Birthday Lunch - La Ceiba Restaurante, Naranjo

April 27th was my birthday and we went to La Ceiba Restaurant. I had read a very favourable review and we decided to try it out. 

It is a bit tricky to find so use Waze (Plus Code 3HMG+R7) or Google Maps. After you exit Highway 1, the short road to the restaurant (about 100 m.) is not paved and is quite rough. Here is the route we took:

This restaurant is a gem. A beautiful setting with the eating area under cover with open sides.

Orchids growing on tree limbs.

It was just so pleasant sitting there enjoying the view, the breezes and the music. There are orchids everywhere, some for sale. They also sell coffee.

The restaurant grows its own lettuce.

My lunch selection - catch of the day, mahi-mahi. Note the orchid flower.

Lance’s choice - chicken breast stuffed with three cheeses. Salad loaded with lots of different bits.

The dishes were excellent. I thought I would have room for dessert but it was not to be.

We bought some organic coffee, produced by Lum. This coffee was grown in Palmares.

A perfect birthday! To top it off, I had ordered myself a Wallaroo sun hat and it arrived.

Click on images to enlarge.

Doves in Costa Rica

According to my book “The Birds of Costa Rica, a Field Guide” by Richard Garrigues and illustrated by Robert Dean, there are eleven species of doves in this country - not including quail-doves.

We are visited daily by white-winged doves and common ground doves.

White-winged on left and ground dove on the right.

A pair of white-winged doves raised a family of two under our eaves. Here are the fledglings:

I put seed out for them:

This may not be the best of ideas because word got around in the neighbourhood that grub can be had at such and such a house. So we have moved from a pair of white-winged doves and a pair of ground doves visiting to more than double that number!

They can be quite inquisitive. One dove in particular has strolled into our house a couple of times to snoop around.

Doves are the symbol of peace but when our gang is together, it can be anything but peaceful. They can be quite aggressive, fighting over who is going to get the seed, threatening each other with raised wing displays, and chasing the small ground doves away.

I made a short video that demonstrates their behaviour:

Click on images to enlarge. 

Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - March 2023

During February, visits to this blog were received from the following 12 countries:

From the time I started to keep track, the total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received remains at 135. Of this number, 13 are non-independent (e.g. Greenland from which 1 visit has been received).

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The following is a summary of weather for the month in the area where we live:

Over a period of about 8 days in mid-March, and then 2 days later in the month, we received a premature sampling of the "green season" which normally does not begin until late April or May. Compared to March in previous years, the rainfall was significant - sometimes very heavy over a short period of time and accompanied by thunder and lightning. From 2018 to 2020, we measured no rainfall in March. In 2021, we measured a mere 0.07 inches (1.8 mm).

On rainy days, daytime high temperatures were kept down. Thus the average daytime high temperature for the month is less than the year to date average.

Click on images to enlarge.

My YouTube Video - Driving Home from the Doka Estate Coffee Tour

After we completed the Doka Estate Coffee Tour, we made a dash cam video of our drive home. The coffee tour blog post can be read here.

This video might be of interest to those wondering what driving is like in parts of Costa Rica. Here is the map of our route, showing in blue (and alternate routes in grey):

And here is the video of our drive:

The date of the video is incorrect. It has to be fixed on our webcam. 

Breakfast - Los Jardines Vivero y Café, Grecia

We have eaten lunch a couple of times at this restaurant. I did a blog post on our experience and you can read it here.

Los Jardines is located just east of the Courts of Justice and beside Super Rosvil Liceo (a grocery store) in Grecia. They have a large parking lot with a nice attendant. 

Today we decided to try Los Jardines’ breakfast menu. Breakfast is served on Saturday and Sunday only and they open at 0930.

For drinks, I ordered the limonada hierba buena and for Lance it was the bebida mora con leche. Translation: lemonade/limeade with mint/herbs and a smoothie made with mora and milk. Mora is a sort of blackberry that grows here. 

The setting of this restaurant is so much fun …. lots and lots of plants, kitschy decorations (Volkswagen Beetle, a British phone booth for example). A group of expats meets here for lunch every Wednesday.

And now our breakfasts:

Mine - huevos rancheros with natilla, toast and gallo pinto.

Lance’s choice - ham and cheese omelette, gallo pinto and toast with herbed cream cheese.

My huevos rancheros was excellent. Loaded with red peppers and onions, spicy sauce, the egg is on the bottom of the bowl. Natilla is sour cream (in the small black bowl). 

Lance said his omelette was very good and just the right size. As usual, we can never finish the pinto - it’s so filling.

We’ll definitely return again for breakfast and lunch. There’s an attached garden shop but I haven’t been in it.

Click on images to enlarge.

Doka Estate Costa Rica Coffee Tour and Plantation

The other day we decided to visit the Doka Estate Coffee Plantation on the slopes of Poás volcano. They offer five different tours and we chose the “coffee tour experience”.

Here’s is our driving route to Doka:

As you can see, it is not very far from where we live.

Entrance.

Different brewed coffees to sample while waiting for tour to begin.

Restaurant.

Mural

We had an excellent bilingual tour guide and our group was small. We started out at an area where coffee plants were growing and learned about seeds, coffee varieties, growing habits and coffee production. We then moved on to the processing plant.

Old wooden oxcart.

Beans drying in the sun.

Different types of processed beans.

We purchased coffee in the gift shop.

There’s a butterfly garden.

Excellent chocolate.

The Doka estate is a full production coffee plantation and has been in operation since 1940. As residents who are surrounded by coffee and sugar cane fields, we found this tour so informative and well done. The setting is beautiful.

Click on images to enlarge.

Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - February 2023

 During February, visits to this blog were received from the following 9 countries:

From the time I started to keep track, the total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received remains at 135. Of this number, 13 are non-independent (e.g. the Caribbean Netherlands from which 3 visits have been received).

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The following is a summary of weather for the month in the area where we live:

Not much to observe. February with zero measured rainfall was only a tidbit less than that measured in January. High and low temperatures were in the usual range in the area where we live. Several days were accompanied by relatively high winds but all of this is the norm during the "dry season".

As an aside, I might note that we felt a 5.2 magnitude earthquake in the early morning of February 18. It was nowhere near serious. But, it was enough to wake us up.

Click on images to enlarge.