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
