Cultivating Beauty: A Look Inside the Pearl Farm at Miramar
Fueled by passion and perseverance, Enrique Arizmendi, owner of a One-of-a-Kind Oyster Pearl Farm is here to share how something as small as a pearl can significantly impact the community and environment.
Welcome to The Expat Experience, where host and real estate expert Robert DeForge sits down with special guest Enrique Arizmendi, owner of a one-of-a-kind oyster pearl farm. In this episode, Enrique shares how his journey began as a student project in 1991 and evolved into a thriving business, thanks to unwavering community support and relentless dedication. You'll hear about the unique species of oysters that produce vibrant, naturally colorful pearls found only in the Sea of Cortez, and the meticulous 18-month process it takes to harvest each one. Enrique also explains what happens to pearls that don't meet his high standards, the surprising environmental role oyster farming plays, and the ways global warming could impact the future of these incredible creatures. Finally, Enrique opens up about the most rewarding moments of his career — and the powerful lessons in perseverance that can inspire anyone chasing a dream.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- (00:00) Enrique Arizmendi’s entry into the pearl farming business, and the different species of oysters and their special characteristics
- (11:39) Enrique walks through the entire operation and the 18 months of harvesting a single pearl
- (21:55) What happens to the pearls that are not up to the standard Enrique sets, and what role do they play in the environment
- (25:47) Enrique shares what happens to these one-of-a-kind pearls
- (32:09) Enrique discusses how global warming affects the future of the pearl oyster
- (39:44) Enrique explains what the most rewarding aspects of his business have been
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Truly One-Of-A-Kind Pearls: The pearls from the Sea of Cortez are unique due to their color, fluorescence, and the special species of oyster used. Unlike other pearls worldwide, these pearls exhibit vibrant, natural shades like purples, greens, and reds because of a light interference effect. They also fluoresce pink to red under ultraviolet light and come from a different genus of pearl oyster, making them truly unique.
- Pearl Quality Depends on Growth Time and Careful Selection. After a minimum of 18 months growing inside the oyster, pearls are harvested and meticulously sorted. Only pearls that reach at least 8 millimeters with a good layer of mother-of-pearl are kept for jewelry; smaller or poorly coated pearls are either repurposed or returned to the ocean during a ceremonial offering.
- Pearl Oysters Play an Important Environmental Role. Beyond producing pearls, pearl oysters contribute to ocean health by filtering seawater, helping control organic matter, and preventing harmful algae blooms. This natural filtration system supports a balanced marine ecosystem, especially in the Sea of Cortez.
RESOURCES:
Perlas del Mar de Cortez - Store
Expat, Expat Experience Podcast, Pearl Farm, Pearl Farming, Oysters, One-of-a-Kind Oyster Pearl, Colorful Pearls, Unique Pearls, Overcoming Doubt, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Jewelry Industry, Custom Pearls, Jewelry, Exotic Pearls, Pearl Industry, Living in Mexico, Moving to Mexico, Mexican Real Estate, Moving to Mexico, Enrique Arizmendi, community support, dedication, Sea of Cortez, Sea of Cortez Pearls, Pearl Harvest, oyster farming, perseverance, Miramar Mexico, Playa Miramar, one-of-a-kind pearl, global warming, pearl quality, Sustainable Pearl Farm, Sustainability, Perlas del Mar de Cortez, Fair Trade Gems
Transcript
The Expat Experience Ep 5 : Cultivating Beauty: A Look Inside the Pearl Farm at Miramar
[:[00:00:28] This podcast is your compass to navigating the exciting journey to San Carlos, Mexico Living. Get ready to turn your relocation dreams into sun soaked reality.
[:[00:00:55] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: See, Rob, thank you very much for the invitation. It was an, an honor, [00:01:00] uh, for me to, to receive it. I am very glad to be talking, uh, with you here.
[:[00:01:39] We wanted to, to do it with our own project of pearl farming. In those days, people didn't want us to be disappointed, so they, they told us a lot about, uh, well, but you have to have like a secondary plan if it doesn't work. But we [00:02:00] were young. We were, and that, uh, that innocence is a blessing. And we, and we thought, no, no, no.
[:[00:02:42] It was the best Pearl meeting ever. Uh, and we went there because a professor said like, like, yes, let's, let's help these guys. The director of, of the school helped us to look this, how you can have some [00:03:00] financial support because, uh, you are not working while you're in grad school. Um, the director of, of, of the graduate program also helped us with, uh, with other things.
