To live in Costa Rica means walking inside exuberant green forests, cool water streams, nice beaches, impressive waterfalls and awe-inspiring sunrises and sunsets. To capture this beauty, patience and perseverance is needed, along a critical eye to spot great compositions. I am blessed enough that through my hiking and birdwatching trips, many of these places reveal themselves in front my eyes. I hope you enjoy taking in the view from your screen.

One of my favorite scenes are rain forest canopies, specially in the low elevations, where “Botarrama” trees dominate with their broccoli shape. To be honest, I don’t like to eat broccoli, but I really enjoy seeing them overshadow other trees. I have had the pleasure to watch sunrise from an observation tower in Talamanca, well above the canopy. And in the higher elevations, the sub-Paramo vegetation looks very unique compared to the rest of the country.

Another favorite is waterfalls and streams inside the rain forest. The landscape is dominated by the green vegetation, and complemented by the smooth white pattern of water as it moves fast downstream. Just as the scenes look gorgeous, the experience is also wonderful, as many of those vistas are reached through enjoyable hikes through the forest, and the sound of moving water once you reach destination is among the most peaceful events that one can witness.

Finally, sunrise and sunsets combine very well with any kind of landscape. I have watched them from the top of “Cerro de la Muerte”, as well as from beaches and the forest. Red, orange, blue and purple colors fill the sky, as the sun light hits clouds in the atmosphere, sometimes creating kaleidoscopic images in the sky. The possibilities are endless and the art that nature creates this way is exquisite.