La Paz

A few weeks ago now, we took a day trip with some other families from school to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens.  What a fun day!  The trip up the mountain was about an hour and half, and on the way we stopped at a coffee plantain for a quick look around, some bathrooms, and of course, some cafe! (I really got to figure out accent marks!)  Yes, those are coffee beans, growing and maturing.

While we were stopped a guy came by with his ox cart.  These started being used at the end of the 19th century durning the hight of the coffee boom and before the railroad was put in.  The painted ox cart is now the national symbol of labor in Costa Rica.  This guy saw a bunch of white people who might be willing to pay for a ride.  We didn't. Just took pictures.

Then it was back in the bus and we continued on towards the waterfalls.

The park was lovely!  We were able to just wander around and look at all the animals, all of which are native to Costa Rica (something I wasn't thrilled about when we came to the snake exhibit!).  And some of the animals you can feed like these guys.

 Noah had one that he would throw chunks of papaya to and it would catch them with his beak.  Crazy!

There was a butterfly house, and since we were there early and it was rainy, all the butterflies were hanging on out on the floor, which Elliot LOVED!  He would ask if he would touch them, and after getting a yes, he would barely poke them and laugh hysterically.

There were also big cats, jauaguaries, oscelots and mountain lions.

Elliot thought the jaguar needed a pile of rocks to look at.  Funny kid.

There was also a monkey that wanted to shake Noah's hand

Then we headed to the waterfalls.  There was a whole lot of walking, but the boys did well getting down to the falls

After the 45 minute hike out to the falls, we took the shuttle back to the restureante for lunch.  I was worried about how I was going to do that day, food wise and feeling crummy, but the food was perfect for us, and I ate more than I had at any one sitting the whole week prior. 

Then it was time to see the crazy frogs.

We talked a lot the week before about how we don't touch animals unless you talk to mom and dad first, because, well, these little guys are so pretty, but they are also so poisonous!  I seriously need to get a field guide for Central America!

On the way home, we stopped at a road side stand and I got 2 kilos ( about 5 pounds) of strawberries!  They are grown in the mountain area we were in so they were cheaper than I have seen them in town.  They were so yummy.  We ate some and then froze the rest to have on pancakes and ice cream, you know just like in our former life!

It was such a great day!  God blessed us with nice weather, and I felt really great most of the day.