In one of our news, we talked about strong winds blowing in December, when many trees fell on the territory of the Cordillera Escalera Ecolodge. The rainy season has arrived and it’s time to restore the balance! Since February of this year, our Ecolodge`s staff have begun planting valuable Quinilla trees, Ayahuasca vines, Sacha Inchi and other plants. In the rainy season, young seedlings are best accepted: all representatives of the Amazonian flora begin to grow and reproduce.
– But why are Quinilla saplings planted out of all the variety of plants in this part of the upper selva? – you may ask. To do this, you need to learn a little more about this interesting plant and about its connection with our Ecolodge. First of all, it must be said that this tree is considered the best building material in the Amazon. Furniture, pillars and house frames made from Quinilla (Latin Manilkara bidentata) will last for decades, despite the scorching South American sun, heavy rains, termite and other harmful insects. This tree is so dense and heavy that it sinks in water. Its main drawback can only be considered that it is not so easy to hammer a nail into it!
Local craftsmen call Quinilla with respect “Madera” (Spanish for wood). This plant has a very viscous resin that is used to make golf ball coatings. The tree itself looks very beautiful – dark green juicy oval-shaped leaves form a lush crown, giving a dense shadow. In our Ecolodge, all lighting masts, terrace columns, structural elements of Maloka and the Ayahuasca Museum are made of this wood, which gives us confidence that these structures will last for many decades.
It is interesting that we found Quinilla saplings on our own plot. Last year our gardeners Jonas and Johnny noticed a lot of this breed in the cleared area behind the upper bungalows. Just a couple of months before that, work was carried out in the upper part of the Ecolodge to clean up rough vegetation – lianas, bushes and grass. It was then that a huge Quinilla tree was discovered on the uppermost slope. It was from this “mother-tree” that the seeds were blown away by the wind, which quickly began to sprout. This breed grows quickly enough, gaining 60-70 cm in height per year. This means that in a couple of years these will already be trees as large as an adult human, and in a couple of years they will give a very good shade.
That is, while some trees fall, new ones grow in their place! Thanks to the staff of our Ecolodge, this process is under control, so we can maintain the territory of the eco-hotel in a form suitable for an Amazonian resort – with lush but well-groomed vegetation. The rain continues and our staff have already planted more than 20 Quinilla trees and other plants on this opportunity. These representatives of the Amazonian flora give the hotel that unique and lively look that our guests appreciate very much!