Just Chillin'

A man stands in a storefront in downtown San Jose, Costa Rica. Evidence of the trademark "Pura Vida!" (Pure Life!) lifestyle throughout Costa Rica is the sight of (mostly older) men standing in doorways or in front of stores for hours on end. Many of those I met were old friends who hang out every day together and simply love to chat with people passing by.


Local men stand in front of a small general store in Boquete, Panama. For anyone, local or gringo aside, who is friendly and willing to chat, they will talk your ear off, giving tips for traveling in the area or stories about Boquete life in the past.





— Christopher

Pigeons Everywhere

Pigeons take flight over people relaxing in the Plaza of Culture in downtown San Jose, Costa Rica. I have to be ready for whatever happens, so I always leave my camera on. I was able to catch the pigeons take off en masse above all of the people lounging in the plaza during the lunch hour because my camera was hanging from my shoulder. This was shot while walking through the city on my way back from an assignment. All I did was turn around and pull the trigger.


Pigeons surround a couple sitting in the Plaza of Culture in San Jose. Once the birds find someone with food, they all swarm to the source.


A father watches his daughter feed some pigeons in the Plaza of Culture in San Jose.


— Christopher

Homeless in San Jose

From time to time, I snapped shots like this while walking back to the office after an assignment. People sitting or sleeping in doorways and under roof overhangs is a common sight. This area had virtually no pedestrian traffic, so it is a quiet place for some to rest. During the rainy season, any type of cover will do for those with no place to go.


— Christopher

Costa Rica Street Photography

The next few posts will be of everyday scenes from my experience working in downtown San Jose, Costa Rica. Most, if not all, of these photos are candid shots that were taken from about hip level while simply walking through the city — slice-of-life moments. The goal is to capture people in a state of mind that is not influenced by their knowledge of camera or photographer.

In this photo, a man stands under a train tressel bridge near the Tico Times newspaper.



— Christopher

La Sabana Park

La Sabana Park is the largest park in San Jose and is located on the West side of the city. It provides a pleasant setting for runners, friends taking a stroll and for those taking it easy on their lunch break. Surrounded by the loud, busy highways that lead out of the city, La Sabana is a center of quiet and calm for those who want to read the paper, feed the birds, or just sit.

The Basilica

Our Lady of Los Angeles Basliica is located southeast of San Jose in the old capital city of Cartago, Costa Rica and is one of the most visited sites in the Central Valley. Since being partially destroyed by an earthquake, the basilica, which was built in 1639, was restored and constitutes a unique mix of colonial and 19th century Byzantine architecture.

This Basilica is also home to Costa Rica's second largest pipe organ.

Circus Festival in San Jose

Performer Rodolfo Castillo, 27, of San Jose, balances a juggling club on his chin while attempting a time record Sunday at the Circus and Alternative Arts Festival in San Jose. The three-day festival ended Sunday with juggling, balancing and various other competitions.


— Christopher

Ping Pong At Lunch

Nothing like a good old game of ping pong at lunch time. After shooting photos of Veritas film school students on a movie set, I got Chinese food for lunch. In the back were three ping pong tables. This man looked like he plays here every day. He had this intense look every time he hit the ball. He didn't give me his name.


— Christopher

Monteverde Weekend 1

Julie, left, and Randi Hutchins, a student teacher from Colorado, read outside of our cozy little cabana that we stayed in for the weekend at Monteverde. From the room, on the property of Cabanas La Predera, you can see the Gulf of Nicoya in the distance on the Pacific Coast (see reflection in left window). For only $55 per night for four people, the stay was just what we needed: peace...and...quiet. Not to mention walking trails through the woods, two wonderful family dogs and beautiful gardens all around.


The outside of our place at Cabanas La Pradera in Monteverde, Costa Rica.


The four of us had plenty of space between the two bedrooms — one with three beds and the other with a queen — two bathrooms and the full-size kitchen.

Las Lajas, Panama

Words can not adequately describe the Las Lajas experience...

Panama: Part 2

On the first day in Boquete, Panama, Tico Times reporter, Manuel Valdes, and I spent about 7 hours exploring, interviewing sources and meeting local residents (ex-pat and native).


