On Christmas day 2014 we were photographing the pretty lavender flowers of achiote, Bixa orellana, in a remote area of Alta Verapaz. Two days later we reached the cacao areas of the Boca Costa (piedmont and initial hills before the higher mountain ranges) and Costa Sur (flatlands).
We also continue to study plants which produce dye colorants for Maya clothing. Several scholars in Guatemala have published on dye colorants. Our contribution is to find and photograph each species in high resolution.
And we will also keep on searching for medicinal plants. We appreciate the cooperation of medical biologist Armando Caceres in this work; we want to photograph the flowers and eco-system of all medicinal plants of the Maya. The lists already exist; what is lacking is a coffee-table quality and quantity of photographs of the actual remarkable medicinal plants.
Plus we wish to encourage local people to consider a better diet of more fruits and more vegetables (in other words, to learn more about the foods of their ancestors).
Also we would like to do projects with international agencies, on how to provide employment in rural areas, by creating clever items from natural plant products to sell to tourists in Guatemala City, Lake Atitlan, Chichicastenango, Tikal, etc. We already have a list of what local, native, Mayan plants and trees could be used.
As soon as donations, contributions, or grants allow us to obtain a 4WD double-cabin Toyota or Madza pickup (or Ford F250 of comparable size) we can achieve more. Plus it would help to have access to
- Schneider Xenon f1.6, 35 mm lens (for photographing trees)
- Zeiss Otis f1.4, 55mm lens (for photographing trees out in a field),
- Schneider Macro Symmar f2.4, 85mm, for high-res close-ups of flowers
- a Canon EF 500mm f/4.0L IS II USM prime telephoto lens (for photographing flowers and fruits high in trees, or a tree which is across a creek or on the other side of a narrow canyon).
Plus one really high-power PC and one fully-equipped Mac to handle high-resolution photographs (here at FLAAR we use both Mac and PC, since some software prefers one or the other).
Posted the last days of December 2014 as preparation for 2015
