Jay Pfahl of orchidspecies.com

[Ray]

I have been communicating with Jay, who is "marooned" in Colombia, courtesy of the pandemic. I thought some of you would find it interesting, so he was kind enough to allow me to share his story here.

Hi, Ray.

First I hope that you are well and safe. Also hope that you are able to continue business so that it is not too much of a financial strain. I was able to get the PPP for my staff so they are getting paid and all of my creditors are cool until October. I own my house and business outright so no rent. My son does my books and pays my bills So I can forget my house.

You know when life gives you lemons you just gotta make lemonade! I am still in Colombia. I am fine staying through September when there will be ?? international flights. My jewelry store in Key West is still closed. My employes are talking about reopening before July. I don’t need to be there. I have a U mass botany graduate taking care of my orchids at home and he won’t take money. He sends me photos of all the blooms. I am adding a story about my Quarantine below,

I am now in a high elevation dwarf moss forest and certainly am not bored. To save time and give you the full story I have pasted 2 reports of my quarantine in Colombia below.

I was putting together a trip with my guide Jose Castaña to go to Antioquia Colombia to the Messinia Biological Reserve that straddles the states of Antioquia to the north and Risaralda to the south where the trail was the continental divide for this area of Colombia. My wife and I left the USA on March 3rd for Bogota and on March 6th went to Medellin where I was met by Jose. The COvd Virus was in the news but there was little talk of social distancing etc at this point. It was just getting a toehold on the west coast of the US and we paid it little heed. Jose and I headed to the reserve where there was internet but we were in the bush every day from 6 am till 6 pm. We started each day at 1700 meters and trekked up the trail to 3000 meters photographing orchids. By the time we got down each day it was almost dark and we were exhausted so we ate and went to bed to do it again the next day. On March 16th my wife texted me to say that our return plane tickets to the US had been canceled and that I needed to come down and get to Bogota {she was there with her mother while I was in the bush} before there were no more flights within the country. I got to Medellin on March 17th and got one of the last flights to Bogota. It was eerie in the Medellin airport which normally is abuzz with thousands of people. I was almost alone there that day with the departure boards all saying cancelled. My flight was the one of only 3 flights that left for Bogota that day and the flight was almost empty. El Dorado, Bogota's airport was also almost empty and I was lucky to get a taxi to get to our apartment there.

My wife and mother in law were ecstatic to see me as they were not sure that I was going to be allowed to travel since I was a foreigner and would then be quarantined in Medellin. My wife and I went to the grocery the next day which was the last day of open in store shopping. Put in a couple weeks groceries and made sure we had all our prescriptions filled.

Colombia has been a service country for years so we are able to get most anything by phone. I was even able to get all my medications here from the Pharmacies without a prescription just by calling. Fresh bread arrives every morning and we brew up a fabulous Colombian Coffee. Each day we order fresh fruits of all kinds, groceries and they even deliver a good Mexican Añejo Tequila which is my hands on favorite sipping liquor.

So far the Colombian government has been consistent and has extended the quarantine through the end of May. So all in all it is not bad here and I have hooked up my Colombian computer with My home computer in Florida so I can work on the site without a problem. We are healthy, happy and waiting to use our new reservations for June 4th to get back to Key West. Biggest need is heat. I live at sea level in Key West a tropical paradise with 25,000. I am here at 8900 feet in Bogota and it is a city of 8,000000 and the average temp is 65 degrees. Haven’t been outside the building for 7 week. Thank god there is a rooftop terrace where you can walk and exercise if the sun is out.

2 months later

We are still in Colombia and it appears day to day that we will be here through the summer, possibly mid august at the earliest more likely end of September.