[:[00:03:43] So we put a lot of effort into it, but we have to acknowledge and. All the people that, that put a, a little grain of sand into this so that it could grow. That, that, uh, [00:04:00] this thing did not happen isolated because of something I wanted to do. No, this is, this is something that happened in, uh, in, in a certain environment.
[:[00:04:42] That's all very important. It is. It is the basis for, for what, um, you can do later, but it was time to face the, the production issue. And look, the president of the university, which is take the Monterey, [00:05:00] it is a big university here in Mexico. They have like 27 campuses or campy, depending on how you make the pearl.
[:[00:05:46] Um, uh, small hiccups in production. Uh, but, but that was, that, that was January 1st, 1996 that we started [00:06:00] the pilot project with, uh, it was only one worker then. But with all the equipment, professional equipment that we needed and not so much all the things that we improvised to start and do the, the, the research parts, the, the same year, we already have a lot of, of, of half pearls from ma pearls.
[:[00:06:44] So we have these two different types of, of pearls, and we have been doing, uh, pearl farming ever since. Uh. So that's, that's how, how it all started.
[:[00:07:07] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: Okay. First of all, the most evident thing is color.
[:[00:07:39] So our pearls may be purple or green with, uh, with red or different combinations of colors because of this effect, because our pearl oyster makes the layers of mother of pearl not only thin, but very regular as well. So. That's, that's one thing that you [00:08:00] will notice the moment you, you come across the, these pearls, like you enter our, our, our store here and you see pearls that are not white.
[:[00:08:36] Uh, that particular case is because, uh, Russian whalers would come, uh, and visit all the Pacific, all the way to Baja California and there they would come in contact with, with fishermen who would trades. For example, goat skins and these Russians, they have other, other things to to trade. [00:09:00] So there were a lot of, a lot of pearls that ended up in Moscow, for example, besides collar and ultra fluorescence.
[:[00:09:36] Uh, that's, that's the pearl oyster that makes both the black pearls in Tahiti or the white pearls in Australia or any of those. And we have a pearl oyster from the genus tedia. It has, uh, tedia means wing because, uh, sometimes they look like a pen, penguins wing. Um, [00:10:00] and our per. Is a fighter. That's how the Japanese describe the two different types of of genus.
[:[00:10:42] But our per lo is so sensitive that it will rather crack its shell than than stop fighting if, uh. So that limits the amount of people that can do the operation. Uh, [00:11:00] you need people that even, they have to be, to have certain skill with their hands, but the most important thing is that they have to have this empathy.
[:[00:11:34] Robert DeForge-Host: Can you tell us a little bit about what the operation entails?
[:[00:11:39] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: See, the, the operation is, uh, is a surprise for me every time I do it because it is a graft tissue operation. The, the Pearl Lo has all the, all the, all the shellfish in the world have an organ that we don't have that it's the [00:12:00] mantle. The mantle is the organ that makes the shell, and it has to be next to the shell to, to make that construction.
[:[00:12:35] The most common ca cause or, or the only cause for which I have evidence is the attack of parasites.
[:[00:12:44] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: Different animals that can drill through the shell. There are animals that can drill through rocks, so the shell is nothing for them. They drill the shell and once they reach the inside, they cut the flesh open to put, uh, eggs inside, [00:13:00] or they try to eat the per lo and the per lo, uh, the only means of defense it has is to coat those intruders with layers of mother of pearl.
[:[00:13:50] And then you have, uh, uh, natural pearl starting to be formed. So natural pearls are formed [00:14:00] inside the, the. They grow and grow and grow there. But for us, uh, this was of no use exactly as I described it because the mantle of terrana is very thin. You cannot put anything in there. When you lift gently the mantle, it, it's like rice paper.
[:[00:14:38] To do this. We read a lot about how everybody else, uh, what was thought that the others did, because in those days it was not common. Like right now you can find, uh, the operation in TikTok, but in those days it was kind of a secret and you have to travel to, to universities to, to [00:15:00] do your research. For example, we went, uh, a couple of times to Arizona University to.
[:[00:15:32] Then we make a tunnel. A tunnel to put a tiny sphere of six millimeters. This sphere is known as the nucleus, and it has to be exactly the same material. Mother of pearl. So you're putting a mother of pearl bead inside the pearl in the belly. Uh. At the end of a tunnel [00:16:00] so that it won't go out. One, uh, if the per loyer makes one of its strong contractions, but together with the nucleus, you have to make a graft.
[:[00:16:54] It's, it starts to, it reacts defensively to the [00:17:00] foreign body that is our nucleus of mother of pearl, uh, and starts reproducing. It produces more and more cells until it coats completely the intruder and then it starts depositing mother of pearl on the inside to protect the pearl. So that's what, uh, is not.
