Fiji!

 

Bula! 

We’ve been using Fiji cocoa beans for about a year now.  Cacao Fiji is the name of the association that grows and processes this cacao. We LOVE these beans.  Our descriptor for this chocolate bar is “hot cocoa notes with a creamy marshmallow finish.”  

For the past year we have been communicating with Arif Kahn the Director/Founder of Cacao Fiji.  You can imagine how excited we were to finally travel here and meet him and see his operation. 

As luck would have it, Arif was traveling the same day and ended up on our flight from Nadi, Viti Levu to Labasa, Vanua Levu.  As we landed we were introduced to the Assistant Minister of Agriculture for Fiji, Viam Pillay. 

Here’s a picture of Ned presenting our bar to Mr. Pillay.  Arif is second from the right. 

Easy flight from SFO to Nadi.  We breezed thru customs and immigration, literally took us 10 minutes!  We then had a 4 hour layover in Nadi.   We spent our time walking back and forth between the Domestic terminal and the International terminal.  To put this in perspective that took all of 5 minutes.   However, after the eleven hour flight it felt great to stretch our legs.  We also had fun just being goofy.  Note the bottom picture.  It’s a 3-D drawing that you can “step into”.   Here’s Ned living the dream of being waited on.  Dream on, baby...

 It was a short 40 minute hop between the islands.  What a beautiful flight.  The turquoise sea, scattered small atolls with pristine white beaches, and white puffy clouds made for a spectacular first impression. 

Arif and one his foreman, Bob, gave us a lift into town.  We’re settled into a modest, but super comfy motel.  We handled logistics for the day, getting a SIM card, arranging for a rental car for tomorrow, etc.  Seems like a good opportunity to enjoy some local beer, Fiji Gold and have some local grilled fresh fish with fruit salsa.  Yum!!   

Everyone we’ve met is super friendly and nice.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, acknowledges you with a gorgeous smile and a cheery, “Bula”, which means hello.  As I was taking pictures of the property several of the friendly guys standing around waved, gave me peace signs and encouraged me to take their photos.   Time to hit the pool and enjoy Fiji! 

Tropical Jungle in Costa Rica

The Falls at Manual Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

We hired, Fernando, the driver that picked us up at the airport to take us to Manual Antonio National Park. It's supposed to take 3 hours, he did it in 2.5 with a 20 minute stop for refreshments and shopping. Go Fernando. He's the gentleman waiting patiently for us in the bottom pic.

At one point Fernando did show us some crocodiles basking along a riverbank, but he was driving too fast for me to take a pic.

The drive to Manual Antonio National Park was pretty, mainly lots of lush green mountainous terrain with the occasional wisp of fog. It's the rainy season now and we were lucky today with just humid cloudy skies and no rain.

 

 

OMG - this National Park is amazing. We were given the advice to hire a guide rather than just wing it on our own. Best advice ever. We would have missed a lot without Juan. It was really hard to pick which photos made the blog.

Zebra grasshoppers

Three toed sloth

Neo-tropical land crab (which only travels to the ocean once in its life to reproduce)

Purple crown fairy hummingbird

Squirrel monkeys - mom and baby eating mangos. (We saw three different types of monkeys: whiteface, squirrel and howlers). I have pictures of all of them too!

 

 

We took several hours to walk through the park. Juan had an amazing spotting telescope on a tripod. There was no way I would have seen the things he was able to spot with the naked eye. He was also really good at hearing, identifying and imitating the different wildlife sounds in the jungle.

We also learned a lot about different flora. He had me poke some baby ferns and watch how they instantly closed up as a defense mechanism to keep from being grazed by animals. He also showed us some ficus type plants that created it's own holes in their leaves to look like they had been chewed. Again a defense mechanism. Because they look partially chewed, animals think they are toxic and avoid them.

 

 

 

We eventually made it to a beach within the park and Juan gave us a choice to go back with him or stay in the park. We stayed. And swam. And played in the warm water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked back into town, stopped for a snack, and then instead of taking a taxi or bus back to our hotel we decided to walk. We thought it was a lot closer than it was. And we had to walk over a HUGE hill. Like going up California St. in SF. The scariest part was there are no sidewalks. Made for an interesting walk home. Tomorrow we definitely take the tourist bus to the public beach!

 

 

 

 

 

The small hotel we are staying is amazing. Rather than having a magnificent view of the beach, we are on the jungle side and are butted up next to the National Park. This hotel, called The Falls at Manual Antonio has bungalows scattered throughout the tropical landscape. The bar, restaurant, sitting areas and pool are all open air and on different terraces. Our little bungalow comes with it's own hammock. When we arrived today we were greeted by Roberto, the iguana, on a walkabout.

This place is super chill. The pool is available 24 hours and we can hear all the jungle sounds around us. They have pretty good drinks too at happy hour.

