Ferry Ride to Delos Island

/ Ed Armstrong
The small island of Delos is one of the most important archeological sites in all of Greece. We saw kinds of artifacts from the Greeks.

Sections from various columns have been collected and work is being done to better understand the findings.

These lionesses are some of the most well-known sculptures in Delos.

I thought this lioness was impressive!

Stray cats seem to be everywhere in Greece. This group of cats in Delos seemed content to watch all the people walk by.

This sculpture of a left hand is important and our group leader requested a photo to document it. It is stored at the museum on Delos. The right hand is currently stored at another museum.

This foot is also on display in the Delos museum.

The Delos museum contained a number of sculptures.

I thought some of the sculptures were particularly impressive!

As we were walking through the Delos ruins, this friendly lizard stopped by to say hello!

Within a few feet of the previous lizard, this guy was running around. I have never seen a lizard with such a colorful design on its back!

The remanent of the “stucco” colors shows that the buildings created in Delos were not drab colors. Different reds and yellows that these buildings were quite colorful.

These two enclosed “windows” are where lighted candles would be placed to light up a room. Remnants of the wall coloring can also be seen.

I thought this mosaic was especially impressive!! The detail was amazing!

I was also quite amazed at the intricacy with this mosaic!

Ferry Ride to Mykonos!!

/ Ed Armstrong
Today was a very fun day!! We started off with a long ferry ride (about 6 hours) from Athens and headed to Mykonos. I love the colors of the Greek flag and it was flying beautifully from the back of our ferry!

We were on a huge boat and the engines really churned up the water behind the boat!

Our first stop was Syros and it was a cute town. I loved seeing the whitewashed buildings and the blue domes in the community!

Our second stop was Tinos. As with Syros, it was beautiful to see the while buildings throughout the community. It was a beautiful and quaint town.

Our third stop was Mykonos. I loved seeing the vibrant colors throughout the town. These buildings were across the street from our hotel.

This was a church near the main square. I loved the white buildings and blue domes. They were beautiful to look at.

Jackie Kennedy Onassis made this building very famous! They named it after her after she visited.

There were small chapels throughout the streets as we walked through downtown Mydonos.

I thought these waterfront buildings in Mykonos were very picturesque! The afternoon sun highlighted the different colors.

We met up as a group to walk to a restaurant for dinner at this beautiful church.

These windmills along the beach were interesting to see. They no longer spin in order to prevent injuries to people walking near them.

The Aegean Sea is beautiful as it splashes along the rocks near the windmills.

The paint jobs in Mykonos are spectacular! I love the brilliant colors!!

Green was used less commonly, but it provided a fantastic contrast with the while building color!

This red door captivated my attention! Mykonos is such a beautiful town!!

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!