[:[00:17:53] Remember that we, uh, that we're talking about, uh, uh, an operation [00:18:00] that I do outside of the water. So I take the prolo out of its bucket. I put it in a standing front of, of my eyes so that I, I am not crouching, but, but I have it at the level of my eyes and the. Start to dry. You can have a pearl oyster alive for 24 hours, provided it is not hot.
[:[00:18:59] [00:19:00] The per loyer can stay alive and, and keep receiving oxygen no problem, but stand where I put it to do the operation. Uh, it is not as humid and it is important to do the, to do the operation with a, with a flow That, so that you are not in a, in a hurry, but that you finish fast so that you can put it back in the water.
[:[00:19:54] And it comes from the American Pacific. Maybe Panama, maybe, [00:20:00] uh, LaPas. But it comes from, from, from the American Pacific. Another species that we have that is, uh, Alama Atlantic. So that's, that's the operation Robert
[:[00:20:25] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: The minimum has to be 18 months, and that's a good timeframe. But this is like, uh, like sending children to, to, to the school. You give them the same opportunity and some make the the best of it. And, and others are super lazy and they just put a little thing out of mother of pearl. So it is very important that after the 18 months of pearl coating, when you are harvesting, that you separate good from not enough good.
[:[00:21:20] Eight millimeters will be considered as good in a, in an average day. There are special groups of smaller pearl oysters or bigger pearl oysters to do bigger or, or, or smaller. But sometimes you put a six millimeter nucleus and you obtain a six and a half millimeter pearl. It has, uh, it is not enough, so six and half.
[:[00:22:11] Sometimes we even throw 10 PEs of coins or some things like that. It is, I know it's silly. But, um, but that's, that's, I mean, for, for a Pearl Harvest, we go with, uh, with older Pearls Perth that, that are nice, but that do not have enough coating of Mother of Pearl. And we make an offering and a ceremony before each harvest.
[:[00:23:15] They make it soluble again, so that it enters the, the, the, the water and from the water. Other animals that are building bone or mother of pearl can take that, those elements and use them in their, in their, in their own production.
[:[00:23:41] What's, what's its job in the environment other than you making pearls?
[:[00:24:11] Think of, uh, Ray raised Manta Ray. They, they have very strong, uh, bite and they can crush, uh, pearl oysters, for example. Also the trigger fish. They have a very strong bite, and they can also, uh, break the, the, the, the shells of pearl oysters. So they are in the tr chain. They, uh, together with other shellfish, they provide the service of, of filtering the water.
[:[00:25:24] Uh, but we do not have, um, lethal red tides because the shellfish do very well. Their, their work of, of filtering enough of it so that it establishes the good conditions.
[:[00:25:48] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: When you harvest your pearls, luckily you don't have to be to do more things. Like, no, you don't have to do polishing or, or cutting or anything. They, you use them as [00:26:00] they come out of, out of nature. That's why the Pearl is the oldest gem of mankind and the oldest of them all are. Cortes Pearls found in Isla spirit.
[:[00:26:47] They are a group of 14 pearls, uh, between eight and 12 millimeters. So that's good size, good size pearls pearl than those.[00:27:00]
[:[00:27:25] Addison. It was so close. It was a, we couldn't believe it. We have to, we have to, to to know. We have to go everywhere. Just to go back to the beginning, the first show that we did ever was in 97 in, in, in Tucson, and we have been going there every year. It is the United Nations of, of gems. It the best place to.
[:[00:28:15] And we even, uh, work with people in, in, in Washington state, in Vancouver, but in Washington state, not, not the other Vancouver. And so we have jewelry from different, uh. From, from different parts. And we have, we have a, a, a, a store where we sell earrings, rings, pendants, uh, of, of this, of these pearls, of different colors.
[:[00:28:49] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: I have here, uh, uh, a pearl. Well, that's
[:[00:28:57] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: See what we can see is that it is.[00:29:00]
[:[00:29:30] So this is, this is a very, a very nice pearl. Um, I will send you a picture later, but I also want to show you another one. This is a nice pearl also. Let me, yes. Let's see it this size. What are we looking at? Oh, okay. It's a pearl cut in half. So we are looking at the nucleus in the center and then the coating of mother of Pearl around it.[00:30:00]
[:[00:30:30] It looks like it is hollow, but it is not. It is just that the, this per oyster makes the, the acre so translucent that sometimes it is transparent, completely transparent. That's why it looks hollow. So this is a natural pearl, not a nice one.
