Vanua Levu - The Friendly North

We reluctantly said goodbye to Arif and headed once again to Labasa.  This time we stayed on the main road and had an uneventful trip back. Kudos to Ned who drove like a local, except for the rookie mistake of turning on the windshield wipers instead of the blinkers everytime we made a turn.  (Darn things on the wrong side of the steering wheel!).  Sure made us laugh every single time tho.  Now that we had time to enjoy the journey we especially appreciated the breathtaking scenery.  

We needed to get from one side of the island to the other.  The rental car company didn’t allow us to drop off the car at another location so we drove back to Labasa and then went in search of local transportation.  After being told different times for the bus we needed to take we finally decided to just hang at the terminal.  It’s a bustling, diesel choking place with 10 or 15 buses constantly idling, coming and going.  Cough, cough.  Peenie, had packed us a lunch (too sweet right?!) so at least we had a yummy snack to munch on while we waited it out for two hours or so. 

Vanua Levu is known as “The Friendly Northern Island”. So true! While hanging out at the bus terminal, which was located at the central marketplace in town, many people came up to us to shake our hand, call out a friendly “Bula”, or to ask us where we were from. There didn’t seem to be a lot of tourists in this part of the island.  One woman who had a sweet little boy with her, sat down next to me and started chatting up a conversation.  She invited us with her family and friends to a picnic on the coast.  “There will be a lot of good food and surfing.  Come, you should come.  Please join us.”  Sweetest, warmest most friendly people on the earth!  After sitting in the sweltering diesel fumed heat I momentarily considered her offer.  We did have fun taking turns perusing the local marketplace marveling at the stacks of dried kava, tied up taro roots, heaps of spices and lots of fresh produce.  

We were so happy to finally see the bus saying “Savusavu” that we didn’t care that it was the local bus and not the express.  It was about a 3 hour drive over the mountain and onto the western side of the island.  At every stop hawkers would come up to the bus window and sell everything from dried pea snacks, sandwiches almost identical to what Peenie had made for us, and many things we didn’t recognize.  Almost every village had a small “mini-mart” where people gathered on the porch eating ice cream and chatting.  Loved the children lining up to go home at the end of a school day.  So glad we opted for the local bus and got to experience this first hand...and SO glad to finally get to our final destination.  Just one more taxi ride from the town of Savusavu to our resort.  Wahoo!  

When we finally arrived at Koro Sun Resort we were immediately treated to foot massages.  Dang, after the long hot day traveling across the island it felt amazing.  I think we’re going to like this place! 

Kava Ceremony and Fijian Hospitality

Arif  displaying that warm Fijian Hospitality, invited us to stay with him. We were really looking forward to the Kava Ceremony.  That and lots of chocolate tasting!

Bob, who is Cacao Fiji’s foreman at the Dreketi farm, also lives next door to Arif  (Bob was also the sweet guy that came looking for us when we were lost and kept me on the phone until we knew where we were).  He played master of ceremonies, mixing the Kava. 

What is kava? It’s the national Fiji drink also known as “Fiji wine”.  “Kava is a mildly narcotic drink made from mixing the powdered root of the pepper plant (piper methysticum) with water and results in a numb feeling around the mouth, lips and tongue and a sense of relaxation.” 

It was served to us in small coconut shells.  At first I thought we were only going to get one cup of it.  But, the idea was to drink ALL of it. Of course!

The whole point of sharing kava is to take your time, tell stories and be social. Arif would clap by cupping his hands together. That was the signal to pass around another cup. What  a wonderful way to get to know someone. You are totally present, relaxed  and talkative, a known by-product of sharing Kava. 

We eventually did some chocolate tasting.  Everyone agreed our favorite pairing was the Kava with our Fiji dark chocolate bar. 

Bob’s mom, Penie, spoiled us by making some delicious meals during our stay. Chicken marinated in tomato and spices, taro, potato & egg salad, with soursop and mango juices.  We also had tea in the afternoon and my favorite, Fiji bread (I think it was called baba cow, at least that’s what it sounded like) for breakfast.  Baba cow is like thick beignets (without the powdered sugar).  You smother it in butter and jam...duh, of course! 

Arif’s home sits on the banks of the Dreketi River.  A picturesque little piece of paradise.  It’s so relaxing to just hang out and take it all in. 

The property is surrounded by coconut, mango and papaya trees, several kinds of passion fruit, a corn field and huge cassava plants.  I loved watching the fisherman go by on their boats. Arif also has a dock and in true Fijian fashion there were lots of fisherman coming and going or walking up to the house to say hi and fill their water. 

Cacao Fiji Cocoa Farm - Land of Enchantment

Cacao Fiji was founded by Arif Kahn in 2014.   It’s amazing what he has accomplished in such a short time. At one time Fiji had a thriving cocoa crop, but cyclones, politics, and labor issues saw the decline of cacao being exported over the last 50 years.  Cacao Fiji is the only company that is currently exporting beans here.  I believe they export 1 to 1.5 tons of cocoa beans per month.  We feel so fortunate to have discovered these beans and so honored to get a personal up close tour of their farm and production.

Beans drying in the sun..                     

When a sudden rainstorm appears they can easily be rolled under the roofed drying area.  Note the wheels on the beds. When we arrived it was blue skies and then out of nowhere it began to downpour.  Arif and his team had the drill down!  Within minutes everything was tucked away out of the rain. 

