Michael Landon's Former Costa Rican House -- Theme Day for "Triangles"

The worldwide Daily Photo theme for April 1 is "triangles."  When I learned of the theme, I immediately thought of this triangular house in a valley near San Jose.

This house used to belong to the late Michael Landon, the TV star of Bonanza and Little House on the prairie.  I am sure Michael Landon enjoyed his time in the quiet, relaxing atmosphere of his Costa Rican retreat, with pleasant temperatures year round and a lush, green landscape.

This week we are showing photos of the Sydney Opera House  on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

To see how other City Daily Photo blogers have interpreted the theme of "triangles," click on this link.

Looking down a waterfall

The trails at La Paz Waterfall Gardens get very close to the waterfalls, including this trial that allows visitors to stand right next to where the water rushes down and crashes to the pool below.

You can tell that the rain the fed this waterfall was very recent, as there is a slight, darker hue from soil runoff in the left top of the photo.

The power of this small waterfall illustrates how Costa Rica, a country of about 4 million people, can get almost all of its electricity from clean, renewable hydro power.  Costa Rica is on track to be the world's first carbon neutral country within about 10 years.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing some additional photos of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco.  Two weeks ago we showed the main prayer hall and the exterior facade.  This week we are showing the basement fountain/feet washing area and some of the people enjoying a visit to the mosque.

Giant leaves in the cloud forest

At the La Paz Waterfall Gardens it is possible to look down on the cloud forest as it plunges into the ravine through which the river and waterfalls slice through the jungle.

This is similar to the views of the cloud forest available from canopy walks in places like Monteverde.

A couple of weeks ago I showed a photo of the giant leaves of the elephant's umbrella plant.  This photo shows how the plant is well adapted to compete for the rain and sunshine with the blanket of other jungle plants that cover the forest floor.

This week we are showing photos of the people of Ethiopia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Waterfall

Yesterday I showed a stream in a location that is just above this waterfall.   La Paz Waterfall Gardens has several waterfalls on their property, with trails through the cloud forest jungle in the mountains above San Jose.  We were there on a rainy day and the streams and waterfalls had a lot of water.

The weather in the northwest Costa Rican province of Guanacaste where Tamarindo is located is much different than the weather in the Central Valleys.  We have a long dry season from November to April.  The rain in the Central Valleys is sufficient for Costa Rica to generate more than 95% of its electricity from hydro power.

This week we are showing photos of the people of Ethiopia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Large Bird

We took a short drive up from San Jose to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, about an hour's drive up from the hotel where we stayed near the San Jose's Juan Santamaria International Airport.  La Paz Waterfall Gardens has walking trails past waterfalls, and also exhibits of tropical plants and animals.

This photo shows one of the birds in one of the aviaries. Sorry, but I checked in my book of Costa Rica birds and could not find the exact species that this is.  It looks to be from the vulture family.

This week photos of the architecture of Ronda, Spain, posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Cows it the mist

This is a closer view of the cows in the foggy mountain pasture that I showed yesterday.  It appears that these cattle in the highlands of the Central Valley area of Costa Rica are guernsey, dairy cattle.  Because of the different weather in the Central Valley, the cattle are different.  In the coastal area of northwest Costa Rica where Tamarindo is located, the cattle are primarily brahman, as they tolerate the warm weather.

This week photos of the architecture of Ronda, Spain, posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Foggy Mountain Pasture

This is a photo of a foggy pasture on the slopes of a mountain outside of San Jose.  The Central Valley and mountain areas of Costa Rica get a lot more rain than the northwest province of Guanacaste where Tamarindo is located.  We have a sunny, warm and dry season from November until April, but in the mountains around Sam Jose it is common to experience rain and moderate temperatures in the 70's (F) (22-26 C) year round.

News about Crime in Latin America:  AMERIPOL, an organization of police agencies in Latin America, held a conference recently in San Jose.  The authorities addressed the fact that the homicide rate throughout the hemisphere increased by 12% from 2000 to 2010.

Costa Rica has a low crime rate compared to its neighbors, and its homicide rate dropped by another 15% from 2011 to 2012, and is dropping some more in 2013.  The Costa Rican Security Minister was quoted in the newspaper as saying that the reason for Costa Rica's success was gun control.  It seized 3,000 guns during the last year.  He said that 78% of homicides are committed with guns, and if people don't have guns they solve disputes with words or, at worst, fights, but not shooting.

The above comment is not intended to enter the debate about gun control in the USA.  I am just sharing the news about what has happened in Costa Rica.

This week photos of the architecture of Ronda, Spain, posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Pasture lands

This is another pastoral scene of the mountains and valleys of central Costa Rica. I took this photo between Monteverde and Arenal. You can see why Monteverde is known for its cheese, as this is excellent territory for dairy cows.

If you didn't know that this was from Costa Rica, I bet you would not look at this photo and think it was taken in Central America.

As I have mentioned in my posts a long time ago, Monteverde was settled by American Quakers who fled the USA in the late 1940's because they feared that they were going to be drafted for the Korean War, which was against their religion. They were attracted to Costa Rica because Costa Rica abolished its military. They settled in Monteverde and went into the business of making cheese, which is sold throughout Costa Rica.