First stop: Paradise Gardens, owned by British ex-pats Paul and Jenny Saban. They started developing the property two years ago so they could turn it into a sanctuary for the endangered animals they rescue and breed. Today it is a thriving botanical-like garden with various species of macaw, owls and monkeys, not to mention the tent with dozens of species of orchid.


As soon as we arrive, Maysie, a 6-month-old howler monkey, greets us on the porch. She is friendly and full of energy, pouncing on our heads if we get too close.


We walk a little farther down the path and find more baby monkeys (without diapers on). The macaws and cockatoos start to squawk. The Sabans provide a home for hyacinth, scarlet (below) and green-wing macaws, as well as a few types of cockatoos, like the molackan cockatoo (above).




I get the stare-down from the green-wing macaw (above).

The Sabans allow visitors to meander through the property for $5 per person. Paul says they may get about 20 people per day during the peak travel season, which starts in January, but they also work with local schools to educate students on wildlife conservation.



— Christopher

Panama: Part 1

Finally across the border into Panama, it takes another hour to get to David. However, we have to stop once or twice more for police and guards to check our passports and documents — the ones they checked at the actual border. Gotta be sure those innocent looking Americans aren't up to anything like smuggling an unclaimed duffel bag of greater than $10,000 into Panama, right?

From David we catch a Boquete-bound bus from the other side of the same central bus station at which we were left by the Tracopa bus. It's only $1.40 per person — they use dollars and balboas — for an hour-long ride into the mountains on probably the longest and straightest two-lane road we'll ever see. Something interesting we notice here is that, possibly because we're out in the countryside, but possibly because we're out of Costa Rica, the houses are not connected, there are no 8-foot fences with gates, and they actually have property — large front lawns with grass. Even in David.


Riding this bus takes me back to elementary school. It's an old yellow school bus that was converted to a commuter bus by installing a rear door and hand rails in the ceiling. It feels, sounds and smells like an old Blue Bird school bus back home.

We ask the driver where to get off just in time for our stop near the roadside Mexican restaurant. Our hostel, Valle Primavera, is just down the street in a quiet part of town about an 8-minute walk to downtown.


It gets dark at around 6 p.m., so when we get to our room the geckos are out. They're all over the porch light cover and a few are in the room and on the bed. We have seen only a few types of gecko in Costa Rica and Panama — nearly 1,200 species of gecko exist in the world.


A cozy bed and a cute critter are a nice welcome to Panama after 9 hours on a bus.

Road to Panama: Part 3

In the fertile Southern Zone of Costa Rica, the road is lined with enormous pineapple farms. They seem to reach the base of the mountains.


It's time for lunch in Buenos Aires, Costa Rica. We get a half-hour to rest and eat in the mid-day sun. Typical buffet options are rice, black beans, pineapple or watermelon slices, chicken or beef, vegetable salad or potatoes. It only costs about $3 for a plateful and a drink.


Julie chats with friend Ian Phelps during the lunch stop in Buenos Aires. Only about four more hours until the destination — Boquete, Panama.


We arrive at the Costa Rica-Panama border after about six and a half hours on the bus, only to stand in three different lines for about an hour. One to leave Costa Rica. Another to buy a tourist visa for Panama. And one more to enter Panama. Apparently the system has not yet been streamlined. Maybe it's an excuse to get foreigners to buy more snacks and things from the poor vendors. While in line, a woman forces you to pay for a $1 sticker, which she fastens to one side of your tourist visa, only to have the immigration officer rip that half off for her records.

Almost there.

Road to Panama: Part 2

Bus passengers take a break at a rest stop in Costa Rica along the Interamerican Highway en route to Panama Oct. 12.

The bus takes us from San Jose and winds through mountain passes and through river valleys along the Inter-American Highway. We pass by numerous villages and homes with small family-run stores that offer snacks for travelers, but this one has ample room for the 40-foot tour bus to park and let us off. We stretch, take a bathroom break or buy a snack and are on our way as fast as we got there.


Corn, peppers and tomatoes at the rest stop along the Interamerican Highway en route to Panama. Most of the stores and fruit and vegetable stands one may encounter display their produce in bins out in the open. Many vendors hang bananas and bags of onions from the ceiling.


