Cartago, Costa Rica
In September 1922, Powell sent a letter to Ames introducing "my good friend" . Lankester, a British coffee grower, naturalist, and orchidologist, was living in Cartago, Costa Rica, a country with great potential for new to science orchid species. Powell facilitated what would become a "deep friendship between Lankester and Ames that lasted 25 years." Traveling to Costa Rica in 1925, Powell visited Lankester, who in turn traveled to Panama in 1927. "I have just spent a fortnight with my fellow sufferer from orchiditis, CWP, + it was a very delightful time of talk and talk and then talk." Lankester's orchid garden transformed over time into the Lankester Botanical Gardens. Located outside of Cartago, Costa Rica, the garden is now operated by the University of Costa Rica as a research center and is open to tourists.