Swedish Chef Dave: Wilson Botanical Gardens Southern Costa Rica

We had left our silly little dog with my in-laws over Christmas while i was freezing my ass off in the USA, so after the tripw e had to pick him up again but it is a 6 hour drive and we have to stay overnight in a sweltering little tin roof house so to make the trip worth doing we decided to do the trip to a local birding place and nice garden, it involves a 1 hour drive directly up the mountains, the road was so bad about 3 years ago we didn't bother and turned around, so we didn't know what to expect, but once again the President of Costa Rica has been an amazing champion, the roads were all fixed and we still being fixed as we drove up these perfect roads. We arrived at the gardens to find them basically deserted, the tourists from the USA are all broke and are staying away. So as we had taken the in-laws they were told to sit in some nice shady seats and wait for us to do the tour, we got our map and went for a walk but we suddenly found the place had shrunk over the last 6 years since we last went there. Funny how memory plays tricks on you, the place was only a quarter as it seemed we were marching around the place in no time at all and the birds were very scarce, i love ornamental gardens and this place really does have some wonderful specimens, this place was Mr & Mrs Wilson's garden about 20 years ago when the last one alive died, this area of the south was strip felled of all trees in the 1950's, terrible destruction so they had the chance to make this place into a garden. They have done a nice thing but for me virgin rain forest is far more interesting, we went for a miserable lunch that was very expensive, so we stole some bananas and fed them to the waiting birds out the back, the birds were stunning and all new species for me so I was pretty excited. The problem with most of the tourist attractions is they are dealing with tropical novices and offer little in return, Wilsons Botanical gardens are supposedly a pinnacle for Costa Rica, but i was a little disappointed with what i was getting. I think i am spoiled with doing so much, I really did like the gardens but it was somewhat lacking for me. I wouldn't have liked to have driven all the way down here just to see them as I could have been pissed off, but being in the area it was OK if not a little bloody expesive. Rating garden 6/10 food 3/10 birds 9/10

Giant Tree Fern, The Biggest I have Ever Seen