Orchid Paradise

I’ve met some fantastic people in Cuenca, first Shelley and Brian, who welcomed me as though I were already a friend and soon after, Rich and Nancy, who have been just as kind. Rich and Nancy treated me to an eye-opening morning at the orchid enterprise, Ecuagenera, on Saturday.

It’s hard to believe that these gorgeous flowers begin their life in these glass bottles at the nursery, where the seedlings are sealed and safeguarded from any contamination until they are ready to be planted. The nursery holds between 13,000-15,000 bottles at a time and approximately 15 plants will be harvested from each bottle.

We saw a glorious variety of orchids and took so many photos that I had a very hard time deciding which to post. Of the 3787 species found in Ecuador, some of which can only be found here, roughly 2500 can be found at Ecuagenera, where they are exported around the world. This is just a small sample of what you’ll see.







And finally, here’s the startling and somewhat eerie “Cara de Mono” (Monkey Face) orchid.