 

Tonight we took a stroll around the town and decided upon a restaurant that was built AROUND a 1954 vintage bomber airplane. It has quite a history. It was part of the secret CIA deal that the US gave to the Sandistas during the Nicaraguan war. The secret deal was exposed (remember Oliver North, Papa Bush and the Iran-Contra scandal?) and the plane was abandoned. Some rich guy bought it for 3 grand and brought it here. It's now the bar in the middle of the restaurant.

Turns out the food was actually amazing. I had a whole fresh red snapper, Ned had shrimp with yellow curry sauce.

What an extraordinary day!

 

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Hacienda Azul Cacao Farm, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Hotel Boutique Jade, San Jose, Costa Rica

 

What a magical, incredible, amazing day. One that will stand out as a favorite memory for years to come.

Part of me just wants to post lots of photos so you can experience the beauty, color and food of Costa Rica and part of me wants to put the story down so you can be with us in this adventure too. How do I choose which pictures, how do I choose which stories??

 

Eric picked us up at 6:30 this morning to take us to the Peralta Cocoa Farm in Turrialba. The farm has now been renamed Hacienda Azul. Greg, one of the owners of Dandelion chocolate made up the foursome of our group. We've traveled with Greg before, who is one of the most fun, gregarious, smart and funny people we know. Eric is super sweet, knowledgeable about the area, and has such an interesting background. He's lived in Italy, Iran and several other places. Both these guys kept us entertained (and in stitches) for most of the day.

After about an hour or so we stopped in a small little village called Santa Teresa for breakfast. It was a gorgeous open air hacienda style restaurant, where they were making cheese tortillas and corn tortillas on a wood stove.

 

 

Eric encouraged us to get the cheese tortillas which can be topped with just about anything you want. (Sour cream, eggs, fruit, meat...). We also had fried cheese on corn tortillas, fried plantains baked in cheese, scrambled eggs and blackberry juice. I think there was a bunch of other things too, but I was just concentrating on this amazing cheese tortilla. When you order coffee here it comes with a steaming hot pot of milk. Dang, wish they served our milk in the States in steaming hot pots. Note to self - make this a habit at home.

The drive was simply breathtaking. We had to drive over a mountain, and because a bridge was out, around a volcano. The roads were in pretty good shape, but occasionally we had to drive through a creek. I'm glad Eric was driving!

We were high in the mountains and I enjoyed watching the clouds hug the hillside and drift in and out of the villages that we went through. This is also dairy country and we passed lots of cows, sheep and goats.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the 6th cocoa farm we've visited, and out of all the countries this farm is the most beautiful. It's a working farm, but could easily be a park. There were ponds, geese, horses, roosters and beautiful flora. Just breathtaking.

 

 

 

We did a walkabout with Wilfred, the owner,and I was impressed with how neat, pruned and healthy all the cacao trees looked. They were planted under a canopy of Spanish Cedar. Wilfred said this wood is used in making cigar humidors.

There were a lot of Indian relics that remained on the property. Here's Ned holding the broken leg of a huge metate, which would be used to grind either corn or cacao.

Wilfred wants to use his creek to power new mechanical dryers with a pelton wheel. We enjoyed sharing with him the we live in the town where Lester Pelton manufactured them. Small world indeed.

 

 

Usually when we visit a farm there is only one activity going on. Today we saw it all! Cracking the pods, putting the juicy seeds in the fermentation boxes and seeing the drying beds. Love the brilliant colors of the pods. They also taste amazing. It's so delicious to take a freshly cracked pod and suck on the juicy, sweet baba that surrounds the seeds. It's hard to describe the taste, but it's definitely tropical - like a citrus, banana, mango flavor. And to think this is where chocolate originates. It never ceases to amaze me.

 

The thing I enjoy most about our little business is making the connection with the people that grow, harvest and prepare the beans. We really enjoy sharing our chocolate with the people that work so hard to bring these beans to market. I have a lot of respect for the hard labor and work they do.

Here's Eric (the cocoa broker), Wilfred (owner of the farm), the foreman of the farm, and the lead worker. Sweet guys all of them.

 

When someone is good at it, cracking the pod is a mesmerizing process to watch. These workers do it more efficiently than anyone I've seen.

The two guys sitting on the mound of cacao pods have a simple block of wood with an angle iron embedded in it. They whack a pod with each hand, then toss it onto the table. The other workers open it up, scoop out the wet beans and toss the empty shell into a nearby bin. The guys in the line of fire end up with juice and pulp from the seeds splattered all over them. Everyone is laughing, having a good time, but working quickly and hard!

 

Towards the end of the day we went to the hacienda on the property, broke out Dandelion's and our Costa Rica chocolate. It was interesting to taste the differences in the bars, mainly due to the roast variations. I loved sharing our chocolate with everyone and amazed that it survived the road trip. It's been through quite a few temperature changes these past several weeks.

 

 

On the way home we stopped at the open air restaurant and had hot chocolate and coconut flan. Yum!

 

 

We got back to the hotel in the early evening, took showers, freshened up and agreed to all meet at a seafood restaurant within walking distance. After the incredible meals we ate today hard to believe I could still eat anything. Nevertheless she persisted:).

