For the Love of Chocolate

Leaving Dominical was an adventure!  My new friend, who I recruited from the hostel, and I left bright and early to catch the first of four buses that would eventually take us to the middle of nowhere, rural Costa Rica.  The first two buses were pretty much a breeze, but as we got off the second bus and retrieved our very dusty bags from underneath the bus, we noticed rain clouds.  As the bus drove away I'm pretty sure my traveling companion was starting to question his decision to blindly follow me away from the coast and the hot sandy beaches.  We were at an intersection of two dirt roads, overlooking a spectacular landscape, but it was starting to rain, it was getting cool, and there was nothing, absolutely nothing, around.  And so we hunkered down under a tiny overhang as it poured and we waited for the bus...

About 45 minutes later a kindly gentleman stopped on his motorcycle in the pouring rain to point out a shelter a ways down the road...apparently the bus was going to come from the opposite direction that we had anticipated and (of course) there was a rain shelter to wait under at the proper bus stop.  So we moved, soaking wet, and at least looked a little less like fools when the bus came a few minutes later.

By the time we arrived at the Chocolate Farm the rain had stopped, the sun was setting, and we were pretty excited.  As we walked up to the house I realized that I recognized one the of the people there - he had been at the last farm I was at and was now at the Chocolate Farm for his second time - the family has adopted him for a month or so, while their own son is away.  We had arrived on pizza night and the cobb oven was already fired up when we arrived.

Oh yeah...and there were puppies!

This was one of the first farms I can genuinely say that I wanted to stay at for much longer than I could.  The vibe was laid back, friendly, organized, and there was work to do!  This is a Tico family farm, running a local business based on growing cacao and the processing of chocolate.  It's also a mixed farm slowly implementing permaculture principles and practices.

Over the time I stayed at the farm I shelled roasted cacao beans, processed the ground cacao and sugar to make chocolate, molded chocolate, packaged cacao powder, labeled chocolate soap, and ate chocolate.  I and the other volunteers (there was six of us in total) did other jobs as well.  There was some construction, picking oranges, picking rocks and carrying them up a very big hill (for a future cobb project), and helping with dinners.

Roasting the Cacao Beans

Shelling Roasted Cacao Beans

Molding the Chocolate

So many yummy chocolate flavours!

The Construction Project (I didn't work on this)

The work day was well defined and that kept the whole experience very mellow.  We got up around 6am and watered the gardens.  We had breakfast around 7am and worked from 7:30am to 12pm, at which point it was time for lunch.  After cleaning up, we were free until dinner prep - around 5:30pm.
  

Maybe this is why I didn't want to leave!
Unfortunately it wasn't in the best shape, but it made me feel good to know it was there. 

My living quarters

This left plenty of time for volunteers to explore their own interests, whether that meant reading a book, crafting, making natural ginger ale, baking bread, or learning how to roast cashews.

Did you know that the cashew nut is toxic before being roasted?
Also, the cashew fruit can be used for all kinds of things, from juice to hooch!

It's hard to say what makes a farm seem more inviting or interesting than another.  Sometimes it's the mix of volunteers that are currently at the farm.  Other times it's the type of work available to do.  And then at times it's the atmosphere and personality of the farm and farm family.  In this case, I believe my desire to stay longer was a mix of all three.  I have to admit that although my next farm was only a twenty minute walk away, I stayed until the last possible hour before putting on my pack and heading out the gate.

Toucan!  We saw seven at once.