The fermenting boxes.  

It usually takes about 5 to 7 days to ferment the beans.  The wet beans are put in boxes and moved from box to box every day. The stair step system lets gravity do the work.  

Other drying beds.  The one outside is quickly able to be covered with a cloth. 

One of the challenges of growing cacao and producing great beans is the constant struggle between rain and sun.  The cacao needs plenty of rain to grow well, which is why they are so prolific in the tropics.  Once fermented they also need to be sun-dried for approximately 7 days.  Thus, the tropical weather that was so great for the trees is not so great for drying the beans. 

I’m not sure what magic goes on in the production of these beans, but they are definitely one of the sweeter cacao beans we use.  Often times when people say they don’t like dark chocolate, we have them taste our Fiji chocolate.  Many times we bring them over to the dark side.  

As a back-up, in case of too much rain, Cacao Fiji has a steam boiler drying system.  They inherited it from the previous owner and it needs some work to get it up and running.  

Beans being carried to the storage area and ready for export! 

Arif has great plans to expand his farm and production.  He’s purchasing 25 adjacent acres with a plan to plant 10,000 more trees!  Here’s his nursery that has some seedlings. 

Cacao Fiji resides in the land of enchantment.  The river and waterfall on the property only adds to the magical experience.  I can see one day there being small burres (Fiji huts) being built next to the river and maybe even Eco Tours being given here.   

My favorite part of the day was sharing lunch with all the workers and having them taste our chocolate.  For some of them it was the first time they had tasted chocolate made from these beans!  

Navigating Fiji Backroads

Rental car - check, figuring out driving on left hand side of road - check, GPS to where we need to go - check, 1 hour drive to farm - check.  Let’s roll.

Slight flaw in plan, google GPS in Fiji doesn’t exactly have the coordinates down.  After a 3 hour detour, driving down dirt roads, gravel roads and having our little Suzuki fish tail erratically thru rutted gravel roads we finally stopped and asked a couple walking down the road how much longer to Dreketi?  They pointed in the direction we had come, “Go back to the main road.”  You mean we didn’t have to be on this gravel road the last hour?  But, but, the GPS said... They laughed and said there’s a river between this road and Dreketi.  No bridge..  Go back.  Sigh... They were extremely sweet and took us to their home (!), introduced us to all these sweet relatives and let us borrow a cell phone.  Ours didn’t have service.  The eldest gentlemen took Ned for a short walk, sat him down under a bench under a tree, put his arm around Ned’s shoulder and said, “You’ve made a terrible mistake!” And then let out a big belly laugh.  They offered us water and to come sit on the porch with them, but we told them we were already several hours late for our appointment.  

Sorry I don’t have a picture, but they were all so sweet and I didn’t want to offend them by taking out my camera and taking pictures of them and their home.   God, I love the Fijian people.  In the meantime, enjoy these pics of our jaunt thru the Fijian backroads.

This part of Fiji does lots of logging.  These pictures reminded us of Georgia with the tall, skinny pine trees and the logging trucks. 

We also enjoyed the occasional sheep or goats that crossed the road.  

Love the colorful clothes everyone wears, especially against the green backdrop.  

But I digress...back to our journey 

We finally made it to the main road, got ahold of Arif and were told to “Stay on the main road, go past the two saw mills and look for the Cacao Fiji sign.” Sounds easy enough for these seasoned travelers.  The people that helped us out earlier said the exact same thing - past 2 saw mills look for the Cacao Fiji sign. 

Our interpretation of 2 saw mills is first one then look for another.  Wrong! There are literally 2 saw mills side by side on both sides of the street.  We kept driving. When we reached almost the sea, we got another phone call from Arif and his foreman Bob.  “Where are you?  Turn back, you’ve gone too far!”  At this point Bob didn’t trust us to our own devices and insisted to stay on the cell phone with us having me call out landmarks as we drove. “There’s a Jehovah Church” or “there’s a quarry”, etc.  Bob just kept saying, “keep going”. We FINALLY found the Cacao Fiji sign! (Does this road on the right look obvious to you?”)  Bob said, “Should I come get you or can you make it up the gravel hill?”   No, no, we’re NOT that pathetic we can certainly drive up the hill, especially after the 2 hour detour down sketchy gravel roads.  

Wrong!  We managed to get up a very rutted gravel road until we came to a creek.  Mmm, let’s go back to the fork in the road it must be there...

Bob ended up getting in the truck and finding us.  We crossed the creek, went up the hill and very sheepishly met up the Cacao Fiji crew.  

In typical Fiji fashion we were given a very warm welcome.  

As you’ve followed along with us, it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of my 

favorite things so far in Fiji is the friendliness of everone. We took an early morning walk around Labasa and were continuously greeted with waves, good mornings and the constant  “Bula”.  People would roll down their car windows, give us a wave and shout out “Good Morning.”  I have found my happy place.  I’m always getting teased for having too much energy in the morning or being just a tad bit too cheery before everyone has had their morning coffee. I’ve met my match here.  Can you imagine being in Nevada City or San Francisco and people would open up their car doors, poke out their heads, give you a big smile and warm greeting?  Or walk across the street to greet you?  

Loved watching the school children in their bright pink and snowy white uniforms walk to school.  

Stay tuned for our day on the cocoa farm...

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!

 

Posted with Blogsy

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!

 

 

Posted with Blogsy