Climb the Acropolis and See the Parthenon!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Today was absolutely amazing!! We climbed up the Acropolis and then were able to see the Parthenon!! This is absolutely an amazing structure!!

This is an amazing theater on the Acropolis. When it was in use, it had a roof over the structure. I especially liked the arches that were built!

I was amazed at the structure of the columns! They were huge and could support an amazing amount of weight!!

The walls with the columns seemed to stretch “forever.”

These sculptures were across from the Parthenon. The quality of their design was absolutely amazing!!

I was completely amazed at the quality design of the columns and how they were shaped!!

I simply stand amazed at how these enormous columns were built!!

I liked seeing how the columns changed their diameter as you looked up to higher sections of the columns!! Truly amazing designs!!

Everyone loved to see this huge Greek flag!!

I am simply astounded at the intricate design of the columns and support beams!!

These intricate designs were created centuries ago without the use of computer technology. Truly amazing!!

I preferred the lighting on the sculptures from this angle. It is hard to believe they exist, even though I am standing in front of them. Amazing craftsmanship!!

The structure and design are amazing. I wish I could have seen it when it was finished!

This is an outside auditorium near the Parthenon. I was never designed to have a roof. You can see the fancier chairs along the front row for the nobility in the town.

We went inside the nearby museum and saw all kinds of artifacts. I really liked this owl!

This display showed the various types of rocks that were used to create colors for the sculptures and other artwork!!

This shows original artwork on the left that used to be part of the Parthenon. On the right is a plaster of Paris product that shows an image that was removed from the Parthenon by the British and now sits at the British Museum.

I liked this sculpture of a lion!!

I was amazed at this Greek sculpture of a woman!! I especially loved how her hair was designed! Absolutely amazing artwork!!

These sculptures were totally amazing to me!!

The detail in this sculpture were amazing to me!!

Parthenon Day and Night

/ Ed Armstrong
For our welcoming dinner for our first night in Athens we went to a restaurant on a rooftop of a building with a great view of the Parthenon. This view was when we first arrived at the restaurant in the evening.

There was a beautiful Greek flag blowing in the breeze near the restaurant. I love the blue color in the Greek flag!!

We watched the sunset and the lights on the Parthenon were beautiful at night!! Athens is a spectacularly beautiful place!!

Arrival in Athens, Greece!!

/ Ed Armstrong
After flying all night, I landed this morning in Athens, Greece!! One of the most famous sites in the entire world is to see the Parthenon that is located on top of the Acropolis!! It is amazing to see the structures of the columns and other sections that have survived for so many years. Our hotel is located very close to the Parthenon and tomorrow we will have tickets for a more closeup view. I am looking forward to learning more about how it was built so long ago with such precision.

We walked around the Acropolis and were amazed to see all the other projects that were built in the same era.

I thought the arches they built were especially interesting!!

I was amazed to see all the structures that were built by the Greeks!!

For a fee, this guy was very happy to have you stand next to him as he was wearing all his armor. I liked his helmet!!

There were several bands playing around time. I really enjoyed these guys’ music.

There so many artifacts around town!! Drivers zoom past some of them with the hustle and bustle of life.

It was encouraging to see the Greek flag prominently displayed around town!!

This guy is a fomous greek poet.

Massive Rattlesnake!!

/ Ed Armstrong
As I was riding my bike today on the Hawknest Trail at Brown’s Ranch, I encountered this massive diamondback rattlesnake!! This guy was at least 5 feet long and his width at the widest point was quite a bit wider than my mountain bike tires!! He must eat javelina for breakfast to grow to be so large!! He covered the whole trail and there was no room to go around him. He seemed quite content to enjoy laying in the sun. After taking his photo with my cellular phone, I started tossing rocks around him to get him to move off the trail. He did not seem to care or react. Another mountain biker came from the other direction and we both started tossing rocks to get him to move. He was simply not interested! Finally, the other biker found a branch and started moving it on the ground and walked toward the snake. The snake did not like that and slowly moved off the trail. He never made a rattling sound despite all his rattles. Also, he never coiled up in striking position. He was a slowpoke moving off the trail. Once he moved off the trail we could continue riding our bikes. I peddled as hard as I could to go quickly by the snake because he was only a few feet off the trail. He just watched us ride down the trail and was not aggressive toward us. I am just glad that I saw him in time and could easily stop before getting too close!!

Baby Gila Monster!!

/ Ed Armstrong
As I was riding my mountain bike today, I was greeted by a baby Gila Monster!! This is only the second Gila Monster I have seen in the wild and the very first baby. He stopped to look at me, and I stopped to look at him. I had time to get out my phone and take a couple of photos! They sort of waddle when they walk. It is similar to watching a person try to walk while wearing flippers. Their body moves around as they pick up their feet. This cute guy was very fun to watch. After a few minutes, he decided he should move into some brush to not be too obvious. It was such a treat to see such an amazing animal!!