Colombia is starting to open up a little but all cases came through the airports so they are going to start to fly within the country in a week or so, but international flights are still on hold. Colombia has been doing really well with less than 20,000 cases. The really great news is I moved to my brother in law’s house! He lives on the mountainside in a dwarf moss cloud forest in 1 of 70 houses on 7000 acres above the northern most part of the city. Think high end mansion with private security etc., It is beautiful and much larger space than where we were in the city even though we are only 15 kilometers away,. I do have to say that it is much colder. I am at 3000 meters and the property goes to 3400 meters. It is cold as you would know you could easily freeze to death outside at night if you couldn’t get inside and inside is very cold because no one has central heat because of the logistics and expense. We just bundle up. Very damp and cold, really gets to you. I am surrounded by miles and miles of trails through forests even some [actually about 65 different types to date] orchids. I have been walking every day, So few people, no one needs to wear a mask, just social distance so I went on a long walk up and over the top of the mountain with 5 other people, we had all not left our houses in 60 days, fairly sure we were safe.

At least now at this property I can spend 2 to 3 more months hanging out and not go completely stir crazy.
I have included my view off the back porch, that’s Chia below and the nearest neighbor. I have included my Lepanthes matisii that I discovered more than 20 years ago and didn’t get described till 2011. I kept bugging Padre Ortiz about it until we all came to agreement that it was new. I knew from the start that it was new as it is a Lepanthes with a 1.25 cm wide flower on a 2” plant! There are a few others as large and I could never find a picture of mine so I knew it wasn’t described as I had already been doing my website for 14 years at that point and had seen plenty of orchid photos. It is most similar in size to Lepanthes escobariana which there are photos galore as it is a cultivated species. Most unique to my species was the fact that it mimics a spider centrally and indeed there are many spiders in these woods. I asked if it could be named for me but there was a greater story to my Lepanthes. The site that I originally found it is exactly one day ride from central bogota in the later 1700’s when Mutis a Spanish botanist came to Colombia he hired a Colombian named Matis to draw the orchids that were collected. 220 years later the Padre, Lisa Thoerle [the authors of the species] were in the library of the Javeriana where the Padre was the head librarian, and he showed us Muti’s folio which had just arrived as a gift from Spain, we opened the huge tome randomly and there was a drawing of my Lepanthes. The collection site was visited by Mutis back in 1750 or so ad Matis drew the orchid. It was not named bu the drawing was an exact match. Therefore we all decided to name it after the Colombian instead of the American.

Oh well Eric Hagsater thinks that I have 3 Epidendrum [one is attached above E chicoensis in ed] here that most likely are new, I keep my fingers crossed that there might be an Epidendrum pfahlii out there. LOL

[Roberta]

Ray,
Thanks so much for posting this! I am glad that Jay is well situated, but wow, that's a long time to be stuck someplace! No matter how nice!

[fishmom]

Such an interesting letter. I admire Jay and what he has made available to all of us on-line. It does sound like he is making the best of his stay, and he is obviously an experienced traveler, but it is still a long time. Glad to know he is healthy, and his family also. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[Keysguy]

Yup, Jay's having quite the adventure. I suspect he's much safer from the virus there given how the Colombian gov't has handled the situation.
He would have been reasonably sheltered at home in Key West as well given the County checkpoint on Rt. 1 to limit access to the Keys but they "re-opened" on June 1 and case numbers are already beginning to rise as South Florida is a virus hotbed. Too bad but most of us will get through this I guess.

With everything Jay has done for the orchid enthusiasts of the world, he deserves to get something named after him. Looking forward to getting back to the Keys in the fall. Hopefully Jay will be back and healthy and there will be some great stories I'm sure.

Thanks for posting that Ray.

[rbarata]

Wow! That's a story!
Thanks Ray for posting it, also thanks to Jay for allowing it.

[Ray]

Here's the view from Jay's brother-in-law's home.

[DirtyCoconuts]

that is an amazing story and he is really making the best of it

hope he stays safe and gets home soon

that check point in the keys was a joke too.

I called to go and get lobster and i asked the guy if id be able to get down and he said that they were letting locals AND Miami residents if they had business...smh

[Tindomul]

I am from Colombia and this story makes me want to go and explore when this is over. I haven't been back since 1994.
As far as naming the orchid, I'm pretty sure that there would have been a backlash if not named after Mutis. Mutis is a commonly known name, like Jefferson. When I was a kid, any adult or school aged kid could tell me a little about him.
The great Alexander Von Humbolt met with Mutis in his travels and Thomas Jefferson. All those people from back then knew each other.