Monteverde, Costa Rica: Green Season (Photos from August to November 2014)

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine 

flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, 

while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.” -John Muir

   

   

   

   

   

"Suba las montañas y obtener sus buenas deseas. La paz de la naturaleza 

fluirá en usted como la luz del sol fluye hacia los árboles. Los vientos 

soplarán su frescura dentro de ti, y las tormentas su energía, mientras 

que las preocupaciones caerán lejos de ti como las hojas de otoño." -John Muir

Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica (2014)

     

Butterflies and Miradors in Monteverde & La Fortuna, Costa Rica (2014)

"If you're lucky enough to live in the mountains, you're lucky enough." -Unknown

     

First week in Monteverde, Costa Rica

City Escapes-- Lands End & Redwood Regional Park (April & May 2014)

Spring in California: South to North (2014)

Ojai Meadow Preserve: 

The Road to El Lagartillo, Nicaragua (2013)

Hello, all! I'm a little behind on posting lately, but below are photos of a short backpacking trip from Estelí to the small community of El Lagartillo (near Achuapa), in Nicaragua. Although El Lagartillo is accessibly by a dirt road, the photos below are places you can only see by foot. This area feels pretty magical with the afternoon mist and rain and chantrelle mushrooms growing wild.

One of the places we passed through is Finca Calamina, where a man named Esteban collects and harvest wild coffee with his wife (originally from France, which explains his fondness for wearing a beret). He is an incredible chef, and made us pizzas from his home-built wood burning oven.

During the 1980's U.S. funded Contra War, Sandinistas fled from Estelí into these mountains and fighting often ensued despite the rural isolation. Esteban's brother was killed by contras, yet he is an extremely kind and welcoming man to U.S. foreigners. The area remains very unpopulated, and the main form of transport is by foot or by horse.

Estelí, Nicaragua (2013)

Bay Explorations (2014)

“I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation- a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here. They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every states I visited. 

Nearly every American hungers to move.” 

― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

View towards San Francisco from Berkeley

The Ojai Valley, California (2013)

“When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.” -Wendell Berry, Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community: Eight Essays

THE OJAI VALLEY FROM ABOVE

The Streets of La Habana, Cuba (2012)

Most of these photos were taken in Habana Vieja, the older part of Havana, on a graduate student delegation to Cuba in 2012 with Columbia University School of Social Work. Cuba is a country where time often stands on its own and Havana in particular has a spirit that speaks through the walls and dances in the streets. Despite the on-going embargo that has had a devastating impact on the economy, the Cubans I met were incredibly friendly, welcoming, and above all: full of life.

TURNING A CORNER

Mendocino, California (2012)

I've had the opportunity to travel to Mendocino a few times, thanks to the generosity of the Feeney family. Last year, my friend Allyson founded the non-profit Project 387: a multidisciplinary artist residency on 150 acres of redwoods. Below you'll find a small glimpse of the area, and the landscape that remains largely untouched.

FEENEY FOREST

Zanzibar, Tanzania & Mombasa, Kenya (2009)

Zanzibar and Mombasa are 2 places where trade was common for centuries, along what is often referred to as the Swahili Coast. Although Zanzibar is a popular tourist destination for foreigners (wazungu), older ways of life are still present even in the labrynith-like streets of Stone Town and along the less populated shores.

WOMEN HARVESTING KELP

The Slow Coast & Mt. Diablo (2014)

The following are photographs of day trips to Half Moon Bay, Pescadero, and finally, Mt. Diablo State Park. I use the name Slow Coast unofficially, as it is the name of an organization that supports local artists and farmers living "north of Santa Cruz and south of Half Moon Bay." It is a rare, wild, and undeveloped stretch of California coast where most people live off the land, and it is a truly beautiful place to visit. On the other side of the bay, Mt. Diablo State Park is a dry and rugged landscape despite the paved road that reaches the top of the mountain. The best way to appreciate the park is to hike one of the many trails surrounding the summit, where you can even see a glimpse of the sparkling bay to the west. Part of the mountain is visibly charred from a fire in September 2013, and will help you to admire the wild oaks growing on the slopes in this dry winter.

POPLAR BEACH ON HALF MOON BAY

Recent Hikes in California (2014)

SUNSET THROUGH THE WEEDS ON SHELF ROAD

Lake Natron (Color, 2009)

               

MASAI WOMAN AT THE FOOT OF LENGAI

                         

Lake Natron, Tanzania (Black & White, 2009)

Although this is a blog committed to photographs, I would like to add in this post that this area of Tanzania is currently being considered for development of a soda ash plant. To read more about why this area is so special and why the plant is detrimental to this region, please visit: African Conservation. Color photos to come.

JOSH LOOKS OUT