Day 5 - The Chocolate Experience

Getting to spend some time on land was a nice change to all the snorkeling we've been doing. We started the day at 8:30 by getting in the boat to head to the mainland. We had sack lunches packed, sunscreen lathered, and smiles wide as we headed towards the town of Almirante.

Ella and Casey on the boat.

It was a beautiful boat ride with only a few sprays of water along the way. As we drove up to the dock we watched houses and businesses pass by as we thought about how different Panama is from America. There was also a large cargo ship and loading bay for Chiquita which is a banana company.

Chiquita Ship.

Houses in Almirante.

A taxi business in Almirante.

Once docked, we unloaded our things with the help of locals and waited for our bus to arrive. When it arrived, we loaded up and headed to our destination: Oreba Cacao Farms. When we arrived, we found ourselves in a farming village full of roaming people, children, dogs, chickens, and geese. This beautiful place was home to hundreds of thousands of cocoa trees which were farmed by many different residents.

Cacao Farm welcome sign with natural farm on the hills in the background.

Our tour began when we were given walking sticks for our hike throughout the tour. We headed down the trail which started at the welcome sign. Our tour guides explained how the farm is set up, maintained, and harvested. We learned so many things about farming here and how its different from traditional farming in America. Here, the cocoa plants are surrounded by other native plants of all kinds including fig trees, banana trees, and many more. This makes the farm appear like a jungle instead a typical manicured farm that you'd expect.

Natalie and Vanessa with their walking sticks.

Tralee with a walking stick.

Bananas in a tree within the farm.

Next, we learned how things have changed in recent decades for the farmers. In the 70's the market for cocoa changed and instead of earning 3$ per pound they went down to earning 25 cents per pound and now they've hardly increased to a mere 85 cents per pound. To give better context, 12 cacao fruits are equivalent to a pound. This low income makes it hard for farmers to maintain their plants especially when the fungus arrived. This fungus is powdery, travels quickly through wind, and now destroys 85% of crops. The combination of the presence of this fungus and the low income put the cocoa farmers and their communities in a rough place.

Cacao shells left to decompose.

Young cacao fruit.

Even though times are tough, the local Ngobe people work hard to produce quality cocoa. We got to see the harvesting and production process up close with free samples! First, our guide Samuel (who has been in the cacao farms for 57 years) cut open a ripe cacao fruit and showed us the inside which had this milky white look to it. We each took a seed and sucked on it to taste the mango-y flavor that the meat of the fruit had. We learned that after the seeds are dried, they are left to ferment and we got to try fermented seeds. When the seeds are fully fermented, they are roasted and peeled which we got to watch right in front of us and then we got to try the freshly roasted cocoa beans. They also demonstrated how the roasted beans are then crushed by hand with a rock to form a cocoa paste. We each got to try crushing the beans into paste which was super fun and satisfying! Finally, we got to try their chocolate paste which is the cocoa paste mixed with coconut oil and honey. It was so delicious and the most flavorful chocolate I've ever had. 

Fireplace for roasting the seeds.

The inside of the cacao fruit.

Roasted and peeled beans.

Casey crushing some beans.

Tralee crushing some beans.

Maya crushing some beans.

Chocolate paste, so yummy!

 The final part of our tour showed us more beautiful hillsides covered in farms as well as some of the local village. There were small buildings in the village that were used for fermenting the seeds, roasting the seeds, and packaging product. When we returned to our starting location, we were given an amazing lunch and able to purchase many of their chocolate goods and homemade wares. The people were so nice and welcoming and Samuel did an amazing job of teaching us what goes on behind the chocolate we eat. If I am ever in Panama again, this is a place I must come back to!

Our delicious lunch! (After I ate the chicken :P )

A cottage in the village.

We said our goodbyes and headed back to STRI through another gorgeous boat ride. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to project time where each group split up to do their own thing. Two groups went out to house reef to collect data while the other two stayed in the lab to analyze data in preparation for Sunday when we will get more time to work on our projects. Today was a great day of learning about local culture and trying new things!

Mountains in the distance on our way back to STRI.

- Tralee Chapman