Z2JaVNsjLzNBeodElFMuS5QOwL9zGBjMKjd8rlJT6dhurQdW-VRhvgHUJxWyrn_x8PGUorw1pjZ1dBsVspdWiw14t4OsruFQ7dn3SgtH6N7prno36rUn51t0J91ehL9I0DJUufK3SpuKO_C3sV5Nl4cqnhPjX900XeoBhFAqwJsCV8wMWTiC/s5221/GRB_2986%20-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5221" data-original-width="3485" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiJY9ZfJQ4Z2JaVNsjLzNBeodElFMuS5QOwL9zGBjMKjd8rlJT6dhurQdW-VRhvgHUJxWyrn_x8PGUorw1pjZ1dBsVspdWiw14t4OsruFQ7dn3SgtH6N7prno36rUn51t0J91ehL9I0DJUufK3SpuKO_C3sV5Nl4cqnhPjX900XeoBhFAqwJsCV8wMWTiC/w428-h640/GRB_2986%20-1.jpg" width="428" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZbWEvQYz8XQsRa6JZyz4W8RvLK7pM6Zhu7DA6o1x3i7n8k8E6OR1DQGGlNz500bP0cqAIy7vMjkVMfAwoxAzoW8Y6qEdu0bs5tsesbnwZDQ_QwsJDyV5_MXBU1NEUfvJI2SipoftwTsV-MShVGW20DdOWsY9jXA5HKKz_vofXUluEvMqRzhn3S-Z1R72U/s3816/GRB_2998%20-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3816" data-original-width="3816" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZbWEvQYz8XQsRa6JZyz4W8RvLK7pM6Zhu7DA6o1x3i7n8k8E6OR1DQGGlNz500bP0cqAIy7vMjkVMfAwoxAzoW8Y6qEdu0bs5tsesbnwZDQ_QwsJDyV5_MXBU1NEUfvJI2SipoftwTsV-MShVGW20DdOWsY9jXA5HKKz_vofXUluEvMqRzhn3S-Z1R72U/w640-h640/GRB_2998%20-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-69269624049137780252024-02-13T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-13T00:00:00.332-05:00Coffeetime<p>As some of you may know, I love coffee but it does not love me.</p>
<p>A year ago, <a href="https://rossbrownfoot.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-end-of-cup.html" target="_blank">I had to give up my favourite hot beverage</a> because it does terrible things to me; number one, being that it raises my heart rate to workout levels, even when I'm sitting down and relaxing. It sometimes gives me headaches and generally leaves me feeling jittery and without energy.</p>
<p>Not good.</p>
<p>When DW and I planned our trip to Costa Rica, we had coffee on our agenda. After all, it's one of the best producers of coffee.</p>
<p>I knew that I wouldn't be able to drink coffee the way I had, in the past, but I was hoping that I'd get to enjoy a cup or two during our travels. I'd limit myself to a small cup in one sitting, making sure to add milk and sugar, which seemed to lessen the effects of my caffeine reaction.</p>
<p>DW, on the other hand, was able to enjoy coffee every day.</p>
<p>I had my very first cup in Monteverde, at our hotel, I started each morning with a single, small cup of coffee. The coffee was excellent but that was no surprise, as this hotel was family owned and operated, and the son was a graduate of the Cordon Bleu cooking school, and all of the ingredients in their kitchen were of top quality. Their morning granola and their marmalade jam were homemade, and it stood to reason that they'd only have premium coffee.</p>
<p>As tempted as I was to have a second cup, I stuck to one.</p><p>Because we were on the move immediately after breakfast, I didn't notice an increase in my heart rate other than from the exertion I was already placing on my body. We had hiked through a cloud forest on the first morning and drove windy, narrow, and often steep dirt roads on our second morning, which raised my adrenaline anyway.</p>
<p>I had coffee with breakfast in Montezuma, but again we went straight from the café to a hike up Montezuma Falls, so my elevated heart rate was attributed to physical exertion.</p>
<p>That was my last cup of coffee for about a week, when I had breakfast at our lodge after having gone quetzal watching at sunrise. The coffee at the lodge wasn't great, and the cups were small, so I had two of them, even though I knew that we had more coffee on the day's agenda.</p>
<p>Around lunchtime, we paid a visit to the town of Santa María de Dota, in the mountainous region outside of the Quetzal National Park, about a 20-minute drive west of our lodge. This town is known for its coffee production, and as part of our last day in this region, I was going to have more coffee, dammit!</p>
