Coconuts? Colima’s the Place to Go

The coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) is one single species with many varieties. They’re primarily differentiated by the color of their fruit: yellow or green. The plants also have a different diameter to their trunks. Their common characteristic is that their fruit has a similar taste, sweet, meaty and juicy. They’re cultivated in coastal areas thanks to their economic importance.
Coconut flowers are polygamomonoecious, with female and male flowers in the same plant. They flower continuously and the female flowers are the ones that produce the seeds or coconuts. The coconut is a very resistant seed and it can propagate at great distances by marine currents. You can see coconuts floating along the coasts of the Sea of Norway that will still germinate under the right conditions.
The coconut palm is one of the most useful plants and is exploited in a myriad of ways. The dry pulp is called copra and contains 60-70% lipids. From the copra you can get the oil that is used in the production of margarine and soap. The wood can be used for construction as well. The inhabitants of Polynesia, Kiribati and the Marshall islands eat the fresh sap from the coconut tree. They also ferment it and preserve it as an alcoholic drink called ‘toddy’. The fibers surrounding the coconut fruit are used to make brushes, mattresses and rope. In the Caribbean isles, they open the immature nuts with a machete to extract the liquid for a refreshing drink. This water can be kept within the closed fruit for up to 8 months and still conserve its properties.
According to an article published by Juan Carlos Reyes Garza, the coconut palm arrived in Colima around the end of the fifties and was readily cultivated and marketed. One of the products was an alcoholic drink (firewater) that competed with Spanish liquors for a time. The competition was so strong that its production was banned by the Spaniards. Colima is one of the largest coconut producers in America today.

Oil and Shade

The coconut oil palm, also known as “guacoyul” (Orbignya guacuyul) is very similar to the coconut palm. It grows to about 90 feet, but its leaves are much longer; some almost 15 feet long. Its leaves are what are used to make palm frond roofs – “palapas”. This species can be found intermittently all down the Pacific coast, from Nayarit to Oaxaca. It grows in dense palm forests. Its fruit looks like oval-shaped, yellowish, fibrous nuts up to 3 inches long. They contain from one to three seeds hidden in an oily pulp.
However, the coconut palm gives more than shade with its ‘palapas’; coconut oil production was one of the most important economic activities in the area for over 50 years. People would wait until the nut dried out and then broke it to sell to companies that made soap, tanning oil and cooking oil.

The Shining Star

The Royal Palm (Roystonea regia) is also found near Puerto Vallarta. It’s a species that stands out due to the beauty of its foliage. Cubans show off that this beautiful ornamental plant gives their fields their character, but we even have a town named after it: Las Palmas. The plant can grow up to 45 feet, but its trunk doesn’t have as many protuberances as its cousins. It grows in both flat and mountainous regions, preferably in fertile and humid terrain, like on river banks, streams and gullies. It doesn’t grow in savannas or in soils with a lot of sulfates. It can also be found in Florida, Santo Domingo and Haiti as well as many other countries (Roig, 1974).
Royal palm is used to decorate parks, highways and avenues thanks to its svelte beauty. However, it’s also a very useful plant. It has emollient properties, its root is a diuretic and it can be used to expel kidney stones, for diabetes, atherosclerosis, cramps, asthma, and colds, to improve circulation, to stop hemorrhaging, for leprosy, and malaria and to treat sprains. In Puerto Rico it’s also used for stomach problems and to heal wounds. The wood is used to build houses in rural areas, for pens, canes and containers for agricultural products. It’s very valuable for bee keepers, because its flowers are very popular with the little insects (Ordext, 1952). Its fruit, core or “heart” is eaten by numerous people in salads or other preparations. In many countries, when the head of the palm is cut off, the cavity left behind develops a certain type of beetle larvae that is considered a delicacy.

