On this last day in beautiful Costa Rica, National Geographic Quest arrived very early morning to the Casa Orquideas, a phenomenal botanical garden built by Trudy and Ron McAllister, two American expats who made this very remote part of Costa Rica their home 35 years ago. The couple’s continuing passion for nature is at the heart of their cultivating the rich exhibit it has thus become, which includes an abundance of fruits, spices, and flowers.
We see all of this firsthand, enveloped by pristine Costa Rican forest surrounding the property and cheered with the company of macaws, yellow-throated toucans, charming hummingbirds, and scarlet-scarlet-jumped tanagers. Few places make such a mark.
Casa Orquideas is the kind of place that leaves with you the enduring sense of gratitude and awe for the natural world.
Tomorrow we wake to the beautiful beaches of Panama.