Cheese was good product because it could be transported over the mountainous terrain. When they first started the business, they used for cheese molds the round cardboard Quaker Oats containers.

This week we are showing photos of Ek Balam, a unique but lesser-known Mayan site in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, on our Viva la Voyage site.

Mountains and valleys

Much of Costa Rica is mountainous. A spine of mountains runs the length of this narrow country, dividing the Caribbean and Pacific sides of the country. This is a photo that shows typical terrain of the mountains and valleys that form the central part of Costa Rica.

Although in Costa Rica you are never far from the ocean -- in fact, never far from two oceans -- elevations reach as high as 3,820 meters (12,532 ft.). The mountains that run the length of the country make road construction difficult. For those of us on the Pacific Coast, such as Tamarindo, we are grateful for the mountains because they keep any hurricanes over on the Caribbean side, as the hurricanes cannot cross the high mountains.

The higher elevations of the central highlands makes for pleasant temperatures all year around. As you can see from the green mountains and valleys, this area gets abundant rainfall. The combination of mountains, valleys and adequate rainfall also combines to provide terrain suitable for dams and hydroelectric power. Costa Rica gets almost all of its electricity from dams. This helps make possible Costa Rica's goal of being the world's first carbon neutral nation by 2021.

We are showing photos of Ek Balam, a unique but lesser-known Mayan site in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, on our Viva la Voyage site.

San Jose Cemetery

This is what I think is an unusual aerial photo of a crowded cemetery in San Jose, Costa Rica's capital and only major city. I invite you to click on the photo to enlarge it, and you will see that it is indeed a jam packed collection of above-ground tombs and gravestones.

I took this photo from the small plane that we flew from Tortuguero to San Jose, which I showed yesterday. My photo tomorrow will continue the air travel across the country from the Caribbean coast to the local airport in Tamarindo on the Pacific coast.

My wife and I sometimes visit cemeteries when we travel. They are a window into local culture. The monuments are art.

Do you have a favorite cemetery? Ours is the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires. No other cemetery comes close. It is a city of sculpture. It most famous occupant, Eva Peron, has one of the more modest family mausoleums.

San Jose has a metropolitan area of more than 2 million, which is approximately half of the population of the entire country. The next largest city in Costa Rica is only about 100,000. While tourism is the number one industry in the country, San Jose is not a major tourist destination. After all, ecotourism and beaches are the attraction for visiting Costa Rica. Many tourists fly into the airport in San Jose and head to the surrounding central valleys, or north to Monteverde or Arenal, or over to the Pacific Coast, which is the most popular tourist destination.

The greater San Jose area is a popular location for retirees from the USA and Canada because it has a wonderful climate all year because its elevation. San Jose has attracted major investments by U.S. computer companies who have located manufacturing facilities there due to the lower cost of operations and the availability of a well-educated, skilled workforce. Some people refer to it as the "silicon jungle."

Angels of mercy for earthquake victims

I am offering this photo of the angel on the top of Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, the most sacred site in Costa Rica, as a remembrance to the victims of the large earthquake at the end of last week and to thank the relief efforts of those who provide emergency services to the victims.

An update to the news that I posted yesterday about the Costa Rican earthquake is that the Red Cross has a confirmed death toll of 18, and has reduced the number of missing from 89 to 23. The major foreign embassies have reported that none of their citizens are among the missing.

The Costa Rican government has issued emergency declarations for several areas in order to speed relief and assistance to earthquake victims.

The areas subject to the emergency declarations do not include any areas of Guanacaste, the northwest region of the country in which Tamarindo and the international airport in Liberia are located. I mention this because I noticed that yesterday quite a few people landed on this website by doing Google searches regarding whether the earthquake affected areas such as Tamarindo, the airport in Liberia, Papagayo, or other beach resort areas, and the answer is that it did not. The earthquake could not even be felt in Tamarindo.

Hopefully visitors will not change their travel plans to come to Costa Rica because of the earthquake, as the country particularly needs the economic benefits of tourism now.

The Bank of Costa Rica has set up an emergency relief fund to help victims. The Bank will match any donations to the fund received before January 23, up to $450,000 USD. Information about how to donate money is available on the Bank's website.

Costa Rica has an emergency preparedness government agency, but the country does not have a military. It therefore does not have some of the heavy military equipment that is used by some other countries for logistics for disaster relief. The United States and Columbia have loaned to Costa Rica four Blackhawk-style helicopters, which are larger than any helicopters available locally. They have been used to deliver emergency supplies and to evacuate people and bodies. Heavy earth-moving equipment has been clearing landslides that have blocked roadways in areas cut off by the earthquake.

The newspaper carried a story that the first news and information about the earthquake came not from the traditional media of newspapers, television or radio, but was transmitted by ordinary citizens on the internet. The newspaper noted that networking sites on the internet have transformed regular citizens into participants, not merely recipients, of the dissemination of news during times of emergency.

