...is still an Orchid and we saw quite a variety of them today. Ecuagenera is all about Orchids and Ecological Tourism and so it should be in a country with no less than 4000+ orchid species. Adrian and Sybil took Chris and I for a drive out into the country, to the Orchid farm and Retail outlet near Gualaceo.
We took a tour of the business's Cultivation poly houses as well as their beautifully landscaped gardens. Our guide was Hugo and he had an exceptionally 'hands on' knowledge of every stage in the process of creating and producing a high quality Orchid. Who would imagine that an Orchid would start its life in "The Matrix"??? This controlled environment (below) is a giant incubator with a very white, sci fi vibe going on.
These thousands of bottles are like hermetically sealed nurseries in which either a sprinkle of seeds, or plant tissue, is being raised in a nutrient rich culture. They can stay in these safe houses for up to two years before being brought into the real world to do battle with sun, air, bacteria and the vibrant animal life milling around it.
It's not a process you can rush either. Hugo told us that between a seed germinating and a plant producing its first flower, five years can pass. So when the horticulturalists have been cross pollinating the different flowers, they must wait a long time before they get to decide which of their 'children' they like best. Then, they can begin the process of cloning the plant, taking tissue cuttings and waiting, waiting, waiting... Orchids, like Roses, take a long time to reproduce. The plant must prove that its next flower is exactly like its parent/sibling/real self. As each flower can produce up to 20,000 seeds, they just need one perfect bloom to create a commercially viable new Orchid. It's really the stuff of Frankenstein meets Dolly but with a much more colourful outcome.
We weren't surprised but saddened to hear that many of Ecuador's native Orchids are now extinct in the wild and can only be found at Ecuagenera. A priest, Angel Andreetta, was the founder of the collection some 55 years ago and eventually became the chief advisor when his private interest was bought out and a business was begun. The Portilla brothers have been running Ecuagenera - Ecuador's largest orchid exporter - since 1992, employing almost 60 locals.
We spent a couple of hours getting up front and personal with not only Orchids but with many other beautiful plants like a stunning golden lily and leafy bromeliads and ferns.
Hugo demonstrated the mechanics of a very tiny orchid that mimics the Venus Fly Trap but instead of eating its victim, it only traps the insect for a short while so that it can rattle around and help the pollination process.
This tiny Orchid is growing on top of a leaf. We saw many Orchids living on air alone. They are the World's true Breatharians.
Ecuagenera has a showroom on the main road into Gualaceo and it's a very difficult place to rush through if you want to actually buy an Orchid...or two...or four as was our case. It has to be perfect but the problem in deciding this is, they're all perfect, they're all beautiful, they're all natural. It was a great credit to A & S that they went for a walk outside while we spent a second half hour swapping plants and figuring out which ones were best suited to Cuenca's temperatures: Which ones flowered the longest: Which ones were affordable??? A beautiful Orchid will only set you back between $20 and $30 so it wasn't really the cost but the colours.....
Ecuagenera is a nice place to visit in the Country. They can be found two kilometres before Gualaceo on the road from Cuenca. The tour costs $3 pp. Their phone number is 07 2255237 if you wanted to check the opening hours before visiting. We all had a really interesting time, we all bought a plant and then we had lunch at Paute before heading back to Cuenca just in time to get stuck in Peak hour traffic. What a contrast!
