A tour of paradise (Paradise Tropical Garden, that is)

By Nicole

Back when I was in high school, I had a serious crush … on a shampoo. It was Paul Mitchell’s Awapuhi Wild Ginger. I had to beg my mom to buy it for me. I just had to have it. I don’t know if it did anything for my hair (or, in fact, what it was supposed to do for my hair); all I remember is being infatuated with the sweet-and-spicy fragrance of wild ginger.

So imagine how excited I was to hold a real awapuhi blossom in my hand, to smell the heavenly scent of wild ginger and to squish the waxy bloom and feel the viscous, soapy liquid ooze out and slide between my fingers. Even better? Being able to take a few of the “shampoo ginger” blossoms home and shower with them! The shower onshore is cold-water only, so I pretended like I was bathing in a waterfall. It was fabulous.

 
Squeezing an awapuhi blossom for the first time and feeling the slippery “shampoo” ooze out was quite fun

Isn’t it lovely? It’s like a soft pinecone sponge filled with sweet-smelling, soapy slime!

But “shampoo ginger” wasn’t all we saw on our tour of the Paradise Tropical Garden. After exchanging a few emails with Robert, the owner, we arranged to meet him at his mamón chino stand in downtown Golfito. (A mamón chino, or rambutan, is sort of like a lychee or a large, peeled grape—it’s this sweet, juicy fruit encased in a spikey, reddish pink husk. Peeling back the outside, removing the translucent fruit and gnawing on its flesh is extremely satisfying—and addictive. I’ve eaten way too many of these guys lately. Good thing the season only goes for two more weeks!) Anyway, we met Robert at his stand, doing a brisk business selling bags for 1,000 colones (about $2US) each. After stowing his colorful umbrellas, we piled into his Isuzu Pup pick-up truck and headed off for a private tour of his garden in the nearby town of Rio Claro. We were his first tourists in two months.

Bristly on the outside, smooth on the inside

Mamón chinos ripening on the tree. They look like something from The Lorax.

Ready for harvest

The Paradise Tropical Garden opened in 2001, but Robert and his late-wife, Ella, settled the farm back in the early 1960s when this part of Costa Rica was still wild, and Chiquita Bananas were still grown and shipped all over the world from Golfito. Now, though, the Pan-American Highway runs in front of their property, and the last of the banana fields have been replaced by African palm oil plantations. Robert farms palm oil, too.

Stately (if controversial) African palm oil trees line a grassy boulevard at the garden

Robert showing off one of his palms

Ever smell Chanel No. 5 perfume? Here’s where the primary scent comes from—the ylang-ylang flower. The sweet fragrance is intoxicating and heady. I carried the blossom around with me all day so I could sniff it.

Pretty in pink

It’s fuzzy! Lovely heliconias like this are found all over southern Costa Rica.

Heliconia “Sexy Pink” and “Shogun" (on their way out, but still gorgeous)

Baby pineapple bromeliad. Awww.

What you can’t see in this picture are the dozens of squirrel monkeys in the trees above us! We didn’t get any good pics, but trust me when I say they are really stinkin’ cute. According to Robert, 140 of them visit his property. He got that number by “counting the feet and dividing by four.” :)

 
The puppy pack

After trotting us around the garden for an hour or so, with his pooches in tow, Robert brought us back for an unexpected (and delicious) lunch—just for us. We felt a little guilty having his daughter-in-law prepare the enormous spread of arroz con pollo, black beans, fried plantains, boiled plantains, boiled yucca, yucca fritters and two kinds of empanadas, but they insisted. So we ate. And ate! Plus his son made fresh grapefruit-ade (try it instead of fresh lemonade; it’s amazing). I drank about a liter of the stuff.

Robert’s daughter-in-law preparing lunch on the wood-burning stove

Not only was lunch prepared just for us, but the show-and-tell table was, too. We talked through the various folkore and alternative remedies for treating everything from high cholesterol to skin cancer and got to try fresh turmeric, Meyer lemons, sugarcane, tamarind and cacao from his garden. We also nibbled on freshly cooked palm fruit from the African palm oil trees. The fruit is bright orange, has a nutty, butternut squash-like flavor and is quite tasty (and it differs from palm kernel oil, which is processed from the seed of the fruit and is used, controversially, in consumer products).

Show-and-tell table covered with edible and medicinal specimens collected from the garden

Love chocolate? Me too. This is what it looks like raw. The white stuff is sweet-tart and feels like a combination of snot and marshmallow crème. Pretty gross. I’ll take my chocolate in bar form, please. And make it dark.

Jeepers creepers, where did you get those peepers?

The day was so unexpectedly wonderful. Robert and his family went above and beyond to teach us about their treasured plants and way of life. Did I mention that the entire thing—from getting a ride from Golfito and back (30 minutes each way) to the garden tour to the tasty lunch to the presentation of folklore remedies was FREE? Robert is a great guy who we can tell is loved by his family and the community. With his generous spirit and infectious enthusiasm for life and botany, it’s easy to see why. We made sure to give him a donation to help keep up the garden—it’s a special place that deserves a visit. And if you’re ever in Golfito during mamón chino season, stop by his stand and pick up a bag!

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Mmmm-mamón chinos! Robert’s (in the blue bag) are the very best.