Urban Recreation: La Mesa Eco-Park

I had been planning all week to take Toto to the Sta Elena Fun Farm in Laguna on Sunday, but Saturday night I checked their website and realized they require a reservation! I texted and they were booked in the morning. Being that it is ungodly hot in the afternoons and I have a 3pm Jivamukti class, we decided to go to the La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City.  It only took about 20 minutes to get there at 8am on a Sunday morning.  There weren't many people when we arrived, but when we left at 10am it was starting to get packed and loud. The entrance fee was P50 ($1.25) and an additional P80 ($2) for the Butterfly House. Let's chat about the butterfly house, shall we? 

Great sign lured us in and the caretaker took us to the glass breeding tanks where we saw the stages from egg to butterfly. While he was talking he threw a couple of dead caterpillars out and told us that they died from the stress of too many people holding and squeezing them yesterday. Um, what? Maybe you shouldn't let people do that, caretaker of the butterflies. Onto the butterfly tank where the new guys were emerging from cocoons. Before we went to the next area, the caretaker had to sponge the blood off the bottom of the cage. So gross. Who knew butterflies bled as they emerged from the cocoon. Never saw that in any cute kid's book. Toto was not thrilled with all the butterflies swarming near her face, but they were pretty. And we saw two species--"the black one and the white one."

We strolled through the flower terraces, pet the horses baking in the sun, watched a "pre-nup" photo shoot in the amphitheater, saw some fish, and then headed home. We'll probably go back to see the orchids and organic garden.  Despite the growing crowd, humidity, and stall after stall of hot dogs, the huge trees and relatively clean air will bring us back.

My advice - go early.

Don't squeeze the caterpillars.

Some dead, some bloody, but still educational.

View from the La Mesa Dam.