La Paz Waterfall Gardens of Costa Rica

One of the highlights of our Costa Rican adventure was on our final full day -- a visit to La Paz Waterfall Gardens, which has re-opened following the January, 2009 earthquake (6.2 magnitude) that damaged the area. We drove the road that had been demolished (and is sand and still being rebuilt) in this very hilly section of Costa Rica, saw the town that had been devastated, the homes that were missing or badly damaged, and discovered two waterfalls and parts of the Gardens were closed off due to the part of the trail and some platforms having been destroyed. But they are open for business and well worth your visit.

There are five waterfalls in the park and guests are afforded views from platforms above, below and in front of the falls for great photo opportunities.



As magnificent as the falls and landscaped gardens were, I really loved the animal exhibits. Costa Rica's great diversity of tropical habitats allows 90% of Central America's butterflies to thrive there, and they also possess 66% of neo-tropical butterflies and 18% of all the world's butterfly species. You can see them pictured here.

One species I had never heard of enthralled me: The Blue Morpho seen below...



Even the Blue Morpho's closed wings are beautiful...



The marmosets entertained us...



...and so did the cute white-faced monkeys...



The colorful birds included toucans...



...and macaws...




...and this pair of three-toed sloths were cuddled together and not moving, though we were close enough to see their chests moving as they slowly breathed...



Finally, the hummingbird area had dozens of the busy workers bustling about...



The big cats were out but sleepy...



...and the frog area had interesting species, too, and Ellen's post marvelously covers that aspect of the Gardens.

Here's a a video of our visit, including the falls, the gardens, and footage of the cougars, ocelots, Toucans, macaws, butterflies (including the Blue Morpho), snakes, monkeys, frogs, and more...



So if you ever visit San Jose, Costa Rica, make the short drive out to La Paz and enjoy the sights!