Stop worrying, as I´m still alive and well here in Estero. I´m sorry I haven´t blogged in a while. I have a few legitimate excuses... although none of which I wish to relay to you all at the present time. My time on the computer is precious (and expensive) so I´ll skip to something more interesting.
I recently ventured reeeally deep into the woods to harvest cacao with a friend on mine, who we shall call Julio, as cacao season is in full swing on the coast of ecuador. Men, women and children head into the woods every morning wearing boots, carrying huge empty sacks and weilding machetes. Many carry another small tool-blade which they attach to the end of an extremely long piece of wood (´palanca´) and use to knock down the cacao from the treetops. His farm is located at the end of a 30 minute walk into the forest along the river and then about a 25 minute climb up the steepest hill I´ve ever even seen in my life. I had been to the farm a month ago to help harvest hundreds of avocados which were then sold to a vender from Guayaquil who had come to Estero solely to purchase all the avocados people could harvest. (I personally carried about 100 aguacuates in a sack with a rope hooked around my forehead from the finca, down the hill, and into the the pueblo... a feat of which I am still proud.)
My job in harvesting cacao was to collect as many ripe cacao as I could reach from the ground and then wait a safe distance away as cacao began to rain down from above. Palanca in hand, Julio climbed each of the huge cacao trees and knocked down (tumbar´ed) all of the ripe cacao. When he finished, I scurried around like a little squirrel collecting all of the cacao into large sacks. After collecting a few sacks full of cacao, we found a flat spot in the forest and made a huge pile of the beautiful, warm-colored cacao. (Ripe cacao ranges from a burnt red color to a light yellow-green). So there we sat, on top of a hill in the middle of dense forest in front of a huge pile of cacao. Julio chopped open the shells of the cacao and passed them to me so that I could then take out all of the cacao seeds, (which are processed to make the chocolate), and put them in a big sack to carry to the pueblo. Six hours later, we climbed down the hill with huge sacks of cacao on our backs, hiked back through the woods and arrived at the pueblo. The cacao was sold to a cacao collection center in Tonchigue the next day. I can´t remember the exact price, but I´ll find out. This is how one harvests cacao. This is where the chocolate you´re eating comes from. I´ll also try and find some pictures. Like this one.
I recently ventured reeeally deep into the woods to harvest cacao with a friend on mine, who we shall call Julio, as cacao season is in full swing on the coast of ecuador. Men, women and children head into the woods every morning wearing boots, carrying huge empty sacks and weilding machetes. Many carry another small tool-blade which they attach to the end of an extremely long piece of wood (´palanca´) and use to knock down the cacao from the treetops. His farm is located at the end of a 30 minute walk into the forest along the river and then about a 25 minute climb up the steepest hill I´ve ever even seen in my life. I had been to the farm a month ago to help harvest hundreds of avocados which were then sold to a vender from Guayaquil who had come to Estero solely to purchase all the avocados people could harvest. (I personally carried about 100 aguacuates in a sack with a rope hooked around my forehead from the finca, down the hill, and into the the pueblo... a feat of which I am still proud.)
My job in harvesting cacao was to collect as many ripe cacao as I could reach from the ground and then wait a safe distance away as cacao began to rain down from above. Palanca in hand, Julio climbed each of the huge cacao trees and knocked down (tumbar´ed) all of the ripe cacao. When he finished, I scurried around like a little squirrel collecting all of the cacao into large sacks. After collecting a few sacks full of cacao, we found a flat spot in the forest and made a huge pile of the beautiful, warm-colored cacao. (Ripe cacao ranges from a burnt red color to a light yellow-green). So there we sat, on top of a hill in the middle of dense forest in front of a huge pile of cacao. Julio chopped open the shells of the cacao and passed them to me so that I could then take out all of the cacao seeds, (which are processed to make the chocolate), and put them in a big sack to carry to the pueblo. Six hours later, we climbed down the hill with huge sacks of cacao on our backs, hiked back through the woods and arrived at the pueblo. The cacao was sold to a cacao collection center in Tonchigue the next day. I can´t remember the exact price, but I´ll find out. This is how one harvests cacao. This is where the chocolate you´re eating comes from. I´ll also try and find some pictures. Like this one.
UM ALSO.....
I will preface this next story by saying that I am just fine. So, the biggest, most ridiculous news I have to share is that last week I was arrested twice in ONE DAY. I realize that I will never be able to do this story justice via el internet, so most of you will have to wait until we´re face to face one fine day. But I will say that I was informed that Ecuador is in a state of ´´EMERGENCY´´ and the police are cracking down on delicuencia and personas illegales. I always carry a copy of my passport... although I had forgotten to make a copy of my new visa when I recieved it in April. Long story short... I was carried away to immigration in one police car, released after informing them I had been very ill, stopped by a different posse of policia in my route home and carried away AGAIN in a different police car. There´s more to this story which I would love to tell all of you when we next meet. There was a time in my life where I believed that I was plagued with really bad luck.
Larney,
ReplyDeleteOh how we miss you! So many stories to tell... Toby is passed out on my feet right now, but he sends his love. We'll keep your room ready for whenever you come home. I'm glad you're safe and sound. Keep blogging!
Annie P.
Wow Leslie, I never thought you'd be the international criminal type. The full story would be wonderful, whenever and if you decide to come back.
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