Eyes on Costa Rica - Update/October 4, 2016

On November 13, 2012, I started to maintain a record of where visits to my blog were coming from. Aided by a widget called RevolverMaps which can be seen under the heading of VISITS SINCE 9/29/2016 as a spinning globe in the right hand column of the blog, this included identification of individual countries and their dependencies, subdivisions (states, provinces, etc.) within the countries; and cities, towns or other places within the subdivisions.

Since my last blog entry on this topic (April 15, 2016), the total number of recorded countries and dependencies has risen to 114; the most recent additions being Paraguay, Greenland, Guam and, most recently (October 1), Isle of Man. Earlier today, the number of recorded visits from over 3100 different places surpassed 24,000 – the 24000^th visit coming from Norman, Oklahoma. TOTAL PAGEVIEWS as seen in the right hand column exceeds 89000. This indicates that the average visitor has looked at between 3 and 4 different pages of the blog.

Why “VISITS SINCE 9/29/2016” and not “VISIT COUNTER” as it read before?

RevolverMaps identifies each place from where a visit occurs with a little red dot (or some other color of choice) on the spinning globe. By navigating from the blog to RevolverMaps itself, the same collection of dots can be viewed on a 2D flat map projection. Here is a snapshot taken on September 29, 2016.

Unfortunately, while tinkering with the blog on my new iPad, I somehow managed to break the link between the blog and RevolverMaps. The break could not be mended – or at least we could not figure out how to mend it. The solution was to reinstall RevolverMaps with the consequence that the visitor count and the placement of little red dots had to start all over again. Here’s a snapshot taken earlier today:

No more clutter of dots but all was not lost. Records up to the time of the break had been backed up in a separate database. It was fairly easy to modify this database setting numbers as they were on September 29 as initial conditions and then enabling the addition of new numbers reported by RevolverMaps to the initial numbers. Under the old scheme, new numbers provided by RevolverMaps would be used to overwrite rather than add to existing numbers because all the initial numbers were zero.

The above being said, it became apparent that there was no harmony between TOTAL PAGEVIEWS as seen in the right hand column and RevolverMaps visits as seen in the right hand column. Over 89000 page views does not reconcile with less than 100 visits. The heading VISITS SINCE 9/29/2016 provides a hint as to the reason why. The widget that records total page views is independent of RevolverMaps and has been in service since before the inclusion of RevolverMaps in November 2012. The link with this widget has not been broken (at least not yet).

A Tropical Storm

October and November will be the rainiest months during our green season, with the dry season starting in December and running through to about May. By then, we will be wishing for rain to bring back all the lush greenness of this beautiful country.

It doesn't rain twenty-four hours for days on end. Usually, our mornings are sunny and clear - with clouds building up in the early afternoon. Then we may experience an hour or so of rain, quite often torrential with lightning and thunder. Doing laundry and hanging it on the line outside to dry must be done first thing in the day. I had my wash out by 7:30 am today. We prefer to do shopping in the mornings also.

There are many different micro-climates in Costa Rica and I am referring to the climate we experience at our elevation and our part of the country (Atenas).

I made this video last week during a late afternoon storm. It was severe enough to cause flooding in our backyard.

Live Spider Action!!

Following up on my previous blog, I made this video yesterday of one of our golden orb spiders weaving its web.

Mammals and Araneoidea Spiders

After five years of living in Costa Rica, I still get excited seeing the exotic flora and fauna of this country.

We are presently fortunate to have five separate webs around our house, made by the golden silk orb-weaver spider. The webs are simply amazing - large and strong with a golden sheen. The spiders are amazing also:

 

I think this one is missing a leg.

 

Here you can see the golden web.

For more information on this amazing creature, check out my friend Claudia's blog article on the golden orb. Claudia is a protozoologist and knows whereof she speaks - Claudia's blog article

Now for the mammals - we have agoutis running through our yard at regular intervals. They exist on fruits and nuts so our orange and mango trees are an attraction for them. This pair were close to our back door but started running when I came out with a camera.

 

Not sure what it is carrying - old dried up mango?

They both are carrying something ... 

For more information on the agouti, click here. Now, see how interesting it is living in the tropics?

Independence Day 2016 - Costa Rica

On September 15, 1821, the authorities in Guatemala declared independence for all of Central America from Spain. Here in Costa Rica, September 15 is a national holiday.

The farole parade is held on the evening of September 14 - homemade lanterns symbolizing the original freedom torch. On September 15th, there are parades all around the country, with marching school bands. Further information can be found in this article by the Costa Rican News.

Here are some photos I took of some Independence Day celebrations in our Atenas park, on Wednesday, September 14.

 

  

 

 

Vista Atenas, Costa Rica

Here is a link for information about the development we live in - Vista Atenas, Atenas, Costa Rica.

Thank you, Pure Life Development, for putting this information together.

One Week in Atenas

Our art show last weekend went very well with my painting "Tranquilo" going to its new home at a cattle ranch not far from us. We'll be meeting sometime this week to discuss the show, what we want to do in the future, when to hold the next show and so on.

Our septic tank was overdue for a cleaning and that was an interesting process to observe. Now we know where the septic tank is located.

Yesterday, our gardener Byron was here and he finished up just as a storm moved in. The rain was quite intense with lots of lightning and thunder so he stayed until it eased off and he could get back up the mountain to his home. I hope he managed to hitch a ride because he was carrying a heavy, professional style weed wacker, a can of gasoline, and a backpack with his protective clothing in it (face mask, leather apron, harness for the weed wacker). In Costa Rica, a lawn mower would not work on the mountain sides.

As we were sitting outside, the power went off -  probably due to a circuit breaker being hit by lightning as we heard a "pop". We also felt a small earthquake. Our cat had zoomed off somewhere once Byron started working. Cat (that's what we call him) eventually came home once the storm passed but he was quite wet. Not much of a problem in a tropical climate as the rain is warm.

Since we were having a cold Asian noodle salad for dinner, the lack of electricity wasn't much of a problem and it came back on after a few hours.

One of my orchids is flowering - the scent is incredible and the flowers are weirdly wonderful.