The Orchid Hunter - Revisited

     Several days ago I got a note from my good friend Lorenzo in Ecuador that he had met with one of our old hunting companions, Klever Cordova.  Klever or Kleber (it is pronounced with a "b" sound so it can be spelled either way) was someone with whom Lorenzo and I used to go hunting frequently back in the mid 1980s to early 1990s.  Klever had remarkable knowledge of the area and the game around Naranjal where he grew up, and Lorenzo had been hunting with him since he was a kid.
     About a decade or so ago I published a story about Klever that was called "The Orchid Hunter."  I had written a series of three stories about interesting characters that I had met while in Ecuador.  The series were entitled "Mis Amigos de Ecuador" ("My Friends from Ecuador") and it included the story about Reinaldo Diaz called "Tom Mix of Ecuador" (about which I had blogged earlier), "My Friend Lorenzo - muy amigo," and the third and final piece, "The Orchid Hunter."  The stories were to appear concurrently with the overall title of "Mis Amigos de Ecuador" in a book of anthology.  Unfortunately, as those who have published know, editors do take liberties in rearranging things.  In this case, each story was separated by many pages rather than being together, and somehow the story "My friend Lorenzo - muy amigo" became "Mis Amigos de Ecuador" by itself!  Well, these things happen.  Although I wasn't pleased, there was nothing I could do about it, at least they were published intact!
     In the "Orchid Hunter" I described how Klever had grown up in the area around Naranjal, a town located south of Guayaquil.  Klever was not much for studying in school and preferred to spend time in the outdoors hunting, at first with a sling shot, then later with a muzzle loading shotgun called chimeneya (smoke stack or chimney) locally.  These are cheap shotguns that are cobbled by village "gunsmiths/blacksmiths" and are about as dangerous to the shooter as they are to the target!  At any rate, in the process, he became incredibly knowledgeable about local game and the terrain.  Lorenzo had known Klever since both were kids. 
     Lorenzo being from a well to do family, used to go hunting with his grandfather and father since he was little.  As is common practice in much of Latin America and other developing countries, sportsmen hire local kids as "bird boys," to do retrieving work.  Also, some of the kids are knowledgeable about the area and are used as guides.  Klever, even as a kid, had developed a reputation for being not only an expert on the area but local game birds as well.  So Lorenzo's father always looked for Klever when they came hunting in Naranjal area.
     I met Klever in 1984 for the first time through Lorenzo.  We had gone duck hunting on the outskirts of Naranjal and Lorenzo told me that Klever was the best "guide" in the area.  Klever did not disappoint, he impressed me right off the start as being very knowledgeable about the game and the area.  From 1984 until 1992, except for a two year break for my tour in Paraguay from 1986 to 1988, I had hunted with Klever whenever we went to Naranjal area. 
     When I first met Klever in 1984, he was working as a orchid hunter/finder for a Guayaquil orchid dealer.  Because of Klever's expert knowledge of the area around Naranjal, he knew where to find some very rare and unusual orchids.  He would collect orchids in the wild and bring them to Guayaquil where his employer paid him a pittance compared to what the orchids brought on the market.  However, Klever didn't mind, since this work gave him a lot of freedom, no clock to punch, no bosses to mind!  Whenever he needed money, he went out and gathered some orchids and took them to Guayaquil and made a few bucks.  So Klever, besides having expert knowledge of local bird and animal life, also was an expert on plants!
     Around 1991 Klever decided to do something different and took a job with a Japanese expat who was doing some specialized farming in an area outside the town of Santo Domingo de los Colorados.
By this time Klever had a common-law wife and a baby, so I guess he decided that he needed more steady work than just being an orchid finder for a dealer in Guayaquil.  Everything was going well for Klever and Lorenzo and I even made a memorable trip to Klever's new stomping grounds to do some shooting.  Klever's Japanese employer was very good to him and trusted him completely.  But, things sort of went sideways for Klever a few year later and for whatever reason and he got into trouble with his boss.  He was fired from his job and ended up living in El Guasmo, a slum area in Guayaquil.  He had broken up with his common-law wife and took to the bottle and sort of dropped out of sight.   
     When I wrote the story the "Orchid Hunter," Lorenzo had told me that Klever was still in a kind of a funk, so the story had somewhat of a negative ending.  I said something to the effect at the end that I hoped things would straighten out for Klever.  Then a few years later Lorenzo told me that he had seen Klever and that he had gotten his act together.  He was sober and united with his common-law wife and kid and seemed to be doing well.  It was, therefore, very good to hear from Lorenzo a few days ago when he told me that he was planning to get together with Klever and do some hunting and fishing.
     I will always remember Klever Cordova with fondness.  I had never encountered anyone in Ecuador who was as knowledgeable about the game and the terrain in his area.  Despite lack of education, I believe he had about a 6th grade level education, he was as smart and sharp as anyone I met in Ecuador.  In a country that basically has only the rich and the poor with a negligible middle class, Klever will never be able to enjoy some of the luxuries that the rich in Ecuador and the majority in America take for granted.  But, in his own way, he probably doesn't miss it and has a quality of life that most here as well as in Ecuador will envy!