This week I am feeling very privileged, we have just returned from 2 weeks of wildlife-spotting in Costa Rica, a tiny country sadwiched between Panama and Nicaragua in Central America. It is famous for its National Parks, rainforest and wildlife and it did not disappoint! These are just a tiny selection of photos that my talented other half took during the trip.

Let’s start with what CR is most famous for…. the sloths:

And who can resist the monkeys (Spider, Squirrel, Howler and White Faced Capuchin):

The Coati (we mistook these for raccoons the first time we saw them), we mostly saw them running along the ground, long tails held high but this is a rare shot of them in the trees:

The Racoons – this mumma really held her own against a troop of greedy Capuchin monkeys, it was hilarious to see them scatter when she barked at them 🙂

Agouti and White-tailed Deer:

The oh-so-colourful birds….

Toucans:

The Scarlet Macaws:

The comical Kurasow, his “song” sounded more like a 40-a-day smoker getting out of bed and he had a bad case of bed-hair too 🙂 :

The gorgeously cute hummingbirds:

We spent 2 days watching what we thought were “micro-humingbirds”, just 2-3 cm long until I finally managed to capture a very fuzzy photo and we discovered it is a type of moth – a hummingbird hawk-moth no less… Thank you Google for clearing that one up! 🙂

More water fowl and flycatchers than I can name….

The Crocs and Caymans:

The Iguanas, Lizards and Snakes:

The Frogs:

The Butterflies and Caterpillars:

 

The Spiders and Insects:

The Bats:

And of course, I cannot end this post without including some of the beautiful scenery…

I am itching to use these images to make art but really must finish writing the tutorials for the bag-making class, if I let myself get side-tracked now they will not be ready for the inaugural class in June. My New Year’s resolution is not to look at these photos again until the first drafts of the tutorials are complete. I’m not very good at keeping NY resolutions 😉

Thank you for indulging me in a meander through these photos, I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I do and that you have a very happy and creative 2018!

 

We have just returned from an amazing 2 week tour of Rajasthan in north-west India, what an incredible part of the World! If you have not been, it is definitely one for your bucket list.  The people are so beautiful and (especially the ladies) colourful , the food was out of this world (my other half was in his element eating curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day!), the wildlife was amazing, the culture, history and melting pot of religions were all real eye-openers. It is rare that I return home feeling a more rounded person for my experiences on a holiday but I can honestly say India had that effect, it was a real adventure for both the mind and soul.

I think the photos speak for themselves….

The wildlife, most of these photos were taken on Jeep Safari in Ranthambore National Park, the main draw to this park is the tigers, we saw plenty of other wildlife and even tiger paw prints but no tigers.

The monkeys stole my heart, they are so comical and child-like in their expressions and behaviours, I defy anyone not to love them:

This little chap managed to scale up my leg and then the sleeve of the jacket tied around my waist to make sure he got his share of the food!

And of course all the wonderful, beautiful, friendly people:

This chap was feeding dried chillis into a grinder to make chilli power, the air was thick with chilli dust that made me cough and my eyes stream but they guys who worked in the shop seemed to be unaffected:

This chap was throwing pots on a wheel that was set in motion by placing a long stick into an indentation in the wheel’s surface and levering it around, once the wheel was up to speed he threw the ball of clay into the centre and had until the wheel lost its momentum to make his pots – here he is making the third and final pot after setting the wheel in motion. Having thrown pots on a foot-propelled wheel, I can appreciate just how difficult this was but he made it look effortless!

The people and animals on India’s roads were a shock for the uninitiated (me), first of all there really aren’t any rules for the car/bus/truck drivers, it is a bit like being on the road where everyone is a learner driver, the lane markings on the road are just for decoration, no one follows them; if there are markings for 3 lanes, their will be 5-6 lines of traffic crawling along them, with vehicles weaving in and out and the only indication being a honk of the horn, as if to say, “I am right here and you’d better get out of my way”.  Added to that you have all manner of livestock wandering about, pigs, cows and dogs and people driving elephants, goats and camels down the road too. We were surprised not to see any serious accidents or more road kill (there was less than I see on the UK roads).

And finally a few photos of historical monuments, temples and landscapes:

Thank you for making it the bottom of the page and indulging my memories of India, I hope you enjoyed it and I have inspired you to visit this wonderfully diverse country.  I promise the next post will be more textile related!