Chocolate

March 26, Sunday - Today was another travel day with us departing Tortuguero for Sarapiqui, the home town, or district, of both our guides.  The trip involved first a boat ride back to the river dock, our original embarkation point, and then bus travel to Sarapiqui, which is located in the central lowlands near the Nicaraguan border and still on the Atlantic side of the continental divide.

We arrived around 1:30 after stopping midway for lunch.  We got checked in, received an orientation and picked up our luggage. The hotel, Selva Verde, is set in a nature preserve and features pods of guest rooms set on platforms like tree houses.  It is noticeably warmer and more humid than the coast.  

At 2:40 we met up for a short drive for a “Chocolate tour.” Hilary, a native Tica, but named for our US presidential candidate, led the tour.  She was born at a time when Hilary Clinton was visiting Costa Rica.  The tour included a 20 minute walk to the demonstration area, first passing over the longest suspension bridge in Costa Rica, then along the   Sarapiqui River within the Tirimbina Rainforest Center.

Hilary told us about the cacao tree (curiously the flowers sprout right on the body of the tree rather than at the end of a branch), described where and how pods develop. From the flowers, broke open a ripe pod, and had us sample the raw bean that is surrounded by a sweet mucus.   We next learned how the beans are fermented and dried.  We gathered at a rustic kitchen area with bleachers and a worktable while Hilary and another woman demonstrated going from a dried bean to chocolate drinks, cocoa butter, and bars.  It is a rather complex set of steps that was discovered over time somewhat by chance.

Betsy got to try her hand at grinding roasted beans in a traditional stone metate, using  a heated, heavy oval stone or pestle.  Nowadays, they use a grinder to make a fine paste of chocolate which is then mixed and frothed with hot water.  We all got samples of this mixture with the possibility of adding 1) cornstarch (for thickening), 2) chili powder, 3) black pepper, 4) nutmeg, and 5) vanilla.  We tried two combinations to see how the taste of the chocolate changed.   Hilary then described making chocolate bars and guess what - we got to sample a 70% dark chocolate bar and 30% milk chocolate bar.  Finally, she gave each of us a little of 12 beans and offered to exchange them for two postcards - the beans were an early form of money.  We kept one packet (it will become a Christmas ornament and trade our other packet for the postcards (pictures of tree frogs and an iguana).

We rode back to the hotel and cleaned up for dinner.  We ate dinner with Laura, the world traveler, sailor for 10 years with her late husband, and immersion Spanish student.  The tables in the dining room seat four and it is not allowed to push them together.  As you may know, we have two groups of 4, one group of 8 and the 3 of us, hence the seating arrangement.  Laura is a someone who has been nearly everywhere and has some interesting stories.

Our last activity of the day was Latin dance lessons.  An American expatriate and her Costa Rican husband  (a former professional soccer player) led the class.   She first explained the dance, did a brief demonstration with her husband, and then coached us through the steps.  They showed us the merengue, salsa, cumbria (?) and a fourth one we don’t remember.  The steps weren’t very tricky but the Latin style involves a lot of hip motion that our Anglo bodies don’t do very well.  It was fun nonetheless.