Day 42 – La Paz Waterfall Gardens

We only had a couple of days left and one of the most unique places in all of Costa Rica is the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, part of the Peace Lodge. We really hoped we could have stayed there, but unfortunately it was sold out. We had to come back in towards San Jose for the night to find a room to stay. This morning however, we made our way back up to La Paz Waterfalls.

It was an hour drive to get there. The skies were clear and the morning started off great. With breakfast in our bellies we couldn’t wait to see what all La Paz had to offer. We pulled in and there were only a hand full of cars in the parking lot. We got there around 9am, basically when it opened. We paid our entrance fee and we were off.

We looked at the map of the grounds and decided to start with the aviary first. The grounds were immaculate. The amount of flowers, bushes and tree type here were astounding. It seemed we were the only ones here. The aviary was in the distance and it looked huge. We opened the door and in we went. All mouths dropped!!!!

Birds, birds and more birds. All around us. Everyone was excited. Thomas was pointing them out as fast as he could. Anna and I both looked at each other and said how we wished we could have stayed here. Oh well, you can’t get what you want all the time. As we walked in a little further, there was a separate section you could walk in that housed toucans. This is the bird we have been looking for in the wild our whole stay. That, along with the Scarlet Macaws. Once we walked in there were about 10 toucans.

Rainbow Toucan getting acquainted with Anna.

Immediately, one flew and landed on Thomas’ arm. “Wow”, I said, “How about that for the start of the day!” This was awesome. And we just now got here. The section had several different types of Toucans, including the famous Rainbow or Kill Bill Toucan. We stayed in the toucan section for at least ten minutes before thinking of leaving. Just then, one of the caretakers can in and let us feed the birds. The birds were curious little guys, wanting to nibble at everything.

Another toucan in the bird aviary. This one is about 1/3 the size of the standard toucan.

We continued on through the rest of the aviary looking at a countless number of birds. Many of them, we had never seen before. They had a small sparrow section, along with areas that housed owls, hawks, scarlet macaws, etc… Oh yeah… I don’t want to forget the (as Thomas calls them) one legged ducks. The aviary exited into a corridor which took you into the Butterfly Garden.

Again…”Wow! Wow! Wow!” This is the largest butterfly garden I believe I have ever been in. It definitely has the most butterflies I have ever seen. Not only did it have butterflies, but it also had a couple of cute creatures including the two toed sloth. They had a cage which housed two sloths. These guys were adorable. Cute and you felt like you just wanted to hug these things. We tried to see some in the wild during our stay, but were never lucky enough to see one. This was a treat that was unexpected. We took many pictures and several videos.

This cute little two-toed sloth was very impressionable.

Off to the Monkeys we went and then to the Hummingbird Garden. Hundreds of hummingbirds were all around us. It was wild to hear the roar of their wings flapping so close to you. They zipped by our heads in such quantity, you had a hard time trying to determine which bird you wanted to get a better look at. I believe they had over 20 species of hummingbirds in this garden. We learned many facts about these amazing creatures. One being that their tongues are twice the length of their beaks. Also, for you cardio nuts, their heart beats anywhere from 500 to 1200 beats per minute. Too fast for me. We hung out and watch these speed demons for about twenty minutes.

Anna and Olivia in the La Paz Waterfall Gardens Buttery Garden looking at some butterflies hatching.

Next was the Orchid Garden, then the Casita, and then the Jungle Cat Exhibit. After we took all that in, we took a walk to the Waterfalls. The property has four waterfalls on it. The waterfalls are the tallest we had seen during our stay and the surrounding mountain scenery even made them look more spectacular than they already were. It started to rain on us during the walk, but we didn’t care. Once we got done looking at the falls, they had a shuttle bus that took you back up to the main entrance.

One of the local cats here on the property. 

During the day, we heard about a trout pond on the property you could fish and then eat your catch. Thomas had been begging all day to try and catch a trout. We told him we may do it after the Waterfall walk. After seeing everything, we had to do the trout pond. We walked down to the area and you first came upon the Big Trout Bar. The BTB had a beautiful swimming pool area in front of it along with a built in Jacuzzi. The bar area was an open air type bar with a handful of tables. Very quaint. Definitely keep with the Peace Lodge theme. Off to the side were a set of stairs. Up we went.

One of about 40 different orchids in the La Paz Waterfall Gardens Orchid garden.

At the top of the stairs was fully stocked trout pond. There were two guys working on some fishing poles over by a umbrella covered table. “Hola”, I said to the both of them. One of the gentlemen said “Hello. Are you enjoying yourselves?” “Yes, I said. This is an amazing place. We have definitely enjoyed ourselves here today. We tried to get a room here yesterday, but apparently it was totally booked for the next week. We stayed at this place’s sister property and had a terrific time as well.” The gentleman was an American. He replied, “I’m sorry to hear that. I’m glad you are enjoying yourselves. I wish you would have had a room for you.” The gentleman was Lee Banks, the owner of the Peace Lodge (http://www.peacelodge.com/) and the Springs Spa and Resort.

Thomas grabbed a fishing pole and the other gentleman helped him bait the line and instructed Thomas how to cast the line. This was Thomas’ arena. He could fish here all day. After about five minutes of fishing, Lee came back and said he had a room for us. My mind went bonkers. “What?” I said. “That is really nice of you, but we do not want to put anybody out.” “No problem” Lee said, “I will have Leonardo go and show you the room. We just had a wedding couple leave early and the room is free now. I appreciate you staying at the Springs and would love for you to stay with us.” I was speechless.

We are all standing on a traditional festive cart. We actually took it for a spin.

The kindness of Mr. Banks was uncommon. He went out of his way to make a patron feel really really welcomed. He was here with his family on here vacation. He didn’t put us in hotel room here, he put us in one of his private apartments. It was the apartment that his wedding couple had stayed in. There is a building by itself right in front of the bird aviary that is a private residence. There are two apartments down stairs and a large living quarter upstairs. We got the two adjoining apartments downstairs.

We had all of our things down in San Jose still at Hotel Jardins, but I would go get those things in the morning. To stay here was an honor. Anna was very happy and the kids were beside themselves. Everyone had smiles from ear to ear. Thomas kept fishing and finally got a trout, with a little help. Not but twenty minutes later it was in front of him on a plate. This trout was very tasty. We annihilated that fish. Olivia got a trout as well and it was all we could do to save some bites for Anna.

After the kids had the trout, we headed up to the lobby area and quickly made a reservation to do a frog tour in the evening at 7:30. We then relaxed for a couple of hours and went to the bar area of the Lodge and had a couple glasses of wine. We were at the lobby at 7:15 where John, our tour guide met us. We were the only one, so it looked like we were going to have our own personal tour. We went to the Frog exhibit hall earlier in the day and played with many of the frogs. Night time though is when a whole different new variety comes out to play. Also, many of the frogs we saw early are nocturnal so they were sleeping when we saw them. The tour was incredible, like everything else here at Peace Lodge.

After the tour, the grown-ups grabbed some dinner and off to sleep we went.