Days of Rum and Sunsets

The title of this post is the perfect description for each and every day of our trips in Central America. 

In Costa Rica try Centenario rum. Yum. 

In Panama drink Ron Abuelo rum. As my husband likes to say, "Not too Chablis."

In Belize try the singular One Barrel rum.  But Five Barrel is even better.

In Guatemala drink...I'll let you know next year!

But in Nicaragua, enjoy the best of the best. Flor de Cana rum. 

We toured the distillery last January near the city of Leon. The tour was kind of a dog and pony show. Even so, we got to sip rum aged for 18 years. This would be pretty darn exciting, if we didn't have the same delicious aged rum lurking in our liquor cabinet right now. We also have 12 year. If we keep our bottles around long enough, we won't have to splurge for their creme de la creme...25 year rum.  We've been enjoying Flor de Cana rum since we randomly picked up a bottle of number 4 in Costa Rica. Ten happy years ago.

Flor de Cana and coke light with a view.  Our vacation trick is to freeze ice in the bottom of a glass. You know you aren't drinking fast enough if the ice seal pops up before you are done. Smile.

A groove-billed Ani. (watching them on the roof tops is a serious happy hour activity)

But sunset is the real feature. The big show.

Ma Petite.

And Puff.  Our vacation cats. 

These days of rum and sunsets were enjoyed at Palermo in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. 

Heaven on earth as the Jesus statue will testify.

Be sure to pop over this week to see my illustrated, Cover of the Crows.  A contender for my future book cover! Where else other than Chorus of the Crows

The Awesome Links:

Wild Bird Wednesday

Wednesdays around the World!

Tanama Tales

Our World Tuesday

Budget Travel on Thursday

Sky Watch Friday!

Image-in-ing

Savannah Sneak Peak

We just got back from lazy and luscious, Savannah, Georgia. While we were waiting at the airport yesterday, I arranged a quick sneak peak of our week long city tour. A little taste of everything we experienced there...like the bucolic town squares surrounded by an eclectic mix of architecture as shown above. 

Weekends meant parrot play at famous Forsythe park.

Spooky Bonaventure Cemetery. They say Savannah is literally built on its dead. That sounds like a good post for October...

"Go" cups in Johnson square. Put it this way, the bartender at Jen's Friends knew us by the end of the week. We had so much fun relaxing in the numerous town squares. But bad things happened there...

Savannah house cat.

The oldest tree in Savannah.

Precious patina.

The famous Mercer house from the novel, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. 

The key to spelling. 

Lemon custard and chocolate chocolate chip at famous Leopold's ice cream. 

What lies beneath. (a lot in Savannah)

Phone fun at the Jepson museum's interactive art exhibit. Do you recognize those two fools?

Flute guy at Johnson square. 

The fountain at Forsythe.

I hope you enjoyed my sneak peak. There will be a lot more to come when I have time to unpack my souvenirs!

The Awesome Links:

Wild Bird Wednesday

Wednesdays around the World!

Tanama Tales

Our World Tuesday

Budget Travel on Thursday

Sky Watch Friday!

Image-in-ing

Turtle Beach

One peaceful morning near the city of Leon, Nicaragua, we bird watched by boat in the Reserva Natural Isla Juan Venado. I didn't want to put down my camera or leave the beach. There were too many wiggly reflections, bobbing boats and wandering pigs to capture... 

I love seeing things like this in Central America. It's no joke. There are usually more cows, horses and pigs on a beautiful beach than people. 

Eventually, we slowly headed out into the mangrove. It really was a peaceful, fun ride. All of the usual avian suspects were there. We saw mangrove swallows, sizzor tails, herons, egrets and a boat- billed heron. The guide even pointed out a dove nest with an ugly little baby. 

There were rustic dug out canoes laden with locals and wood floating by. 

We also stopped at a turtle hatchery. It wasn't the right time to experience hatching turtles or do a release, but it was still interesting. I'm glad that instead of a soup pot, now,  many of the little critters are making it out to sea. With a little help. 

The stats.

Sacks full of future turtles. 

Dumbo dog!

Afterwards, I snapped a few more photos as I wandered through the shallows. 

And after that, burgers at the Lazy Turtle on Las Penitas beach. Yum!

The Awesome Links:

Wild Bird Wednesday

Wednesdays around the World!

Tanama Tales

Our World Tuesday

Budget Travel on Thursday

Sky Watch Friday!

Image-in-ing

Urban Decay

Granada, Nicaragua is a little rough around the edges. But that makes for a grand photo safari. Let's peel our way around the inner city streets and take a tour. Beauty is only skin deep after all. 

I can almost feel the rough and tumble memories. 

Have a meaningful Memorial Day!

The Awesome Links:

Wild Bird Wednesday

Wednesdays around the World!

Tanama Tales

Our World Tuesday

Budget Travel on Thursday

Sky Watch Friday!

Image-in-ing