Morpho caterpillar

This prickly, brown-hatched worm doesn't look very appealing.  If I saw it on our deck, I'd probably kick it out of the way.

Morpho butterfly

Then, this caterpillar turns to this butterfly.  Which also doesn't look very appealing, if you ask me.  It looks almost the same as the common brown moths that we frequently swat away.

Morpho butterfly opening its wings

And, then it does this.  It opens its wings and reveals itself.

Morpho butterfly

Which just goes to show that nature is spectacular.  Curious, surprising, and always spectacular.

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Amara looking at the butterflies

We saw the morpho butterflies at the Butterfly Botanical Gardens, which is directly across the street at Hotel Si Como No , at Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica.  This is a lovely and inexpensive garden to visit, especially if you want to see an abundance of butterflies.  Amara was completely fascinated so I'd definitely suggest this to families with young children.

* Last image courtesy of flickr.com/donjohnson395 because the notoriously shy butterflies refused to fully open their wings for us.

** Our trip to Costa Rica was sponsored by Visit Costa Rica and The Gift of Happiness but, as always, all opinions are mine and mine alone (with a tiny bit of input from Patrick).  If you want to read about why I accept sponsored posts and how they (don't) impact my writing, feel free to peruse this ridiculously long article here on sponsorships, travel blogging, and ethics .