Peru; & a thing or two about Orchids

Peru! What was going to be a motorbike adventure all the way up to Lima, took a temporary break in La Paz (Salmonella) and landed me on a flight to Lima a week later. In retrospect, i don´t think it was an entirely bad thing to leave the bike out of the Peruvian adventure, and heed the many warnings of driving alone in Peru. I was convinced that big city traffic, dangerous suburbs, and driving alone wouldn't be more of a problem than what I had already confronted along my way, but honestly, it was nice break from spending days on end in the drivers seat. 

The Wild Orchid Man

I met up with Stig at the airport in Lima. Stig, also known as the Wild Orchid Man in his community and a good friend to my family. In the car from the airport, he explained to me what in fact he is dedicating his life to. My blurred and misinformed idea of the orchid world quickly came into focus, and it started to make sense why someone would find interest and passion in collecting, and even studying this surprisingly complex plant. Orchids have actually evolved for over a 100 million of years and thrive in all parts of the world (apart from Antarctica), thus proving to be one of the most adaptable plants on our planet. 

Stig and Saul

Furthermore, there is a huge market world wide for orchids and it is quite a profitable business (especially trade with more unusual species). Stig told me something which I hadn´t paid attention to, that you´ll actually find orchids in most of the apartment windows in Sweden, and surely Sweden would not be an exception. Still, despite the world wide trade and profitability, it is of an entirely different reason that Stig and his partners head out into the jungle to look for the unique and rare plants. During my stay with Stig and his companion Saul, I witnessed a dedicated and very attentive work to the science of Orchids and the protection of new endangered species. 

There are in fact over 25,000 species of Orchids, belonging to one of +800 existing families. Still, many new species are found and "described" to the community each year. Saul explained to me that this is one of the most exciting parts of the of their work, to find something no one has ever seen before and then describe it. Still, they see it as very important to collect specimen of not yet completely described, rare or endangered species to protect them, improve the information available and increase their numbers.

It was truly a privilege to witness all the scientific work behind their passion of this perculiar plant. Saul also work in the orchid business and sell orchids around the world. Stig, now retired, travel around the work to dedicate his time to he study and protection of orchids.  

And heads up! - For those of you driving in and around Lima on motorbikes, the traffic is truly chaotic, uncompromising, and without mercy. A perfect spot for someone to relieve you of your belongings in heavy traffic.