Chocolate in the Jungle

So we're back from another amazing jungle trip to Pomarrosa, a small organic finca on the outskirts of Machalilla National Park. Anthony, our school director, 8 adventurous students and I made the journey, and it was definitely worth every minute. The beautiful scenery, and amazing food, the thrilling horseback journey, hiking, coffee roasting, and my favorite part, CHOCOLATE.

Benito, the manager of Pomarrosa, walked us through each step of processing cocoa, starting with the pod, and ending in a rich delicious cup of cinnamon hot chocolate.

Step One: Go out into the bush and find some cocoa pods!
Cocoa grows out of the trunk, not on the branches, and can ripen all year round, and even at different times on the same tree.

        

Anthony finds a ripe one!

Step Two: Pull out the beans inside the pods and roast them

The "roaster" that we used is a traditional ceramic oven made from local clay. First build a fire inside and wait until the coals get and hot. Then you put another ceramic bowl over the first one that's holding the fire. Then you throw in the cocoa and keep it moving around so it doesn't burn.

               

Step Three: Peel the cocoa beans by hand, leaving the shiny inside part.

By the way, this is the perfect moment to grab a few and pop them in your mouth. 

Pure dark cocoa-y goodness.

Step Four: Throw all the beans in a grinder

A warning: As you grind the beans, your face is over the bowl and there will be an intense chocolaty smell bathing your face. This causes uncontrollable smiling (as seen in the photo below), and makes you ignore the pain in your arm muscles from working the grinder.

Flavia grinding away

Step Five: Ball up the cocoa paste and boil it with water, milk, sugar and cinamon until it's creamy, hot and delicious.

First bring the water to a boil with the cinamon. Then add the cocoa and let it simmer until the cocoa flavor is imbued in the water. Then add lots of milk and sugar to taste.

Step Six: ¡Disfrutalo!
This is the easy part. You will notice a bit of on oily sheen on the surface, and lots of sediment at the bottom. This is normal. That's how you know it's the real stuff! And by real stuff, I mean experiencing the richest, smoothest, freshest chocolate you ever had in your life.

Mother's Day in La Entrada

Mother's Day is a big deal in Ecuador. It's a time to celebrate families, and women who make it all possible. Every village had a fiesta Mother's Day weekend, so we at the Montanita Spanish School decided we had to get involved in at least one of them.

La Entrada is a beautiful little coastal village just North of Montanita. Marsha and Shell, an amazing couple from the States and friends of the school, have a beautiful home there and decided to open their doors to all the older mothers of the community with their husbands and children and enjoy an afternoon of fun, music, and good food. Gijs (our charismatic bearded intern), Anthony (our school director / intrepid photographer), Jacqui (kiwi imported fashionista / mother), and I, all hopped in a taxi up north to join the festivities, and provide entertainment and extra helping hands. Sorry, no pic of Anthony, who insisted on hiding behind his camera the whole day.

Gijs

Me

Jacqui

The venue was absolutely picturesque, the ocean stretching out in front of us and the balloons and streamers draped on everything. The average age of the mothers was about 60, but that didn't stop them from playing musical chairs, dancing, playing dress up, and posing for Anthony's camera like runway models. After a big traditional Ecuadorian lunch (marinaded chicken, rice, and a delicious salad), we broke out the cake and all went home happy and full.

Kati and Jenny mixing salad

Marsha with some of the mothers

Feliz día Mamá

One of the mother sings for us.

The ganadora of musical chairs

Some mother's performing a dance.

The winner of the Reina competition posing with Shell

Happy Mother's Day!

New Supplies and Volunteers at the Guardería

Yesterday, we were able to present the Guardería with brand new chairs and tables for the children. The old one's were beginning to fall apart, and there weren't enough for all the new kids.

Thank you so much to all the volunteers that have been working so hard to help the children and the families at the Manglaralto Guardería, and thank you all for contributing to the donations that made this gift possible.

Here are a few of them that are volunteering at Guardería now:

Sarah, a volunteer from the States making a collage with the 4 and 5 year olds.

Ann, another volunteer from the States posing with Pamela

Stephanie from Switzerland posing with Leandro.