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Beautiful dresses with crinolines made of the finest materials that could be imported from Europe and other luxuries that are now unfathomable in San Sebastian, were seen daily at the Hacienda Jalisco in its heyday. Its central patio dressed up for parties designed to show off the owner’s wife. She’d walk down the staircase, much like a European duchess, to receive her guests amidst amazement and admiration. Today, even though there is a good highway nearby and electronic communications making everything seem possible, such luxury is definitely uncommon.
The benefits of mining allowed the comforts of the first world to enter the wilds of the Sierra Madre. The mines were exploited from the arrival of the Spaniards, who brought in the opulence that comes from mining metals to such beautiful yet desolate landscapes. San Sebastian del Oeste was one such mining area, although it began a bit later than the rest. Mining in New Spain was the activity that brought in the greatest amount of wealth to the Spanish crown.
The Spaniards arrived to the convoluted territory of Hoxtotipac, inhabited by Nahuatlaca tribes, in 1524. After promising discoveries of gold and silver veins, they established three towns a few kilometers apart. They were the three “Reales”: Real de Resurreccion, known now as Real Alto, Real de los Reyes and Real de San Sebastian. They exploited precious and common metals for little less than a century. Later on, the deeper veins presented important technical difficulties for exploitation and the mines were closed down. Another factor that led to their closure was the obsessive dominance of the central vice-royal government from Mexico City. The government focused on exploitation of areas that were under tighter control, such as Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Guerrero and the central regions. Resources in other areas of the country did not become productive until the beginning of the 19th century.
In the 19th century, according to data registered by Mariano de Barcena, Jalisco contained about 377 haciendas dedicated to agriculture, cattle and mining thanks to its rich natural resources and geographical, topographical and hydraulic factors. Mining activity in this state gained importance in 1804 once the La Prieta mine was discovered near Talpa. From then on, other veins were discovered in gold silver and ….. Although most of the hacienda buildings disappeared after the Revolution, between 1910 and 1950, some remain standing. One of those is the Hacienda Jalisco, encrusted in the San Sebastian del Oeste town, some 4,300 feet above sea level. It was built towards the end of the 19th century. In 1865, various veins were discovered in Los Reyes and San Sebastian, so over 80 mines were opened and exploited for about 50 years. San Sebastian del Oeste became a booming town, home to 20,000 people, including many foreigners.
Hacienda Jalisco dominated the economic activity in the region, although it wasn’t the only hacienda around. It was in charge of the La Quiteria mine located in Los Reyes. It’s the only active mine in the region today. The sierra-type building used for housing is today a hotel-museum, as is the building in the center of town that had been the company store; both are now owned by different people. The ranch owner’s home was built on the left bank of the San Sebastian creek about a mile west of town. It’s built with two stories around a central garden surrounded by hallways. One of the mine managers had a wine cava built, the only one found in this type of building in all of the western Sierra Madre. At the western end of the property is an “alloy” patio with the ovens, the storage rooms and even a “well” for a water fall that was used to generate electricity. Hacienda Jalisco was one of the first to have phone service, although now, to benefit their guests and offer them a romantic, colonial-type experience, both phone and electricity have been discontinued.
The hotel has five bedrooms with thick adobe walls and elegant masonry work on ceilings and windows, with some of the original decorations al fresco that have been preserved from colonial times. The original hand-carved doors also remain for the guests’ enjoyment. Two other rooms have been set up to exhibit original letters, documents, books and maps produced by the mining company. The company store, with a much simpler but just as cozy architecture, is located on the southeast corner of the main plaza and houses the Pabellon Mexicano hotel.

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These exotic plants, orchids, confront strong environmental pressures due to their great beauty. They are parasitic plants, living off of other plants and trees. They spread their roots on them and obtain their nutrients that way. Their flowers are attractive not only because of their shapes, but because of their colors and the contrast they offer to the forest in the background. However, they can grow in just about any habitat. There are an infinite number of species, some growing almost 12 feet tall, while others are less than an inch long. They have a long life span, which is a disadvantage. The can take anywhere between 6 and 10 years to mature and make flowers, so this makes artificial reproduction difficult.

In spite of those difficulties, the Orchidacea are one of the largest families in the plant kingdom with close to 300,000 different species. Although the majority of these are found in tropical rainforests located at an altitude between 3000 and 9000 feet over sea level, orchids can be found from the tip of South America , Africa, Australia and the northern part of New Zealand, to the Artic Circle, and from the plains to the Alps. Many are terrestrial, in other words, rooted in the soil, while others are epiphytes, growing on the stems of other plants but not as parasites, and still other are lithophytes, growing on rocks.

In Mexico, they’re found all over the country, from the Pacific coast to the Gulf, and on up to over 11,000 feet above sea level. The greatest diversity in orchids is found in the states of Michoacan, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz and Chiapas, although every state has at least one species. Orchids were very important for our country’s ancient cultures. The Aztecs and Purepechas used the flowers for their rituals and religious ceremonies. The famous sugar cane paste Christs, famous around the world, are made with a Pre-Hispanic technique. They use a substance extracted from Michoacan orchids (Laelia speciosa, Laelia autumnalis and Encyclia citrina), to paste them together. Although the number of Mexican species is less than that of other countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, Peru or Brazil, Mexico has the greatest taxonomic information on its species. Miguel Angel Soto, an orchid specialist, found 1,106 species and subspecies in a study carried out in 1995. He concluded that 40 % of Mexican orchid species are in danger of extinction.

Cultivating orchids is no easy task because of the conditions required for their growth. That’s why most of the orchids found on the market are not as beautiful as wild ones are. They’re hybrids, crossed with other species so they can be cultivated more quickly. However, thanks to their great adaptability we can obtain 100,000 types of hybrid orchids with attractive qualities for people interested in their cultivation or for those that just want some beautiful flowers to decorate their home. It’s easy to see why the wild species are being exploited. The problem is that aside from being illegal, they are damaging the environment by deforestation.

