Page 19 - AHATA

A14 LOCAL
Tuesday 17 sepTember 2019

Ewald Biemans, owner of Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort:
The Green Lantern of Aruba

Continued from Page 13 them right you get more results. The same
goes for the plants, there are people who
Farmer at Heart communicate with plants. I love plants and
The sustainability part comes back from Bie- grow them.” He went into the hotel business
mans’ ancestry and youth. “I am a farmer at because he loves people, giving service and
heart, I grew up the first seven years of my the ambiance of the resort business. It’s all
life on a farm in Austria. I love nature, I love about celebration, fun, anniversaries, birth-
animals and of course my profession which days and honeymoons, he says. “I could
is hotel business and service. Actually it is the never work in the service industry like a hospi- sity which he attended in Tallahassee, Florida. “It
same service as a farmer. Your cattle; pigs, tal or police force. That to me is too tragic.” has a very good international business depart-
chickens, dogs they need to be taken care Biemans went to the hotel school in Austria ment.” He worked for Hilton and Intercontinental
off and they will return the love. You treat and partly in Venezuela followed by univer- and came to vacation in Aruba. They offered me
a job here in the hotel business and I accepted it,
here I am 50 years later,” Biemans laughs.

Go Out & Preach
His mission is to create more awareness on his
beloved island and in the world about sustain-
ability. “People don’t realize that one of the main
motivations is global warning, you need to start
worrying. Sea levels rose for the last 20 years but
nobody seems to care meaning that the beach
will be gone here in the next 30-40 years.” He
gives workshops all the time, but locally there is
simply not much interest in this area. “I was much
more active 20 years ago than I am today. I am
still doing a lot though, I go out and preach. But
you can’t impose anything, you must keep on
repeating. Luckily you read about it more and
more every day and it will come here eventually.
I will never give up.”q

Crecentia cujete: Our Calbas Tree Episode XXXV

Since the beginning of time of Mexico they still call the calbas, Crecentia cujate
people have collected and head of Vucub- Hunahpú.
selected all kinds of things The Calbas as a practical, reusable, bio recipient has
and for an infinite use and been incredibly valuable over thousands of years, also
reasons. All this selecting and as a musical instrument or in healing in coming-of-age
discarding contributed in en- rituals, festivals and ceremonies. The pulp of the inner
gineering man`s success into fruit is cooked in to syrup to guard against flu and up-
organized social groups of set stomach. It is also said that this same white pulp full
civilization. For example the of flat black seeds is also used against ticks and fleas
world’s vegetation; plants by smearing the whole animal in it, then let it dry on its
were used to build shelters, coat, let it cure and then rinse off with water.
bridges and transportation,
for food, medicine, color In this episode we will focus on a very special tree that This amazing tree is considered to be a very sacred
pigments, to weave clotting played a vital role in the conquest of the Caribbean tree for many ethnic cultural groups in the Americas.
and ropes, for musical instru- and survival of its habitants in general. Etnia Nativa’s Calbas tree seeds have been dispersed all over the
ments, tools and weapons, selection in this episode is regarding a very important tropics during the colonial times for its practicality, in-
and all sorts of unimaginable plant which you can find in Aruba`s country side and teresting shape and reusable resistance. Unfortunately
things. emphasizing specially on its fruit it gives. This mythologi- for our island, ne tree less it too many.
cal plant mentioned in Popol Vuh, codex, Mayan lit-
erature, the so called masters of the infra-world who This fascinating tree has also suffered discrimination
killed and decapitated Vucub- Hunahpú, then telling lately by those who considers it as something that be-
to go put his severed scull in a tree that was planted longs to the poor, therefore cut down in demands of
down the road, this tree that had never ever bloomed. constructing new buildings and infrastructure without
This action of placing the skull in and between the any consideration or respect.
branches provoked an instant burst of green rounded
fruits that covered the whole tree. A fruit no living be-
ing had ever seen before. That’s why in some regions Continued on Page 15