Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica
Flowers of all sorts; giant palm trees that bloom once in their life and then die; cacao trees to make chocolate; a sample of tropical fruits from around the world and the warm welcome of Ron and Trudy McAllister. In a few words, that’s Casa Orquideas, a botanical garden that has been in the making for the last 23 years.
Casa Orquideas is my favorite day. We have a chance to enjoy the tropical rainforest in different ways: by getting in close contact with all of the colors, scents, textures and sampling fruits with almost unpronounceable names. The garden also attracts a lot of birds that made it more exiting. We saw the rare white hawk, red-legged honeycreeper, piratic flycatchers and much more.
During the afternoon we did the real exploration part that has made Lindblad Expeditions a different experience. We visited for only the second time this season (and third time overall since we started visiting Golfo Dulce), the extraordinary Esquinas River.
The setting could not be more enchanting: a shallow river that is accessible only during high tide. The beautiful mangroves become lush tropical rainforest as the Zodiacs go farther up river. When high ground appears, the forest turns deep darker green and the bird list explodes. In less than one hour we saw four species of parrot and parakeets. Little channels here and there are enticing invitations to explore further and further.
A giant Ceiba tree, the one that connected the Maya’s world of the death people, the Xibalba, with the normal world we know, still stands tall, reminding us that our life is still tied to our surroundings by innumerable roots.
Flowers of all sorts; giant palm trees that bloom once in their life and then die; cacao trees to make chocolate; a sample of tropical fruits from around the world and the warm welcome of Ron and Trudy McAllister. In a few words, that’s Casa Orquideas, a botanical garden that has been in the making for the last 23 years.
Casa Orquideas is my favorite day. We have a chance to enjoy the tropical rainforest in different ways: by getting in close contact with all of the colors, scents, textures and sampling fruits with almost unpronounceable names. The garden also attracts a lot of birds that made it more exiting. We saw the rare white hawk, red-legged honeycreeper, piratic flycatchers and much more.
During the afternoon we did the real exploration part that has made Lindblad Expeditions a different experience. We visited for only the second time this season (and third time overall since we started visiting Golfo Dulce), the extraordinary Esquinas River.
The setting could not be more enchanting: a shallow river that is accessible only during high tide. The beautiful mangroves become lush tropical rainforest as the Zodiacs go farther up river. When high ground appears, the forest turns deep darker green and the bird list explodes. In less than one hour we saw four species of parrot and parakeets. Little channels here and there are enticing invitations to explore further and further.
A giant Ceiba tree, the one that connected the Maya’s world of the death people, the Xibalba, with the normal world we know, still stands tall, reminding us that our life is still tied to our surroundings by innumerable roots.
