The Pleasant Bees of the Chicozapote Log

You see the little bees? These bees right here. There’s A LOT of bees inside, thousands of bees! You can sit here whole day and they will not bother you. They are nice, pleasant bees. Ahan, and some people they are afraid of the bees. I come see, right back here sitting down. Studying from here and I watch the place. And I don’t want any one to come and disturb it, that’s why I show everybody that come in this little piece of sapodilla.

The sapodilla is the strong tree that these bees made their hive on. They are not looking for a log that will rot in ten, fifteen years. This would take very long; this is the sap I told you the chiclero, put in these cut. But now it’s cut for fence posts. Then, like this stick they come and cut it. When they find this animal is living in here, when they see cut here, look. And they decide to leave this piece of wood because this part, is the heart of the sapodilla. These bees in Plaza Copal, here. Past several years ago, working here with the Boss, that I saw bees here. Now I show all the people that I guide around the site. They like to see and take snaps when they come out. Some of them take photos of it. They say, "Teo, we don’t have these type of bees", and "We never see this types of bees". They are quiet. And they, ... they look so tender and are beautiful little bees.

A Clear Spice Honey

The bee, the Maya, they used that honey. And this honey contains a lot of good things for babies to heal them. Little scar and things that you have on your face. Eating this honey is very good this clear honey. This tastes like, how do you say, like cinamint, like cinnamon. Like a spice tea. This type of honey has a good smell. It’s white honey; it’s not the yellow honey.

To get to that honey, you don’t destroy, because you take it out from the back. And when you open the back here, you see, well, you hear the bees. Before you burst the wood, you going to hear the bees. So whenever, time you take off that little square piece, that going right back inside like a cover. You have to take out all. And then they will build back new honey for new honey for next year. See the honey take out here every twelve months. And next year the same time you going to come there will be honey again.

Entering the Hive through the Wax Funnel

Touch the bottom of it, all the bottom - wax. this little point, this take to build up with wax, They have this part of the funnel here, is hard, but very flexible. You have these little wax here good for where you have prickle sliver on your finger that can’t come out, you put that there, and that’s going to haul it up.

Now, when it rain, this little hole on top on this wax funnel, when it’s rains this have like a, .... like a wind coming out of this hole. When they carving out, working inside, this kind like wind come out of this little tunnel here. So the rain only comes in the side no rain goes in the center there. Whenever time the rain comes now, no rain goes inside, no water, see cause it’s before, that comes out.

The Bees Work Hard Night and Day

So, whatever time the rainy season, you see them working hard. They same one fixing it and they building it, they building this up from the time I see it was only a little hole, now this one be a big one, a stout one. See they protect it outside, they minding. They start to work that, and they find these flying out, it has honey. OH, there’s many more than this inside! Ahaa, those little yellow flowers we see like those little things there, go there and they suck the juice water [nectar] that drops, and they come in their hive and make honey.