— Christopher

The Road to Panama: Part 1

Early-morning start: This past weekend, Chris, Julie and fellow Global Student Teaching student and Wisconsin native, Ian Phelps, took a nine-hour bus ride from San Jose, Costa Rica to Boquete, Panama. The purpose was partially for Tico Times work and partly for vacation. The bus left around 7:30 a.m.

It's important to buy snacks and drinks before squeezing ourselves into the 55-passenger motor coach for half a day. Therefore, a balanced diet of Gatorade, coffee and cookies would have to suffice until lunch.

Above, Ian stocks up at the Tracopa bus station in San Jose.


Old or abandoned buildings are scattered throughout San Jose. The ride out of the city takes half an hour to 45 minutes because of urban sprawl and traffic congestion.


By the time we've settled into our seats and prepared for the long journey, the scenery changes. Most of the rest of Costa Rican landscape consists of small towns and coffee and fruit farms. We do, however, travel through a large river valley and a mountain pass.

Costa Rica's First Referendum

Residents of Puriscal, Costa Rica sit along the sidewalk downtown. Oct. 7 in this rural town about an hour from San Jose, like most towns across the country, felt like any other Sunday. The only difference was that many of the residents went to the school to vote for or against CAFTA after church.


Here, a woman searches for her name in the voter list at the polling station Sunday in Puriscal. More than 1.4 million Costa Ricans turned out to vote for the free-trade agreement with the United States. That is more than 60 percent participation in the first referendum in the nation's history.


Puriscal resident Jose Adrian Delgado, 42, places his vote Sunday at a polling station in Puriscal. About 7,200 residents voted in this rural town outside of San Jose.


— Christopher

CAFTA Vote Sunday

A driver sits on the roof of his car while others stand in the middle of Second Avenue in downtown San Jose Costa Rica Thursday to watch a rally for the "yes" campaign. People for the approval of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) blocked the main street for more than an hour around lunch time to voice their favor for the free-trade pact that will be put to a vote Sunday in the country's first ever referendum.

The gathering, which some simply considered a traffic nightmare that worsened the already messy transportation situation in the city, was a last-ditch effort by the "yes" campaign to swing opinions and rally voter turn out.


Student body president Ricardo Solis is the leader of an anti-CAFTA campaign at the University of Costa Rica.

Recent poll results released by Costa Rica's La Nacion newspaper Oct. 3 revealed that 55% of the more than 1,200 Costa Rican polled were against CAFTA, while only 43% said the will vote yes. Many attribute the declining support for the agreement to the recent scandal involving leaked emails between high-ranking government officials who proposed questionable campaign tactics.

— Christopher

Scotiabank, San Jose

A window washer dangles nearly ten floors above Paseo Colon while he cleans the Scotiabank building Tuesday in downtown San Jose, Costa Rica. Scotiabank is now the largest private bank in Costa Rica after recently acquiring and completing an integration with Corporacion Interfin in San Jose.


— Christopher Huber

Calm in the Orosi Valley

Children play in the street and business goes on as usual Thursday in the quiet, rural town of Orosi, Costa Rica. The Orosi Valley, in the county of Cartago, is a lush, fertile area full of coffee plantations and various other crops. Some consider the Orosi valley the most beautiful valley in Costa Rica.


Two girls try to gain their balance on a bicycle while riding down the street in downtown Orosi.

Anti-CAFTA in Paradise

As the Oct. 7 referendum approaches, anti-Central American Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) sentiment is spreading to the hills across the Costa Rican landscape. It quite literally is written in the land in a town called Paraiso (Paradise).

— Christopher

CAFTA Graffiti

A man walks past a wall near the Legislative Assembly building in downtown San Jose, Costa Rica Tuesday. Many walls around the government buildings are covered with mostly anti-Central American Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) messages — this one stating "Mesoamerica (Central America) in a fight."

Costa Rican voters will decide the fate of the extremely controversial trade pact with the United States in a referendum Oct. 7.

Cemeteries

Tres Rios Cemetery with the city of Tres Rios in the distance. Cemeteries throughout Latin America consist of tombs built above ground. Hundreds of the tiled tombs are adorned with flowers, crosses and statues of Jesus or the Virgin Mary.


Rows of tombs in the Tres Rios Cemetery in Tres Rios, Costa Rica.


— Christopher