The Municipio de Livingston, Izabal, has lots of wild vanilla orchid vines growing in many areas. We find these vines in swamps at sea level (south inlet of east end of El Golfete portion of Rio Dulce); we find wild vanilla orchid vines on karst hills elsewhere in Izabal. And now a helpful park ranger of Tapon Creek nature reserve, managed by FUNDAECO, has sent us photos of the seed pods, the capsules or beans of these wild vanilla orchid vines.
Photograph by Lucas Cuz, park ranger, FUNDAECO, Tapon Creek nature reserve, using Google Pixel telephone camera provided by FLAAR (USA) and FLAAR Mesoamerica (Guatemala).
We are rushing out to the Caribbean today since this is a remarkable opportunity to learn from the local Q’eqchi’ Mayan park rangers. We need to learn in how many different months do these vines bloom? In how many different months can you see the seed pods.
You can also find lots of wild vanilla orchid vines in many areas of Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo, (PNYNN), Peten. The family of Senaida Ba Mucu, has found wild vanilla orchids in the mountains of Alta Verapaz near Chipemech (between Senahu and Cahabon). We of FLAAR have photographed these vines here and in the many areas of PNYNN and all around the Municipio de Livingston, Izabal. But never have we seen them flowering in the wild.
So clearly the Classic Maya of thousands of years ago had plenty of vanilla for flavoring their cacao beverages.
We show the photos of the flower buds on home page of www.maya-archaeology.org.
Posted December 2, 2020
