In quest of a rare plant, 49-year-old Luis May Ku trudges forward through shoulder-height shrubs surrounded by dense jungle and under the overlapping canopies of towering trees. The intense heat of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) dulls the senses, and the humid air sticks to our skin, forming sweatdrops that drip down.
May, an Indigenous Maya ceramicist, finds a shrub that resembles others in shape and texture after searching through the thickets, but he maintains that this one is unique. He tells me that the soft, sprawling leaves are wild ch’oj, also known as Indigofera suffruticosa (the Mayan term for “indigo plant,” or “anil” in Spanish), a crucial component of the highly prized Maya blue pigment.
