The tagua nut, also called 'vegetable ivory', comes from the fruit of a tree that looks like a palm or palmaceus, but is actually the ciclantaceus tree or using the impressively sounding scientific name, the Phytllephas Aequatorialis Macrocarpa.
The ciclantaceus tree with fruit.
The tagua nut.
Finished product, coloured and polished.
Bob and I just bought a chess set depicting indigenous Ecuadorians. I love this material because of its natural beauty but also for the organic colour added to produce jewellery and items like this massage device. So the next time you come to visit us, you can try it out!
A massage tool. It will be in our kitchen waiting for you.
The Nut
Tagua grows in the tropical rainforests of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. Ecuador, though, is the major exporter. The fruit of tree is round, from 8 to 20 inches in diameter.
The process for creating the finished product is amazing. The content of the immature fruit is a tasteless crystalline liquid. When ripens it turns into a sweet milky substance, then later to a gelatinous viscous consistency and finally an very hard material just like ivory.
Tagua produces fruit after15 years and can bear fruit for up to a hundred years. A 35 to 40 year old plant is about six feet tall and will produce in over 3 annual harvests around 15 heads.
Thousands of people turn the Tagua nut into buttons, figurines, beads, chess sets, napkin rings and door knobs but the roots also contain medicinal properties. The leaves are used for hut roofing and the dust from the production is used in cattle feed because of its high energy content.
Tagua is often substituted for ivory because of its colour, appearance, hardness and feel. So its use helps prevents the endangerment of elephants and because only the nut is used in production, prevents rainforest deforestation.
Piedra De Agua Water Stone
Have you ever dunked completely in mud or had a Chinese Steam Bath? Well they are some experiences. We spent five hours last Wednesday at the Piedra De Agua, a thermal spa with the water and steam coming from a volcano.
After massages we had a private attendant for the four hour process. He followed us from one area to another with a stop watch so we couldn't skip the cold water dunk. He was very persuasive.
The internet photo above doesn't do the place justice because the spa is carved from volcanic rock. Part of it is underground, like the pool below.
We had two 15 minute sessions in a sauna with one full minute -- yes timed with a stop watch. I tried to sneak out of the cold part. But the attendant wouldn't let me. Geez.
There were two mud baths: the one red mud and the other silver. You cover your whole body, hair and all with red mud, slither down into it, shower and then slip into the silver mud and do the same thing all over again. Each bath has special properties to remove toxins. So we must have been well purified.
This is a Chinese Steam Bath. It's the oddest contraption I've ever seen. The one above is portable. But the boxes Bob and I were in were made of wood and were in a dark room. You walk into them, sit down and the attendant closes the front doors.
Then the attendant lowers wooden flaps down around your head. There's a hole in the top like the one above for your head. You get a towel wrapped around your neck. So you are completely enclosed. You keep your hand on a value inside to monitor the steam. There were four boxes in the room. Another couple walked in for their bath and had a good laugh at us sitting in our boxes.
We've just come home from a concert in the old 16th century church put on by students in the Faculty of Music at the University of Cuenca.
A 16th century painting from the church.
Part of the ceiling.
Tomorrow is our last day of classes. We leave early Sunday morning for Riobamba. Tomorrow night we're going to a Sufi concert. It might be a bit freaky. Hasta luego.
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