Bug Paradise that is. Butterflies and pretty flowers, moonbeams and rainbows. As you saw from the previous post I was a bit taken by the numerous sloths at Casa Maria- bug paradise. But honestly they were not the best part- neither were the butterflies/ moonbeams/ etc. The best part was the chance to spend time with great people from ECA who have become dear friends of ours. and thats not the rum talking people- we are so fortunate to have made the connections we have over the years. Oh and also good night hugs from Cormac, those were pretty cool too.
We got to go on a cool excursion in the big "Macina" to see how chocolate is made. Here is my brief recap:
1) Hire a good driver
2) Park. (nicely done Cormac!)
3) Find the good beans (these ones are as large as Elka!)
4) Walk around a bit- it takes time for the beans to get just right.
5) Put the beans in a warm box covered with banana leaves so they get warm and squishy and start to ferment. Seriously? who first thought this would improve the flavor.
6) Dry out the beans (at this point most of these beans get sold to a factory in Europe- but he keeps a few on hand)
7) Grind the beans (as we all know steps 7-9 all require oompa loompas, but it being carnival they apparently had the day off)
8) Smoosh the beans into oil and powder.
So thanks Shayne, Diane, Jess, Chris, Sean, Kris, Ian, and Maya for a great trip and great friendship. Come visit us in Colorado soon, Lisa and I can be your Gaby and Norbert.
Here are a few more
Next year these families will be scattering across the globe: China, Poland, Venezuela, Colorado. There are a few missing from the picture but it was hard to get everyone in the same place for very long- and the kids? Forget it- they were running all over the place- chevere!
We got to go on a cool excursion in the big "Macina" to see how chocolate is made. Here is my brief recap:
1) Hire a good driver
2) Park. (nicely done Cormac!)
3) Find the good beans (these ones are as large as Elka!)
5) Put the beans in a warm box covered with banana leaves so they get warm and squishy and start to ferment. Seriously? who first thought this would improve the flavor.
6) Dry out the beans (at this point most of these beans get sold to a factory in Europe- but he keeps a few on hand)
7) Grind the beans (as we all know steps 7-9 all require oompa loompas, but it being carnival they apparently had the day off)
8) Smoosh the beans into oil and powder.
9) Put the powder in here and magically turn it into chocolate (again- oompa loompas needed)
Lisa did such a good job listening to the owner speaking only in spanish- you can see her intent expression- just waiting to hear the phrase: "ahora es el tiempo for comer la chocolate!"
 |
| "say it... say it." |
Here are a few more
 |
| taking a moment to give thanks to the coffee bean- oh how I love you so. |
Shayne and I both were quite upset when we were not given the memo to bring our butterfly nets like this guy was. I think we coulda taken his Shayne- I think we coulda. just sayin.
No comments:
Post a Comment