<p>We drove straight to a co-op, Cafetería Coopedota, where they had beans from several coffee growers, all under one roof. Though they also offered food, DW, our friends, Kat and Jim, and I just wanted some coffee.</p>
<p>We were hoping that they'd have a sampler of different roasts from various roasters, much like you can order a flight of different beer at a brewery or like DW and I sampled various wines, in Gigondas, France, but that wasn't the case at Coopedota. They simply listed myriad ways in which you could order a cup of coffee.</p>
<p>I ordered a flavoured iced latte. I was given the choice of adding vanilla, caramel, or peppermint syrup, and I chose caramel. The drink came in a handled mason jar, with the three layers of beverage, which I stirred into a delicious, homogenous beverage.</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMVes7aC9OGy8JrjAmYoFaE2hkh4aDeY9F1JCabbyEy8PdY_MsC4Xl7IhWC6Kb_eZR2vkO0mPEPFbzmteQ86Z6EfOmMIRTDmcScmbt2cYRJ7zqxkXtAESxyUACCW2I834B5j8aeIO5T42AZdWnGxHaLpDtkTogoMyz4AX0CDnQOzj38ioyDWtX-bfL4r3n/s4032/20240209_124433.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMVes7aC9OGy8JrjAmYoFaE2hkh4aDeY9F1JCabbyEy8PdY_MsC4Xl7IhWC6Kb_eZR2vkO0mPEPFbzmteQ86Z6EfOmMIRTDmcScmbt2cYRJ7zqxkXtAESxyUACCW2I834B5j8aeIO5T42AZdWnGxHaLpDtkTogoMyz4AX0CDnQOzj38ioyDWtX-bfL4r3n/w360-h640/20240209_124433.heic" width="360" /></a></div><br />Lovely.<p></p>
<p>We bought a couple of bags of beans, to give as gifts, and moved on.</p>
<p>We searched for a proper restaurant and found one, up in the hills to the east end of the town, that had excellent reviews on Google, and as an added bonus, it was also a coffee production facility.</p>
<p>Cafetería Don Cayito is right on a slope that overlooks Santa María de Dota and the mountains that surround it. We pulled up in front of a large shed that was taking what appeared to be washed beans and depositing them in a pile in this shaded area. The moment we stepped out of our vehicle, we smelled what almost seemed like some fermentation process was going on. There was a sourness to the air. A brownish liquid was also running from the mound and moving down a drain that ran under our vehicle.</p><p>A large open area also had beans of various shades of colour spread in rectangular piles on a concrete floor. A person was running a rake-like tool over the piles, turning the beans in a process that looked like he was drying them.</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='640' height='532' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyfpXeIXG53viKRger2GM23GZbvA28iY8ntHDI21NqM7sMTtuNFOYxioegIy7R7aB-i4KoCr-yo5jpxoh8gvQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<p>We went directly into the café part of the facility and found the inside hopping with business. People were sitting at tables, eating food and drinking various beverages. We noticed that doors led out onto a balcony and that's where we headed.</p>
<p>The view of Santa María, below, was amazing.</p>
<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHd2wQAnxVwZrHKK-YFNVF2BgEprP93k_TZ9MWHJeNDgQT_go7LSUw-xSl6BPeUhQ2TnTDy9UGYaxBlrQfas-M1Ap5Kj_yD1nkliLWsvBGQDR8fNPBYbX8kT-rLVBZhriGm98bpXvOhFiYw0QR7QAti73n638BbcCUd82HJHbTtSXntv36lgOS8kCcLvp-/s4032/20240209_133130.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHd2wQAnxVwZrHKK-YFNVF2BgEprP93k_TZ9MWHJeNDgQT_go7LSUw-xSl6BPeUhQ2TnTDy9UGYaxBlrQfas-M1Ap5Kj_yD1nkliLWsvBGQDR8fNPBYbX8kT-rLVBZhriGm98bpXvOhFiYw0QR7QAti73n638BbcCUd82HJHbTtSXntv36lgOS8kCcLvp-/w640-h360/20240209_133130.heic" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The large, whitish buildings to the right of the town are part of the co-op.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />
<p>We ordered lunch and I was tempted to order more coffee, but I was starting to feel jittery from the large latte that I had at the co-op. I stuck to water. Even when we stayed for dessert, and DW had coffee with her passionfruit cheesecake, I stuck to water with my lemon pie.</p><p>We purchased more coffee, knowing something of their process, and also because the smell of coffee permeated the café and was intoxicating.</p>
