We
spent the night at the Peace Lodge at La Paz Waterfall
Park. This is a nice place and caters to foreign tourists,
mostly gringos. We spent the day exploring the things at
the park.
The photos below are what we saw.
There
were a set of waterfalls and an infinity pool across from our
little casita.
Interestingly,
they have a fishing pond stocked with trout and you can fish for
your dinner. The trout in the restaurant is indeed fresh,
we had it for dinner two nights in a row. The other
bungalows were built into the side of the mountain.
I was
waiting for Kathleen and decided to explore the area around the
trout pond and spotted these vultures who hang out there.
I talked to the "fishing attendant" and he said that they have
taken a liking to trout guts and he has a special place to throw
them and the birds have gotten lazy and just wait until he
cleans the catch then cash in on the left-overs.
We were
in the bottom floor of the 4 unit casita across from the aviary
and trout pond.
When
Kathleen was ready, we headed out in earnest and passed right
this vulture sitting on the fence like he owned the place.
Note the can-opener beak; great for piercing through carrion
flesh!
One of
the trails by our room headed down to a small creek then to the
main waterfalls.
The
trail went along the river before the cataracts.
The
jungle was dense and the vines hung off the trees nearly to the
ground.
Next to
the path we spotted this interesting flower.
The
trail took us back to the facility via the Frog House. We
saw several frogs there, but they are experts at hiding.
This one was nearly invisible due to his color match with the
plants.
This
fellow was small: about the diameter of a quarter.
This one
was even smaller, only about the size of a dime.
One our
way to the waterfalls we passed a historical farm exhibit.
These cattle are yoked for work, but note that they cannot move
their heads at all. Their horns are lashed to a
crossbar. Their pens are behind them in the photo.
Note the size of their ears.
The
trail to the waterfalls was steep and heavily trafficked.
The facility is one of the most visited of any place in Costa
Rica due to its proximity to San Jose.
The
first waterfall (of 5) was impressive. But, it would be
MORE impressive during the rainy season at full flow.
Above
one of the falls before the water heads into the abyss.
The next
fall was quite high. You can judge from the size of the
people at the overlook on the left of the photo above.
We were
told that there had been a wedding at the falls and these flowers
were left over from that event.
The next
fall was quite high and was throwing a ton of spray onto us (and
the lens of my camera). Note the person on the walkway
close to the water about 1/4 from the top of the falls.
This was a big waterfall.
Three
falls were visible from the lower lookout point including the
small one on the right.
From the
lookout point we could see the bridge on the highway
below. We traveled this road to get to the park. The
road is steep, narrow and has very tight turns with a number of
one-lane bridges. The bridge that crosses the La Paz river
is new. The old one was damaged during the earthquake.
The flow
below this fall was augmented by the flow from a small side
creek.
The next
to the last fall was throwing plenty of mist into the air.
Note the people on the top of the falls.
From the
lowest lookout point we could see the folks below. These
two pezotes have the tourists wrapped around their snouts.
They were begging for handouts.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2014, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.