Monkeys, Birds, and Crocodiles!!

/ Ed Armstrong
These spider monkeys were right outside our hotel room. They were not in any type of cage and simply lived in the trees. It was fun to watch them zoom around the branches!!

These guys are fast and never seem to sit still for long!! They seem to be in continuous motion!!

They jump and climb all over the palm trees!!

It is amazing to see the number of birds that thrive in Costa Rica!! We saw this bird along the Tarcoles River.

This birds was starting to rustle his feathers!

Everywhere we looked, we saw different types of birds!!

This bird was hiding down in the vegetation along the river’s edge.

This momma bird was sitting on her eggs. We were close enough to see the light blue color of her eggs!!

Look closely in her mouth and you can see that she caught her dinner!! I am not sure what she caught, but she swallowed the entire animal whole! We could watch her food work its way down her throat!!

This is one of the famous massive crocodiles in the Tarcoles River!! These crocodiles are extremely dangerous!! They and be over 14 feet long and weigh more than 1,000 pounds!!

Here is another massive crocodile closer to the shore. This one is missing is right, front arm from fighting with another massive crocodile in the Tarcoles River!

These horses live in crocodile country but are usually not bothered by the crocodiles. The crocodiles mainly eat fish in the river.

This smaller crocodile was sitting on the river’s edge. We could clearly see the intensity of his jaw and teeth!!

Manuel Antonio National Park!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Manuel Antonio National Park is one of the most famous locations in Costa Rica. There are amazing wildlife in this national park!! However, as a visitor, you do not always see some of the wildlife as they may be hiding or sleeping. Unfortunately, this photo is of very low quality. It was the best I could do photographing a sloth that was quite a ways away in a dark forest. I was excited because this was the first animal that we found as we entered Manuel Antonio National Park. Your cannot see the head, but you can see the sloth hanging down sleeping comfortably.

Fortunately, our wonderful guide Danny had his trusty telescope and he took this fantastic photo with his cellular phone attached to his telescope. With the added magnification, you can much more clearly see this sloth hanging upside down and sound asleep!!

We also said hello to this friendly lizard sitting and this branch near the trail where we were walking.

It was fun to see this frog sitting on this tree!!

A little while later, we found another frog happily sitting on another tree!

We were extremely excited to see a second sloth!! This guy is a male as identified by the dark stripe on the top of his head. He is hunched over facing away from us sleeping soundly.

We discovered this colorful crab down in a revine. He has blue on the top of his back and orange body and legs.

This big iguana seem interested in checking us out!!

This iguana was interesting because of the blue coloring along his back!!

It was interesting to watch these monkeys. The one on the right seems to be sticking his tongue out at the monkey on the left!!

The guy on the left seemed as interested in us as we were in watching him!!

It is amazing to see the monkeys move around so easily high up in the trees!!

This little lizard was very quick!! I was glad I was able to catch him watching us!

The white faced monkeys seem to be a highlight of the national park. These monkeys were like kids zooming in different directions!

This guy looked quite intense!! I think he was looking to get into mischief!!

This guy was hilarious to watch!! He was zooming around from tree to tree, when suddenly he decided to plop down and rest on a branch!!

I enjoyed watching this guy pause and reflect on what he was going to do next!!

I especially enjoyed watching this mother carry the baby monkey on her back!! The little guy seemed to want to tell mom what to do!!

The mom and baby monkey were keeping tabs on everything that was happening around them!!

I was especially excited to discover this sloth!! You could see the fuzzy sloth sound asleep in the trees!!

The beaches within Manuel Antonio National Park are superb!!

The beaches here a refreshing!!

Travel to Manuel Antonio Region!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Today was a big travel day to arrive in the Manuel Antonio region. We said goodbye to everyone in our lodge and loaded up for a big drive. On the way we stopped at these wonderful people’s home and had a tasty snack and drink. The snack was an empanada filled with tasty beans and the drink was an excellent combination of fruit juices. When we arrived in their town, it was in the middle of a huge rainstorm!! I guess that is to be expected when you are visiting a tropical rainforest!!

For lunch, we stopped at this fun restaurant that had an old airplane as part of their decorations!

The inside of the airplane had restaurant seating as well as Costa Rican decorations along the walls. When I entered the plane, there was a boy sitting in the cockpit and I think he truly thought he could fly the plane. It was a fun place to visit!

There were beautiful Costa Rican decorations along the restaurant walls!!

I thought this red frog was especially nice!!