<p>Leaving Don Cayito's, we decided to go in search of a waterfall that was supposedly just to the south of the town. We plugged the destination into the car and off we went.</p>
<p>The map had us climbing a steep hill in what seemed to be an affluent part of the town. The houses were large an pristine, and the road was perfectly paved.</p>
<p>But it was also extremely steep and winding. I had the RAV4 in first gear and would have my foot to the floor for a large part of it. I was firmly pushed back in my seat and could feel the adrenaline rush as we turned more and more tight hairpin curves, each one leading onto steeper sections of road. As we turned one curve, with my foot on the floor, the Toyota slowed right down and I could see the revs drop.</p>
<p>I was terrified that we were going to stall. We could have walked at a faster pace than the vehicle was moving. But it kept moving.</p>
<p>My ears popped. We were more than 2,000 metres up. There was nothing more that I could do with the vehicle except keep my foot to the floor and steer.</p>
<p>We reached the point where the GPS said the entrance to the falls were but we saw no signs of a trail or place to stop. We were still on a steep incline and I said that there was no way that I was going to stop the RAV4 here. We continued a few more minutes until we reached the top of the mountain, the road flattened out, and I could turn around.</p>
<p>My adrenaline, boosted by caffeine, was making my heart race. It was pumping at 124 bpm, according to my watch. My watch also measures my stress level, and it was maxed out.</p>
<p>"Screw the waterfalls," I said, "we're going back to the lodge."</p>
<p>Everyone agreed.</p>
<p>I kept the vehicle in first gear and rode the brakes all the way down to the heart of town. Heading back to our lodge, I discovered that we had to climb more hills to escape the valley where Santa María lies, but they weren't as challenging as the climb to the falls.</p>
<p>I love coffee but it doesn't love me. Back at our lodge, my heart was pounding in my chest and I couldn't steady my hands. I also had a headache. I needed to nap for a bit and when I woke up, I felt exhausted.</p>
<p>I was still full from the large lunch that I ate but still joined the others at the dinner table. We ordered a bottle of wine and that's all I had. With the bottle empty, I went straight to bed and had the lights out by 8:30.</p>
<p>Am I going to drink any of the coffee that we brought home from Costa Rica? Absolutely, but I'm only having one cup per week, and it'll be a half cup, at that. And I'm going to make sure that I'm active after having it.</p>
<p>The day after our quetzal and coffee adventures, DW and I said goodbye to Kat and Jim, who were heading back to the beaches, and we made our way to San Jose in what would be our final full day in Costa Rica.</p>
<p>I'll share my thoughts on Costa Rica's capital, later this week. Stay tuned.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-28913841948667744032024-02-12T00:00:00.038-05:002024-02-12T00:00:00.331-05:00Searching for Quetzals<p>We left the Dominicalito region, on the Pacific, and headed back inland, up in the mountains, driving over one of the highest points in the country, making a rest stop where a sign told us that we were 3,100 metres above sea level. We stopped for lunch in a village, San Gerardo de Dota, at the bottom of a valley, where the road to get to it was so narrow, so winding, and so steep that I didn't think our RAV4 would be able to get back out, but where we had one of the most enchanting lunches of our vacation.</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYtafpm_eSEIKqoYOJ8hYr4HooAU2OdCeL88BfSbwWNaYUpwEF0SA19YfITg69OweAygoAGrx8ZOICPWr3jITY3AbGGMNYC95RkN7_RmCH0SA_wJ9cQnRJdp0pRNNqKsKeT_3gvZuSVlHpJ7MBHJZYxFugrurbPEMoXmo4QJEeC0GgaQk2yQUQS8DPojW/s1620/GRB_3373-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1620" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYtafpm_eSEIKqoYOJ8hYr4HooAU2OdCeL88BfSbwWNaYUpwEF0SA19YfITg69OweAygoAGrx8ZOICPWr3jITY3AbGGMNYC95RkN7_RmCH0SA_wJ9cQnRJdp0pRNNqKsKeT_3gvZuSVlHpJ7MBHJZYxFugrurbPEMoXmo4QJEeC0GgaQk2yQUQS8DPojW/w426-h640/GRB_3373-01.jpeg" width="426" /></a></div><br />Our ultimate destination was Copey de Dota, inside the Quetzal National Park. We booked cabins at a lodge that was popular for birders, not that we're birders. But we like to photograph birds and Costa Rica is a bird-watching paradise.<p></p>
