[Aztlan] achiote

[Karen Bassie]

Perhaps this is a bit off the topic, but I was just reading Boddam 
Whetham's 1875 account of his trip from Coban to Flores via Cancuen 
(Across Central America). As everyone knows achiote was used to color 
cacao drinks. Whetham described how the woman of Coban had yellowish red 
stains on their mouths and huiples:
"Inquiring about it, I learnt that they make here a very favorite 
beverage of cocoa and some other ingredients, which after drinking 
leaves a reddish stain on the mouth. As the preparation cost money (and 
napkins had not been introduced) the indelible stains on the chemise 
showed that the owner had been drinking the expensive beverage, and of 
course the more stains so much the wealthier was she who showed them. 
Now that money is more plentiful, this old sign of riches is 
unconsidered, as while few formerly were honoured with the marks, now 
they may be seen on all."
The Spanish priest Francisco Gallego described the trade between 
Sacapulas, Verapaz and the lowlands in A.D. 1676:
"Here, near the banks of the river of Sacapulas, are forty houses and a 
river filled with canoes. Using them, the Lacandons go to the lands of 
the Verapaz, and those of the Verapaz go to the lands of the Lacandon. 
It is here that they make the achiote fair of Verapaz, and to it come 
the Lacandon, Ahitza, and many other nations of Indians".
So it is quite obvious that achiote was a very hot commodity.