[:[00:31:01] Robert DeForge-Host: Yes.
[:[00:31:17] They are like this.
[:[00:31:22] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: See, it is difficult to see the color because they reflect the light and it, it looks white in the center, but they can have very, very nice, uh, nice colors. Of course, there is a wide variety. Our pearls are all different when we make earrings. It is always a compromise between two pearls, that kind of like each other.
[:[00:31:57] Robert DeForge-Host: Do you have any, uh, any [00:32:00] plans to, to have any other offerings or any changes coming in the future at the Pearl Farm?
[:[00:32:12] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: choice because our. World, our natural world is changing. I have daily temperatures for the last 30 years in the same place at the same time of every day, and I can clearly see that the last 10 years have been much warmer than the previous 20.
[:[00:33:04] And then I can see that from, uh, from two.
[:[00:33:40] In winter, that's when they are comfortable. In summer, they, uh, they, they, they, they suffer it. They really do. So this warmer, uh, years means that they will be close to sub lethal and it will not be convenient. So we have to, we [00:34:00] have to come up with something like soon, like soon, because the, our world is changing.
[:[00:34:37] In 1997, we had a very strong El Nino and they never fully recovered. And now that it is even warmer, the, the, all, all the forests are of super tiny, uh, algae. So our world, our natural world is, is, is changing and. We have to, to, [00:35:00] to consider a, a lot of, a lot of things. For example, in this moment, in this moment, while we're talking here, because uh, it's still, uh, kind of, kind of warm in the water, uh, the pearl oysters, I have them in a deep water station.
[:[00:35:37] They do not like the hot months. Uh, so, so yes. We have to come up with something
[:[00:35:56] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: Well, first of all, we are here in Yma San Carlos because this [00:36:00] is, this is our, our, uh, the place where, where, where we, uh, where we thrive. But also you can find the pearls on, on our website.
[:[00:36:52] Going to this website, perla.com mx.
[:[00:37:04] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: the Pearl
[:[00:37:05] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: where the Pearl Farm is. Okay. We also have a a a a store. And there is another thing I want to tell you. There are two groups of people that started buying our pearls.
[:[00:37:55] And why don't you sell them and, uh, sell me something? How much? [00:38:00] And it was, it is not only an anecdote, it is an important part of. Of the, of our beginnings of, uh, it was having people interested and also of course our first pearl was people from Yma that still remember, uh, days when their families were involved in something to do with the Pearl Fishery.
[:[00:38:56] Come true. The, the, the, the potential of, of the, of [00:39:00] the, of the Pearl Farm as a business here.
[:[00:39:10] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: See we give a a a a tour. That, that has a very clear explanation, uh, about, about how to, to make pearls with a lot of things to show to you where you can see the workers, uh, doing that.
[:[00:39:37] Robert DeForge-Host: What would you say is the most rewarding thing regarding the the Pearl Farm in your experience
[:[00:39:45] This is this something that, that you are young and you make this big commitments. One of our commitments were regarding labor [00:40:00] and nature. And we made these, these commitments and we were true to our word. And that's, uh, that's very important for us for, for, for my partners and me. And that that has, uh, given us, uh, some, some satisfaction.
[:[00:40:52] Protection of the environment while being completely, uh, in order with all the legal things that [00:41:00] Mexico requires you to do. So that has been our pride that all the things that we said out innocent, that we, uh, that that commitment we made it. Without a doubt. So those two things, labor and envi and environment were, were done by the ethics that we have when we were young.
[:[00:41:28] Robert DeForge-Host: Do you have one story that pops into your mind regarding the Pearl Farm?
[:[00:41:34] Robert DeForge-Host: difficult for
[:[00:41:52] So it tells you that it was really, uh, a surprise for, for a lot of people. Think, think the nineties, the, [00:42:00] the beginning of the two thousands, everybody was so sure that, that Mexico couldn't. Grow their own pearls. That it, it created a, a lot of things. I I, I remember Japanese buying, taking the pearls in their hands and saying, this, not pearl, this not pearl.
[:[00:42:48] So that, that's. Anecdote, but there, there are plenty because being, having a different kind of pearl has led to invitations for us to go to, to, to parties. [00:43:00] I have been in Doha, in Qatar, uh, in, in the Emirates, both Dubai and, and, uh. Dhabi. So it, it has meant lots of invitations to Chicago responsible jeweler conference, many, it has taken us to, to many parts of the world and we are grateful for that.
[:[00:43:40] Enrique Arizmendi-Pearl Farmer: Robert.
[:[00:44:01] Thank you.
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