Las Juntas y Los Veranos became famous due to the great amount of orchids found in that area. When Robert Price first went to the area, he decided to create a sanctuary. By 2005 he’d set up a non-profit organization to generate enough resources to create the Botanical Gardens that opened in 2005. “We’re trying to conserve the area, because Puerto Vallarta is growing so much. Many restaurants and other places know orchids, although they sometimes refer to them as irises, and they use them for their decoration. People pay a lot of money for one of these plants, and they’re taking them out of our jungles. We’re trying to show what this plant really represents and how important it is to the wildlife of the area”, said Jesus Reyes, one of the people in charge. The work carried out by the association has allowed them to identify 70 different species just in that area. Like Soto, however, they’ve found that about 40 % of these are in danger of extinction.

“The first stage is to have a large collection in order to conserve the 70 orchid species of the region. We decided to build a greenhouse, so that the orchids could have a better environment. The next step is to set up a lab so we can cultivate them”, said Reyes. They’ve set up an orchid club, which meets on the last Saturday of every month at 1:00 pm, and carry out classes that cover anything from their cultivation to legislation to protect them. The group also promotes research and is building an Environmental Management Unit, to get government support, not only for the protection of orchids, but for the protection of cacao and coffee plants also.

Now, running a botanical garden requires resources, so the not-for-profit is in charge of fund raising with the help of volunteers. There is also a restaurant on the grounds, part of a different business that generates income. Other income is generated by taking visitors on walks through the area. They charge $30.- pesos per person.

“We’re looking for ways to stay afloat, so we’re also selling orchids. These are orchids we bring in from Mexico City, where they’re cultivated in a lab there. What we’re trying to do is to have people buy orchids from places that don’t damage the forests and receive sales receipts to prove it”, he says. “We’ve been at it for four years and it hasn’t been easy. However, our efforts have produced some results. We’ve been able to get the orchids to grow near the paths and in the greenhouse and we’ve seen greater growth in the forest,” he concluded.

Lots of Flavor

One of the best known flavors around the world comes from an orchid. It’s vanilla, a purely Mexican plant, subject of much research at the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens.
“We want to create the greatest exhibit of Mexican vanilla on the Pacific coast. At the moment we have three species, uniflora and pompolia, which are local, and planifolia. Right now the pods are very small still, but hopefully we’ll get them to mature in about a year and a half”, explained Jesus Reyes.

This genus comprises over a hundred monopodial climbing plants that can reach a height of 100 feet with alternating leaves going up the entire length. Vanilla leaves are usually short, oblong, dark green and leathery, although some species have meatier leaves. However, there are numerous species whose leaves have become scales or that don’t have leaves any longer. They use their creeping stems for photosynthesis. They have long and strong aerial roots growing from each node. Their flowers don’t last very long and come out at the peduncle of the leaves or scales. Each bundle can contain up to 100 flowers, but they usually don’t have more than 20. They’re large and very attractive, mostly sweet smelling. They have 6 petals and are usually white, green, yellow or cream colored. Each flower opens at dawn and closes at dusk, so pollination has to occur in that period or else the flower dies.

The vanilla fruit is a long, meaty seed in the form of a pod. It takes between 8 and 9 months to mature after flowering, turning black over time and emitting a strong aroma. Each pod has thousands of tiny seeds, but it’s the pod itself that‘s used for flavor. The planifolia vanilla is the only orchid used industrially. “Vanilla was taken to Asian countries by the Spaniards on the Nao de China (Chinese Ship). Nowadays, those countries are major producers while Mexico has lapsed to third place”, he said.

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Since then, he has learned that among many other requirements, the sand cannot contain more than five solid particle residues of any size on an extension of 100 linear meters of beach. Erick had become conscious of an important fact. Doing a quick calculation, in the last two minutes, his own family had thrown out a cigarette butt and a small wrapper. Those were two particles already! They may have been small, but they were there. He started understanding that if his wife smoked a pack a day, at least a third of her cigarette butts ended up on the beach, so just that activity had stopped that beach from getting certified. He changed his outlook one hundred percent. Nowadays, if he’s asked the same question, he’d say: “define clean; to know if it’s clean or not, I need to understand your concept of clean”. Four months later, the certification had been obtained thanks to the joint efforts of private enterprise and state and county governments. When Erick came back last November, he no longer smoked on the beach.

“It’s incredible. The beach had looked clean before, but now it looks like it’s gone through a Laundromat. The view is astounding. It used to be impressive, now it’s mind-blowing. Now I can be sure my kids won’t get sick by swimming in the sea”, he said.
Still, the Banderas Bay community can’t let down their guard. They’re maintaining very strict programs to ensure that their certifications are kept up and are working on four more beaches. They know you can’t isolate one beach from the others, so they’re working to keep up the standards so that every point on the coast is impeccable.

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