<p>And if you want to try to capture a glimpse of Costa Rica's rare, sacred bird of the Aztecs and Mayans, going to a national park named after them seemed like the place to go.</p>
<p>After we settled into our cabins—our friends Katheleen and Jim had a cabin: we had our own—we booked a guided hike with a bird expert, who would take us to a spot where the colourful quetzals had been sighted. It wasn't cheap: at $40US per person, it was a lot to pay for having no guarantee of seeing anything.</p>
<p>We would set out the next day before dawn.</p>
<p>We awoke just before 4:30, but considering we were in bed by 9 on the previous night, it was no issue. We find that staying up past 10 is a rarity here. Once the sun is gone, you really don't want to be on the road, especially on these narrow, winding roads, and there wasn't much else to do.</p>
<p>We were on the road by 5, almost an hour before sunrise. We had a 5:30 rendezvous with a guide for a birding adventure.</p>
<p>The guide knew of a tree where a couple of the birds had been spotted on previous mornings. And he told us that around sunrise, the birds would be at their most active.</p><p>This was the place and time to try our luck.</p>
<p>It's surprisingly cold in this part of the country, at this altitude. At 6:00, standing at about 2,500 metres in the mountains, we were in layers, wearing the clothes that we had worn when we left wintery Ottawa. But we hadn't packed gloves, and never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I'd need them in Costa Rica. Holding onto my camera, keeping my eyes on the trees, I wished I had a pair on me.</p>
<p>It was about 11⁰C.</p>
<p>We stood in that spot for more than a half an hour, waiting. We could hear so many different species of birds coming to life but none matched the call of the quetzal. But then, just as we considered moving to a secondary sighting spot, both male and female resplendent quetzals came out of the dense woods and landed on a tree about 30 metres away.</p>
<p>They stayed in the area, fluttering from tree to tree, for about an hour. At one point, a second male came to the area but the first male chased him off. Apparently, these birds are territorial, especially now, during mating season.</p><p>It was a wonderful experience watching these beautiful birds fly over our heads in almost a dance as the first male made it clear that the second male was not welcome.</p>
<p>I'm not very good at capturing birds, especially ones that move a lot, but I got a couple of okay shots. I really need a better telephoto lens.</p><p>At one point, our guide had his spotting scope locked onto the male, and I was able to hold my smartphone to the viewfinder to snag a couple of shots. Even though the bird was partially hidden by a tree branch, the photo made it look like he was trying to hide from the camera (see the fourth shot).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHs4XOHOpcgiMC_NuTny4BlasDIIQK1C7Va26pN1z2IqXx7blxYMgIRV4KucuzaBqrpWpGFz22J0jj28vkzpqyH7TB3lE3I0YUe_VhB9InJGZ8POKgIe72FIk3oIAWlClUXo2DD_6wr6d6x_n0l-YOmBNz_OBaWATO2E2Eht4f9-JaTWBTVNOPtWroMOZ/s791/GRB_3510-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="791" data-original-width="526" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHs4XOHOpcgiMC_NuTny4BlasDIIQK1C7Va26pN1z2IqXx7blxYMgIRV4KucuzaBqrpWpGFz22J0jj28vkzpqyH7TB3lE3I0YUe_VhB9InJGZ8POKgIe72FIk3oIAWlClUXo2DD_6wr6d6x_n0l-YOmBNz_OBaWATO2E2Eht4f9-JaTWBTVNOPtWroMOZ/w426-h640/GRB_3510-01.jpeg" width="426" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioP0mND0RUOlTlRuzd0S9r8bKxnb3XMvmlG4TQK15A0Ieg3uRzXzzacTwDY9RWAPnxW_vvBJG74kxzoPV_1-Vf2fWqDBICMBgnzwBavohT9DG0tvKzywBVThmMA0nvgotOQpSBG_dofiYNTgtvJUzGJ580S4j2XRmS6vaVMDb1f7KEd2Ts4e6Qdd3lRWTs/s822/GRB_3494-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="547" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioP0mND0RUOlTlRuzd0S9r8bKxnb3XMvmlG4TQK15A0Ieg3uRzXzzacTwDY9RWAPnxW_vvBJG74kxzoPV_1-Vf2fWqDBICMBgnzwBavohT9DG0tvKzywBVThmMA0nvgotOQpSBG_dofiYNTgtvJUzGJ580S4j2XRmS6vaVMDb1f7KEd2Ts4e6Qdd3lRWTs/w426-h640/GRB_3494-01.jpeg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFSdtE84ZIntjGz_D_HgYgxiuNUmYMqzsiY5qYk8CkCjKUJZ3yTU2y85XjraPlhTDde1-VQtiX6LaFcRdRozpfjGyppG1l1f77_MLH6PEXLoU1lZFZc-PM2ojXbeatsqZY8Ts4I-Hpehy4QAHND4MxqLW0GFnMnqmsnYVddPgLDMisYooFB_HMT74gEAA/s828/GRB_3512-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="553" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFSdtE84ZIntjGz_D_HgYgxiuNUmYMqzsiY5qYk8CkCjKUJZ3yTU2y85XjraPlhTDde1-VQtiX6LaFcRdRozpfjGyppG1l1f77_MLH6PEXLoU1lZFZc-PM2ojXbeatsqZY8Ts4I-Hpehy4QAHND4MxqLW0GFnMnqmsnYVddPgLDMisYooFB_HMT74gEAA/w428-h640/GRB_3512-01.jpeg" width="428" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY0Iwmw_uYM0qMVsP8ZFCjslkxHJHcVEKW_NAC9FrQfmmQLFQkPIGwSxjS3rP8QX33mmysy40Nf2wp2jvtxmdHRjJqkqIlmBCBSjkGJ-P0xSKvOpuRhDO-uR1gnSDEG9kxrWarZfcompj4yD_t6a3EqVBnVuwMT-xj_rEMeh5oLWPM5iAALGm2RygqQh0G/s2715/20240209_065157~2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2715" data-original-width="1528" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY0Iwmw_uYM0qMVsP8ZFCjslkxHJHcVEKW_NAC9FrQfmmQLFQkPIGwSxjS3rP8QX33mmysy40Nf2wp2jvtxmdHRjJqkqIlmBCBSjkGJ-P0xSKvOpuRhDO-uR1gnSDEG9kxrWarZfcompj4yD_t6a3EqVBnVuwMT-xj_rEMeh5oLWPM5iAALGm2RygqQh0G/w360-h640/20240209_065157~2.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br />We were back at our lodge shortly after 8, still in time to be served the breakfast that was included with our accommodations. After a traditional breakfast of eggs, fresh fruit, and rice with beans, we went back to our cabins to rest and then shower before tackling our afternoon adventure.<p></p><p>I'll share that, tomorrow.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-77468530224539757512024-02-09T01:00:00.003-05:002024-02-09T01:00:00.239-05:00Getting the Shot<p>They thought I was crazy.</p><p>Already, at 6:30, the temperature was in the mid 20s and it was only going to get hotter as the morning continued. By noon, it would be in the 30s.</p><p>But I was determined. In my backpack, I had a tripod, a 360-degree camera on a three-metre selfie stick, a D-SLR with a 24-70mm lens, spare batteries, an ND filter, and a water bottle.</p><p>It seemed like a lot to carry, DW and our friends said, but I assured them that I've carried much more. I'd be fine.</p><p>I'm not in as good a shape as I was when DW and I trekked around Portugal, in 2022. I can't remember the last time I was on my spin bike and I'm less than two months post appendectomy. I'm carrying more weight on me, too.</p><p>But I had a specific photo in mind and I was determined to get it. </p><p>The trailhead for the Nauyaca Waterfalls was about a 20-minute drive from our Airbnb, in the hills above Dominical. From there, it was a 3.3-kilometre hike, mostly uphill.</p><p>And it was getting hotter.</p><p>I moved the slowest of our foursome. Though I rarely stopped, only doing so to retrieve my water bottle for a swig or taking some video footage, but I kept moving.</p><p>When we reached the falls, they were more beautiful than the photos that we saw online, in preparation for this visit. As DW and our friends prepared themselves for a dip in the cool pool below the two-tiered falls, I moved to a place where I could set up my gear.</p><p>I placed my camera on my tripod and screwed the ND filter on. I snapped a few shots.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33km1oDrSJzTbKHPZP92brvIAYcTOZlaMVHluSs2-B9_cq-vPYXhix5hcD2i-UavmpPb5D8eQPIm_LAiNND2eR-Bam_3bT9h3dJD4fe-rjmMCTzktVo9Xbl3KPI8ZuwUYnl25W_dWp8aDEm7zLSWSrXPUSzvUmZIxVoZ8MBh5vTJsvQS1gdXHv0wu9S6_/s1620/GRB_3318-04.