Thrillseekers adventure to the Butterfly Garden

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Geo: 9.66303, -85.0671

uphill all the way

Decided we would hike to the Butterfly Garden. We were going to take a taxi but decided to
get the heartbeat up to say nothing of the quadriceps and hamstrings stretching out as we
did the very steep climb up the hillside. According to a sign near the camping area
near the string of inexpensive hotels on the beach, the is 2 km. From Luna Llena it was 2.47
km. Thanks to the step counter on my phone!

When we set off one of our main concerns was the road traffic. Because it is such a steep
incline, many of the vehicles coming up from the bottom of the road tend to race up the road
and it is not real safe for the person walking up the hill. Fortunately for us, there were
not many vehicles heading up the road at the time we were walking up. There was some
welcome shade to stop and even out the breathing as we continued up and up and up. For some reason it seemed further than it had been when we last tried this hike up the hill.

Finally we were there!!!! The girl that was working was very nice and showed us the map of
the butterfly garden and the path to get down the hill to the waterfall area. As suggested
on the map, we took a picture to help get us going the correct direction.

Before we set off down the hill, we went into the La Clandestina Restaurant to have a cool
glass of tamarindo juice. We were sitting outside where we could see the lush vegetation
and got to watch a hummingbird flitting around some of the blooms on the vegetation. There
was a young man from Minnesota that was a "very serious birder" that had walked up behind us
and we talked birds with him for awhile. We did get to see a Trogan very close to where we
were sitting.

The Clandestina Restaurant has a very interesting menu but .....no walking up that hill at
night or down it either. The cost of a taxi is about 3000 colones one way. We were also
told they do not take credit cards. We may give it a try. The young girl told us the two
main butterflies being seen in the garden are the Morpho and the Caligo butterfly, or the
great owl butterfly. She brought us one of the Caligo butterfly that evidently had been
caught. When the wings are open they, look like the eyes of an owl. Once we saw this, we
realized we had seen one of these on our trip last year.

Decided to walk down to the waterfall and forego the butterfly garden. We may regret this
but was our decision at the time. The staff person gave us directions, but those did not
seem to help.

Here's our thoughts on how to reach the trail:

Head out from inside the office entrance to the office of the butterfly gardens, go uphill
and to the right to cross a wooden footbridge. From there you will walk along a path and
you will see a sign - waterfall. Take this path and you will arrive at a private gravel
road. Turn right on the private road and continue past the house and the clearing with a
view of the ocean until the road dead ends at a barbed wire fence. Turn left at the fence
and you will be on a dangerous but well traveled dirt path that is fairly steep and you will
eventually reach a T-intersection with a well maintained trail with wooden step supports.

There you will turn downhill to the right and follow the steps down until you reach the
stream coming down from the waterfall. Use the cables to get you to the rocks to cross the
stream and you will be on the path used by people to go left to the waterfall or right out
to the entrance at the road back to Montezuma.

Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn right off the bat and ended up on an old trail that soon
ended. We are not sure if the Gardens have changed hands but it appears some of the paths
are no longer in use.

Finally got on the right path and were walking down the road and spied a MotMot fly into a
tree nearby. Got some nice pictures as it was close by. Spied a group of Howler monkey's
stretched out on some branches in the distance just chilling.

Then, we heard a sound we had heard before but never located the bird. There are three parts
to the call, a lyre sound, a whistle and then a call. Found the bird and it was the Three
Wattled Bell bird! We got to watch it for quite some time before it flew off. What a
treat! Interesting tidbit: As we were watching the bird, a Costa Rican came walking up the
path we would be heading down with two Anglo couples. They asked what the sound was, or was it a bird. Oh no, it is the sound of the radar! Not sure why he told them this!

Trip on down the hill was quite the thrill seeker journey. Glad there were so many tree
roots to hang onto as you navigated the path down. Got to the steps with the railings and
made it down to the stream where we took a break and watched the people come and the people go!

The crossing the stream was not real easy mainly because both our legs were tired from all
the up and down they had been through but made it and stopped at the Montezuma Restaurant to have a veggie sandwich and fruit batido before heading up to the room.

Cleaned and and fixed dinner at Luna Llena and enjoyed the evening, moon rise and visiting
with couple from England that had just arrived.

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