Wilson Botanical Gardens is a superb place to visit.
There are gorgeous rooms (but a limited number of them; priority goes to
researchers at the Las Cruces Biological Station).
There's a family-style dining area with great food (including the best
gallo pinto we had in Costa Rica).
There are long walks through a huge garden of tropical plants.
And there's first-rate birdwatching, both easy (on the central patio)
and challenging (in the gardens and some nearby portions of Las Cruces).
About the only downside is getting there.
Wilson is close to the Panamanian border.
It's a long drive from San Jose down the sometimes-harrowing Pan
American Highway and many miles of secondary roads cratered with
suspension-breaking potholes.
Security was much tighter in the area than in any other place we visited
(with the exception of the airport) and we were stopped a couple of times.
But in the end, it was well worth the adventures in transportation.
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Our room. Beautiful space, gracious design, gorgeous tropical hardwoods.
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View of the mahogany tree from our balcony.
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Balcony of the dining room, site of much morning birdwatching.
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Dedication.
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Attractive bromeliad.
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Another species of bromeliad.
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Orchids.
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Outside our cabin.
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Heliconia.
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Our cabin, seen from the grounds below.
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Cicada shell.
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Queen of the Night.
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Queen of the Night.
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Michelle with the Queens of the Night.
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I've forgotten what this is called...
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Looking roughly north from a mirador.
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Plantains.
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Young pineapple (pina), a ground-dwelling bromeliad.
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Butterfly.
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Date palm flowers.
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Mahogany tree (bare during the dry season).
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Cicada.
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A stand of giant bamboo.
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Ginger.
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Balsa tree.
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One bird in the bush. (A Social Flycatcher.)
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A Cherrie's tanager on the bananas.
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Silver-throated tanager eating papaya.
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The primary colors of birds.
(Blue-gray tanager, Cherrie's tanager, and green honeycreeper)
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No one gets any of *my* papaya.
(Buff-throated saltator)
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Cherrie's tanager and groupies.
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Hummingbird at dusk.
(Probably a beryl-crowned hummingbird, also known as the charming hummingbird)
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Blue-gray tanager.
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Green honeycreeper and silver-throated tanager.
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Fiery-billed aracaris in the mahogany tree.
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Fiery-billed aracari in flight.
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Crested Guan.
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The road to Palo Alto.
Somewhere near San Vito
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