Tico family patriarch

This is the patriarch of the Tico family at whose house we enjoyed some refreshments during a raft float trip on the Penas Blancas River in central Costa Rica. He was in his 90's. His brother, also in his 90's, also helped to host our group of approximately 30 American tourists. Several generations of his family were active in serving the group, with the women, not surprising, being the most active in hosting and serving guests.

He had a charming, warm, friendly family. We were pleased that rather than just floating past his farm, we could walk around and see how a typical local farming family lived, and could also help the family through the fees that the river trip operators paid to provide the rest stop at the farm.

Michael Landon's house

This triangular shaped house, visible from a distance in yesterday's photo, was owned by the late Michael Landon, according to the guide who accompanied us on a tour of the Central Valley. Michael Landon, of course, was the star of the Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven TV series.

Michael Landon died in 1991 at the age of 54 of pancreatic cancer. Despite that early passing, he was on U.S. network TV series for 28 years, which is an accomplishment few actors have achieved. He was also frequently the TV host for the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California on New Year's Day each year.

The fact that U.S. TV and movie stars have found retreats in Costa Rica speaks well of the country. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it recently became known that Mel Gibson has a house a little south of Tamarindo. The local papers in Costa Rica carried photos of Britney Spears on the beach with her family while they were vacationing using Mel Gibson's house.

Orosi Valley

This is a view of one of the valleys in the central part of Costa Rica, not far from the capital of San Jose. The central valleys are popular both for tourists and for retirees from the U.S., who are attracted to the ideal year-round weather, lower cost of living, and availability of health care and other services.

There is something special about this valley, however. Tomorrow I will feature a photo of the unusual, triangular-shaped house located in the lower center of this photo (which you can detect only if you click and enlarge the photo). For viewers of old TV series, I'll give you a bonanza of a hint of whose house it used to be: it is obviously not a little house on the prairie.

Prayers for healing

People come to the spring alongside the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels to pray for healing of ailments and injuries. Many of them will leave behind a token or medallion, called a milagro, of the body part or organ that is injured or diseased. The church has displayed the milagros of body parts in glass cases in the basement of the church near the spring that I showed in yesterday's photo. This is a photo of one section of one of the cases.

The church displays manny of the milagros grouped together, so there might be an entire case of legs, or hearts, etc. I chose this photo because it displayed the greatest diversity of different types of organs or body parts. You will notice the milagros of those praying for help for their legs, feet, eyes, lungs, hands, spine, and more. (I apologize for the reflection in the glass covering the case, but it was unavoidable.)

I don't know about you, but this makes me wonder about the lives of each of the people who left these milagros. How are they and their families doing now?

This is the shrine at the site of the spring next to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels, which I have shown in my posts during the last several days. Visitors walk on the circular ramp shown in this photo. The spring itself feeds water to an area in the shadows of this photo. People will fill containers with the spring water to take home.

The waters of this spring are considered to have the power to cure diseases, injuries or disabilities. Tomorrow I will show what is left behind by people who come to the spring to seek healing.

La Negrita Statue in Basilica

My post the day before yesterday told the story of the peasant girl who found a small figure of a dark skinned Virgin Mary that twice mysteriously returned to the site of its discovery in 1635. The figure is preserved in a case that is high above the altar, surrounded by gold and jewels. The figure is visible in the center of this photo. I realize the quality of the image is not great, but I had to take this photo from a great distance using natural light, as the figure is very high above the altar.

This is the most important church and holy site in the Costa Rica. The church is named Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, or Our Lady of the Angels. The statue is called La Negrita. On August 2 each year, the anniversary of the discovery of the statue in 1635, La Negrita is paraded though the streets of Cartago. Thousands walk the 24 km. (15 miles) from San Jose to Cartago, some carrying crosses or walking part of the way on their knees, which is another similarity to the Basilica for the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where people also make pilgrimages at times on their knees.

I don't know about you, but the impression that I receive is that the simplicity of the La Negrita statue is rather overshadowed by the ornateness of the gold and jewelry of the case in which La Negrita is displayed. The case does, however, certainly communicate that this is something important and cherished.

The gold rays that surround the area where La Negrita is encased are another parallel to the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico, which has rays that surround a much larger image of the Virgin.

Basilica facade

This is the front facade of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Cartago, near San Jose. I posted a photo of the angel on the top of the church the day before yesterday. The site on which this church was built is considered holy for two reasons, the first is the story I will tell below, and the second is a spring with waters that people consider to have the power to cure diseases.

In 1635, an indigenous peasant girl named Juana Pereira found a small dark skinned Virgin Mary on a rock. Twice the virgin was removed and twice it miraculously returned to the rock where it was found. A church was built built on the site of the rock in 1635. The virgin is preserved in a case above the altar, which I will show in my post on the day after tomorrow.

Does the above story sound familiar? Anyone who has been to Mexico City will find parallels to the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe, whose image appeared to a peasant on a cloth in 1531 and is preserved in a basilica built at the spot of the revelation, which is now the second most visited Roman Catholic shrine in the world.

The church in the photo above was built in 1929, replacing an earlier church that was destroyed in an earthquake in 1926. The stone facade was built in a Byzantine style, with Moorish arches.