Oh, Parota!

Yesterday, one of our local building supply stores had a beautiful piece of parota on sale: 3 inches thick x 12 feet long, width varying between 38 and 46 inches. Price? $3850 Canadian ($2850 US).
No wonder some people cut them down. Who knows what the salvage value may have been on the beautiful parota that used to grace Calle Adelita, in between Villas Mercedes and where Ruebens is now. As I recall the photos of the carnage, the trunk was cut into fairly small chunks.

The said Parota tree that once adorned calle Adelita, in Col. Madera next to Ruebens, was owned by the restaurant. That 60 ft. Parota was enjoyed by the neighborhood tourist and resident but was sold by the board foot from the family who sells you hamburgers.

We were removing a dead tree in front of our place on La Madera in order to replace it, when a woman walked by and gave me a ration of crap, claiming it was illegal to remove trees in Zihua. I explained that it was dead, but she insisted that it didn't matter, it was still illegal.

Hola Holymole
I was told by a local carpenter quite recently that a door made of beautiful, dark parota (hardwood) would not be much more expensive than the same door made from common white pine (softwood). Another carpenter confirmed this surprising news, indicating there is no shortage of parota, unlike that other beautiful, dark hardwood, bocote, (think rocking chairs) which is harder to find.

for what its worth, cutting parota may be illegal in Guerrero but...

Hola Holymole
I was told by a local carpenter quite recently that a door made of beautiful, dark parota (hardwood) would not be much more expensive than the same door made from common white pine (softwood). Another carpenter confirmed this surprising news, indicating there is no shortage of parota, unlike that other beautiful, dark hardwood, bocote, (think rocking chairs) which is harder to find.

I would be wary of cheap parota. It might not be legal. If the folks who profited from parota would plant trees then it would be another matter, but they don't, and like most exotic woods they are often stolen from our forests or otherwise harvested illegally, decreasing our biodiversity little by little.