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1620" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33km1oDrSJzTbKHPZP92brvIAYcTOZlaMVHluSs2-B9_cq-vPYXhix5hcD2i-UavmpPb5D8eQPIm_LAiNND2eR-Bam_3bT9h3dJD4fe-rjmMCTzktVo9Xbl3KPI8ZuwUYnl25W_dWp8aDEm7zLSWSrXPUSzvUmZIxVoZ8MBh5vTJsvQS1gdXHv0wu9S6_/w426-h640/GRB_3318-04.jpeg" width="426" /></a></div><br />Determined to capture both levels of the falls, together, I had to place everything back in my pack and strap it tightly to my back. I removed my hiking boots and waded in the water, waist-deep, to get to the far side.<p></p><p>The floor of the pool was slippery and I had to cling onto some rocks to ensure that I didn't fall. If my backpack sunk into the water, my gear would be damaged. </p><p>Slowly and steadily, I got across. The view was worth it. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1IMNEbvVcRHwuJx7t_HH-Fcwefdk2U0QljfJMVQ6BGcuMIzjQ5_d2PiVfD7zX4hHPVJnmez36nLXHblzbwBrswLjseiiwSQZrMiBW2VcZEbTLxm7jkISJZq3av30aLMVLoLE4vXlTdUHRhc1PEXBIKyDLo_ExnOSPkUJhw4DQuWNpCf7MLuwt-Q8R5mn/s1620/GRB_3331-01.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1620" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1IMNEbvVcRHwuJx7t_HH-Fcwefdk2U0QljfJMVQ6BGcuMIzjQ5_d2PiVfD7zX4hHPVJnmez36nLXHblzbwBrswLjseiiwSQZrMiBW2VcZEbTLxm7jkISJZq3av30aLMVLoLE4vXlTdUHRhc1PEXBIKyDLo_ExnOSPkUJhw4DQuWNpCf7MLuwt-Q8R5mn/w426-h640/GRB_3331-01.jpeg" width="426" /></a></div><br />And the return trip to the car was mostly downhill.<p></p><p>Sometimes, carrying your gear can take a lot of effort. But when it pays off, it's worth it. </p><p>Happy Friday!</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5861053677041266898.post-64357936893898248782024-02-08T01:00:00.001-05:002024-02-08T01:00:00.139-05:00Last Sunset in Dominicalito<p>I never tired of the view.</p><p>Whether I was waking up and looking through the floor-to-ceiling windows in the bedroom, sitting at the kitchen table, or standing on the deck, my eyes couldn't stray from the jungle that surrounded us, with a gap that offered a window below, to the Pacific Ocean.</p><p>For the first four nights in Dominicalito, we were right by the ocean for sunsets. On the first evening, we pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant, it's view looking southward along the coast. The glowing coastline, though it didn't look toward the sun, was still spectacular.</p><p>Our second evening was spent in Uvita, and we were once again at a restaurant during sunset. Again, though we couldn't see the sun, the sky above was colourful.</p><p>We decided to stay close to our Airbnb for the third and fourth evenings, driving across the highway and down to Playa Dominicalito. The sunsets, both nights, were spectacular.</p><p>Because our view from our Airbnb was amazing throughout the day, we wondered how sunset would appear, so on our last night in Dominicalito—indeed, our last night on the Pacific—we stayed in and gazed off the balcony.</p><p>The view did not disappoint.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-DkOoBuLekEnBPbYvKQ91XKya1JHWdvI2W5xqvJENdauwu9DNZ4wzLSdzjQQX84uKSfTLGlivvkLaOEpCHHUht0KSpjB2TTk0GA6L9VEW4qGVFcafAvr1V0wEX9UB6pceCXHWSiYdSoXGJ5zGQEePBRmS8n73vK9AVIR01SAZ9KylOghGt8oC9aIqYCTV/s4032/20240207_173754-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-DkOoBuLekEnBPbYvKQ91XKya1JHWdvI2W5xqvJENdauwu9DNZ4wzLSdzjQQX84uKSfTLGlivvkLaOEpCHHUht0KSpjB2TTk0GA6L9VEW4qGVFcafAvr1V0wEX9UB6pceCXHWSiYdSoXGJ5zGQEePBRmS8n73vK9AVIR01SAZ9KylOghGt8oC9aIqYCTV/w360-h640/20240207_173754-01.jpeg" width="360" /></a></div><br />Today, we drive inland, heading up in the mountains, once again, to Quetzal National Park, with our friends in tow.<p></p><p>We're down to the final days of our vacation. Of all the places we've been, Dominicalito is the one place whose view I'm going to miss the most when I wake up.</p>Ross Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11992849406652481756noreply@blogger.com0