pt.2

Just for the sake of cuteness, here's a couple more.

Estella

The adorable Estella celebrated her first birthday this past weekend, and I was lucky enough to photograph it. Unfortunately my iphoto spontaneously freaked out and deleted 200 pictures, so I lost a lot of great shots....but here are the some photos that the technology gods decided to show mercy towards.

Forests and Arcades

I recently spent a weekend in Santa Cruz, roaming the beautiful forests of Felton and revisiting some old favorite spots.

Pacific-Corcovado

There's no way to fully explain Corcovado. I could list the dangerous animals that lurk from both the jungle and ocean (jaguars, bull sharks, crocodiles, and a rogue rotweiller), or I could try and describe the absolute impossibility of following an unmarked jungle trail for 24 hours, but I think the overall experience is basically untransferable. Essentially it was the most radical weekend I've ever had, and even the memory of it seems more like one of those adventure dreams that seem to stretch over many nights.

There are four species of monkeys in Corcovado, and within the first two hours we had seen them all. The capuchins proved to be the most friendly (in fact we ended up in the middle of a...barrel of them). 

There's nothing like the sunset after navigating a current and bull-shark ridden river. Seriously.

The only other people on the track back were spotted once or twice, however they were unfortunately unavailable when we emerged from the jungle and realized that the collectivo (read: cattle car) wasn't running and had to stay the night in a cabina (read: tent). 

Looking backwards. For miles. 

Pacific-Panama

Panama City seems to exist somewhere between happening urban center and crumbling old village. We stayed in Casco Viejo, a picturesque area that contains the mayors house, tons of old apartments and cafes, as well as holes in the street and abandoned churches. The more urban part of Panama 

City was more impenetrable--being used to exploring european cities, we spent quite a few hot hours searching for a city center or square, only to give up and end up in a mall. 

Santa Catalina proved to be the exact opposite of this. Not only were we essentially the only tourists, we soon became the entertainment for the evening (I promise we were just walking to around). An absolutely tiny town, most of the locals depending on the daily bus to bring them mail and basic food items from neighboring towns. There was also a daily futbol game on the water before sunset, and we quickly found that the best way to spend an evening was watching the game, beer in hand, before retiring to our three dollar a day cabina and collapsing on a hammock.  

Sunrise

Sometimes its worth piling on blankets and sitting on the deck in below freezing weather.

Thanksgiving

I still have tons more Central America pictures that I need to post, but for right now here's something more current. Late fall in Southern Utah is absolutely stunning, and as this year beckoned no early snow we were able to do a couple nice hikes around Zion.

                            

 These last two are actually from Coral Pink Sands state park on the border of Utah and Arizona.

 Sunrise near the St. George airport.

"Why have just one?"

Pacific-Manuel Antonio

Manuel Antonio claims to be the most visited national park in Costa Rica--a feat that creates questionable bragging rights and visible consequences. We were lucky enough to visit during the rainy season, and a not very rainy one at that, meaning that number of tourists was relatively low.

These guys were everywhere, alongside capuchin monkeys and tropical raccoons. 

The exit of the park was flanked by a shallow river where men with boats offered to ferry you across for a low fee, thereby protecting you from the apparent multitude of crocs in the waters. After we declined such a generous offer they admitted that the crocs were only way upstream and of no threat whatsoever. The impact of intense tourism was pretty clear with such entrepreneurial businesses popping up everywhere.

This macaw wasn't actually in the park, but close enough for it to count. 

Mariposa

Besides having a very clichéd love of butterflies, mariposa is one of my favorite spanish words. Here are some butterflies from central america.

Red.White.Black

Just to break up any potential monotony of nature or central america, here are some recent shots of Natasha. She's among the most artistic people I know, and her aesthetic eye (as well as make-up skills) help create professional sets out of any location.