Colombian flowers are one of the main protagonists on Valentine’s Day in the United States. Every year hundreds of thousands of these leave for North America to become the “favorite gift” for this date.
Behind the already traditional flowers, there are the hands of Colombian women who delicately prepare the classic red and white roses and another great variety of flowers that they treat and pack carefully so that a couple in love thousands of kilometers away can enjoy them on the Day of the lovers
Nubia Peréz, is a flower grower who has spent 10 years of her life dedicated to classifying flowers, a task that for her is a dose of daily joy. “Flowers give you peace of mind, seeing so many flowers gives you joy,” she tells the woman. voice of americaNubia, who works at a flower farm located in Funza, a municipality near Bogotá.
Like Nubia, Lucy Pérez has been in the rose market for more than 24 years. For her, the secret that flowers transmit love to those who receive them consists in the affection that the caretakers deposit in them since they are planted in Colombia.
“For us, Valentine’s Day means helping millions of people around the world where Valentine’s Day is celebrated to have a spectacular day,” Lucy Pérez, flower grower, told VOA.
Colombia is the main supplier of flowers to the United States, according to the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters (Asocolflores), the date of Valentine’s Day represents for them 15% of the annual exports of the sector that during these months sees how its activities “are triple”.
For this reason, before these flowers reach the hands of a lover in a city in the United States and after overcoming a journey of more than 2,500 kilometers to reach the state of Florida, they first go through a rigorous security process before be embarked on a cargo flight.
“The packages arrive with a cold chain from the trucks, the flowers are unloaded and 100% of the boxes are x-rayed. We have security personnel at each of the reception points, then the flowers are weighed and prepared,” Tito Zuluaga, director of operations for Avianca, tells VOA, one of the airlines that has been operating for nearly 50 years. commissioned to transport them to the United States.
With the respective review at the airport, an entire production chain in Colombia of some 5,700 million stems has been completed, which according to Asocolflores are an exporter for this date.
“Valentine’s Day is one of our main flower seasons, the airlines prepare six months in advance, we also have to make a double effort, because we have to double our staff,” Zuluaga told VOA.
Meanwhile Nubia, Lucy and all these people from the fields will continue singing and consenting to the flowers that millions of people give to celebrate love.
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