Rocket Blog

Orchid Spotting in Panama

As much as I adore living on California’s beautiful Central Coast, I got bit by the travel bug about ten years back and LOVE exploring new places.  So when a good friend announced that she’d be getting married on the beach in Costa Rica, I immediately ran out to buy travel books and start planning!  We ended up spending time in neighboring Panama as well, and while I think many people associate those countries with gorgeous beaches (and Panama with its famous canal), we were probably most impressed with the incredible plant life that we saw.

For example, the La Amistad International Park, a nature reserve split equally between Costa Rica and Panama, boasts more biodiversity than any other park around the world of similar size.  Within the park’s 401,000 hectares, you can find 1,000 fern species, 500 tree species, and an astounding 130 different types of orchids!  In comparison, the entire continent of North America has approximately 20 to 26 species.   

While I wish I could have gotten photos of all of them (or hey, I would have settled for five!), we had just a brief hike in the pouring rain on our way to go zip-lining.  I probably would have trekked right past this little guy had our guides not stopped to point him out; have you ever seen an orchid so tiny??   



It poured the entire time we were in that part of the country- and we weren’t even there during the rainy season!- so while it wasn’t ideal for my photos, it’s certainly good growing conditions for lush, tropical plants.  Everything was just so green!!     



Now that it’s been raining here for what feels like weeks, California is feeling a little like a rain forest too… but here I keep my orchids inside!