In the evening we went to the top floor of our hotel to watch this amazing sunset!! We are on the Pacific Ocean coast, so it was nice to watch as the sun descended through the clouds, across the coast, and down below the water line of the ocean. After the sunset, we had a lecture about the squirrel monkey that we hope to see tomorrow!

Costa Rica Night Walk!!

/ Ed Armstrong
We had a spectacular sunset as we enjoyed dinner!! Afterwards, we went on a night walk with a local guide. It was amazing to see creatures that thrive at night!!

Our first encounter was a poisonous frog!! Our guide held the frog by the back of his body to avoid the area where poisonous substances are secreted.

Our next encounter was this small snake. Our guide said that this snake was not poisonous. However, I do not like to be too close to snakes!!

This is another view of our friendly snake. I thought it was interesting that he had a white color on part of his head.

Our next encounter was a Costa Rican scorpion. There are a number of different scorpions in Costa Rica. Our guide found this guy in a tree and sort of scooped him into a plant “wrapper.” He carefully opened the wrapper with two rocks so we could see him. This guy was quite a bit larger than most of the scorpions I have seen in Arizona.

This is another view of the same scorpion to show that he glows under a black light.

We next came across this friendly frog. He patiently sat looking at us as we photographed him.

Our next discover was a tarantula sitting on a tree trunk. As long as we kept some distance, he did not seem to mind being photographed. As we walked closer, he moved inside the tree.

We next discovered this amazing spider. She had quite a large web and seemed to be waiting for a large bug to be caught in her web.

We next discovered this frog that was enjoying the night!! He seemed happy to be photographed!

This little guy is the star of the show!! This is Red Eye Tree Frog and he is very famous in Costa Rica!! A photo of this guy is the lead photo for the tour I am on. He is small, but his huge red eyes capture everyone’s hearts!! We were very excited that we were able to find one of these guys!!

Our last night creature was this amazing bug that had two green lights on the front of his head!! When he was getting ready to fly away, he had an orange light start on his abdomen and then he flew away!!

The next morning, I got up at 5:30 am to photograph birds near the lodge. The lodge staff put out fruit on some nearby branches for the birds to eat. I have been infatuated by this bird for the past few days. I love the brilliant orange color and jet black feathers. He moves around quickly, so he is hard to photograph.

I love the gorgeous colors of all the Costa Rican birds!! They are amazing!! Many people in our group have a strong interest in discovering these birds!

The birds really seem to enjoy bananas!!

I really like to blue colors of this bird!!

Brilliant yellow feathers are so gorgeous!!

I really like this bird!! His colors are amazing!!

This cute guy seemed to be quite intrigued with being photographed!!

This rotund guy was very happy enjoying his banana!!

I loved the colors with this bird!!

The multiple colors of this guy were beautiful!!

I thought this yellow and black combination was fantastic!!

This guy was a happy eater!!

Fruit is very popular with the birds!!

Running the River in Costa Rica!!

/ Ed Armstrong
We had an absolutely fantastic time running the river today!! We felt like we were 10 years old as we laughed and splashed through the rapids!! It was so much fun!! I am on the left boat in the front. Everyone has been so wonderful on this trip!!

I am grateful that some of the river guides took photos of everyone as we were paddling and trying not to fall out of our boat!!

This is my favorite photo of our great team!!

Part way through the trip, we stopped at a gorgeous waterfall!! the water was a fantastic temperature!!

We ate fantastic Costa Rican watermelon and pineapple on our break. I am grateful that our guide, Danny, took this photo!!

We went on a hike through the jungle on our way to the river. We are all still dry in this photo. But not for long!!

As we were walking, one of the boat guides saw this owl sitting in a tree near the trail. Fortunately, our guide Danny brought his telescope with the cellular phone attachment to capture this fantastic photo!!

The Costa Rican scenery is so beautiful!!

This small bugs, that almost look like ants are actually termites!! Our guide told us about them and then he picked one up and put it in his mouth. He said it tasted like carrots!! After that, people waited their turn to grab a termite and eat it. So now I can say that I have eaten termites!! Our guide was correct. They actually do taste sort of like carrots!!

The learned about different types of ferns in Costa Rica!! Our guide pick one that was green on the top and silver on the bottom. He showed us that if we put the leaf on our clothes and then taped the leaf that we would have an impression of the fern. I thought it showed up great on my grey pants!!

It rained on us while we were on the river. As we were driving back to the lodge, we could see one place where the original river was on the right, and muddy water was flowing down the mountain and into the river. It was interesting to see such a drastic color change!!

I understand why people that like birds love visiting Costa Rica!! There are all kinds of birds everywhere!!

This guy was sitting in a tree as we drove back into our lodge!!

As we were eating, this amazing iguana started climbing up the stone staircase. He lifted his head and looked around at everything! It is simply amazing to see so many unique things in Costa Rica!!