Eric and his wife Pia took all of us out. As usual, Greg kept us in stitches with his stories.

I had fresh shrimp with a chimichurra sauce over sautéed veggies and Ned had a whole octopus that was flame broiled served with roasted veggies and mixed greens. There were too many appetizer to describe, all were made with fresh fish. Again, one of the best meals ever.

Tomorrow we head to Manual Antonia National Park. Can't wait!

 

 

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Tsatsayaku takes first place at the Chocolate Festival!

What an amazing day at the Cacao and Chocolate Festival. People from all over the Amazon came. The highlight of the day was Tsatsayaku taking the top prize in "Best Chocolate." Kudos to Henry, David and Saul who worked their magic this week. They had some pretty stiff competition from some established chocolate makers from Quito.

 

 

 

Ned and I enjoyed experiencing the food (grubs!), dances and cultural celebration of the Amazon region.

Here is Henry offering me a grub worm to eat.

 

 

Rather than write a lot about it, I thought I would let the pictures tell the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the record, I asked permission from everyone who let me photograph them. I think the faces really tell the story about the beautiful Kichwa and other indigineous people.

 

 

 

 

 

The Peace Corp Volunteers from all over Ecuador came for the festival. Here they are enjoying lunch together.

 

 

 

Ned and I ate some pincho de chontakuro, which are big fat tree grub. They are live, then bbq'd on a stick.

 

Ned trying his first bite of the little grub.

 

The jury is out...

I didn't eat the crunchy skin, but instead just sucked it out. I left the head intact.

 

 

The festival was held in the town of Archidona, one of the first towns settled in the Amazon. Here's the first established church in the Amazon.

 

 

The statue in the town square.

 

 

One of the dance troupes.

 

 

 

Congratulations to Henry, Saul and David of Tsatsayaku - the first place winners!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Getting Ready for La Feria de Chocolate

As luck would have it, we timed our trip for "La mejor cacao y chocolate feria del Ecuador" aka as the major cacao and chocolate fair of Ecuador! The fair will be held in Archidona, still in the Amazon, but farther north than where we are staying. The fair starts today. Most of today's agenda is lectures given by local agencies about the potential of chocolate for the economy in this region.

We plan on attending tomorrow when everyone will be selling their cacao and chocolate products. The purpose of the fair is to showcase the cacao and chocolate of the Amazon. Today is all about getting ready for the fair. Henry's plan is to make as much chocolate as we can so that it can be sold at the fair.

We started the day with the usual sorting and weighing of the dried beans. Today we will be making chocolate from 36 lbs. of beans

 

 

 

 

 

Ned is instructing Saul on how to get a consistent roast. Here's Saul documenting time and temperature. One of the most difficult things in making chocolate is maintaining a consistent flavor from batch to batch. Varying temperature levels, as well as batch size, will effect the flavor of the beans.

 

 

 

Never underestimate the power of a great winnower! Ned and I used to do this by hand, when we were doing this as a hobby and not as a business, and it took us about an hour per pound to separate the shells from the nibs. We, Cello Chocolate, give our shells from the winnowed beans to Ol' Republic Brewery. They make an awesome stout from it. Tsatsayaku sells their shells to one of the association members who makes a tea from it. It's a win-win situation.

Besides selling chocolate liquor (bulk unsweetened chocolate), Tsatsayaku also sells 1 lb. bags of nibs. In the near future Tsatsayaku hopes to create a marketplace at their chocolate making facility to sell other related cacao products such as cacao wine, tea, chocolate bars both sweet and unsweetened, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder.

 

 

After grinding the nibs to a dry paste they were placed in the melanger. This will refine the chocolate liquor to a smooth texture.Tsatsayaku hopes to purchase a large melanger that will be able to handle a capacity of up to 65 lbs. of liquor.

It's all about knowing your market. Here the local restaurants and bakers prefer the unsweetened chocolate. It reminds them of the times as children on the fincas (farms) when their grandparents would harvest the cacao themselves, roast it, hand grind it and serve it with milk.

Here's the finished product (a 1lb block) ready for the fair! Ned and I have been brainstorming with Henry on ways to help raise money for Tsatsayaku. They need about $16,000 to finish the building of the plant. (Henry keeps phenomenal records and spreadsheets and has presented his findings to the Peace Corp headquarters in Quito. He was kind enough to share this information with us as well.) Without these finishes which includes construction of the ceiling, a cooling system, lighting system, tubing for hoses for cleaning, ventilation system for the roaster, stainless steel work tables, observation room for tourism, and ceramics for flooring or epoxy paint on floor, the Department of Sanitation won't issue them a license. (Yes, they have been selling the chocolate now under the radar...shhhh). One of our ideas is to begin a Kickstarter campaign for Tsatsayaku. Ned and I would not only run the campaign, but also make sweetened chocolate bars from the bulk chocolate liquor that we will buy from Tsatsayaku. We thought Cello Chocolate could give them as incentives to people donating to the Kickstarter campaign. Stay tuned...

 

 

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