The day after Christmas we did another Machaca Hill organized day trip.
Instead of exploring some Caribbean waters we went inland to an organic cacao farm and then spent part of the afternoon, closer to the border with Guatemala, visiting a swimming hole and waterfall on the Rio Blanco near San Antonio.
We left Machaca Hill in the morning after 8 AM and drove by van to a farm near the village of San Felipe. Machaca provided a driver, guide and a tour by the proprietor of the farm for the morning visit.
Our first stop was a small building near the farm where they sold some cacao products and where we could meet up with the farm's owner. The night before had seen a large Christmas celebration on the premises so there were plenty of styrofoam plates and cups there were strewn across the front lawn that still needed to be cleaned up.
Once we had picked up the guide for the farm we drove another 15 minutes to the take a short tour of the plantation. The morning sun was coming up and it was getting a little hot but getting underneath the cover of some cacao trees helped cool off our tour participants.
Interesting sights were the close to maturity cacao pods that were hanging from the trees. We got to crack open a couple of the pods to see creamy white seeds that enclosed the cacao beans. The cream on the outside of the beans was quite sweet and the cacao beans were still green and needed to be roasted for true flavor. Also on the farm were Passion Fruit trees and Allspice.
After the tour we made it back to the building where we stopped by earlier to pick up our plantation guide. We did get stuck in some mud about a 1/2 mile from the farm. Orlando, our driver, wasn't going fast enough and actually stopped the vehicle right in the middle of a muddy section. We couldn't get out simply by gunning the motor so our group had to get out and push. We were finally able to free the vehicle and continue on our way about 15 minutes later.
When our group returned to roadside shop we were able witness the manual process of roasting cacao beans, grinding them with sugar and allspice and finally taste the resultant ground powder.
They did have some processed cacao products available for sale so I bought some ground cacao for chocolate milk and also a few chocalate bars to bring back to the United States.
***
For the second half of our full-day Toledo-district interior tour we got back into our tour van to make our way west to Rio Blanco Park.
The drive out was a tougher than the one to the organic cacao farm but we finally made it after what seemed about 45 minutes of driving through more mountainous terrain.
When we arrived at the entrance to Rio Blanco Park lunch was unpacked and we all sat down for a quick bite underneath the ranger station. The falls were a short hike down a 1/4 mile path.
Once there, I was feeling a little adventurous and decided that I should try to jump into the swimming hole. There were a few different heights to choose from and the first jump I took was from the highest ledge; probably about 25 feet above the water. I had trouble building my nerve up so our guide Agapito jumped in first. After some more trouble I finally made a go of it but by no means was it a graceful jump and I was holding my nose the whole way down. Regardless, I got to jump about four more times into the swiming hole - although none of the attempts were at all elegant.
In all the falls was a great place to enjoy a swim after the cocao plantation visit.
We got back to Machaca Hill about 5 PM for a shower a some dinner.
Instead of exploring some Caribbean waters we went inland to an organic cacao farm and then spent part of the afternoon, closer to the border with Guatemala, visiting a swimming hole and waterfall on the Rio Blanco near San Antonio.
We left Machaca Hill in the morning after 8 AM and drove by van to a farm near the village of San Felipe. Machaca provided a driver, guide and a tour by the proprietor of the farm for the morning visit.
Our first stop was a small building near the farm where they sold some cacao products and where we could meet up with the farm's owner. The night before had seen a large Christmas celebration on the premises so there were plenty of styrofoam plates and cups there were strewn across the front lawn that still needed to be cleaned up.
Once we had picked up the guide for the farm we drove another 15 minutes to the take a short tour of the plantation. The morning sun was coming up and it was getting a little hot but getting underneath the cover of some cacao trees helped cool off our tour participants.
Interesting sights were the close to maturity cacao pods that were hanging from the trees. We got to crack open a couple of the pods to see creamy white seeds that enclosed the cacao beans. The cream on the outside of the beans was quite sweet and the cacao beans were still green and needed to be roasted for true flavor. Also on the farm were Passion Fruit trees and Allspice.
After the tour we made it back to the building where we stopped by earlier to pick up our plantation guide. We did get stuck in some mud about a 1/2 mile from the farm. Orlando, our driver, wasn't going fast enough and actually stopped the vehicle right in the middle of a muddy section. We couldn't get out simply by gunning the motor so our group had to get out and push. We were finally able to free the vehicle and continue on our way about 15 minutes later.
When our group returned to roadside shop we were able witness the manual process of roasting cacao beans, grinding them with sugar and allspice and finally taste the resultant ground powder.
They did have some processed cacao products available for sale so I bought some ground cacao for chocolate milk and also a few chocalate bars to bring back to the United States.
***
For the second half of our full-day Toledo-district interior tour we got back into our tour van to make our way west to Rio Blanco Park.
The drive out was a tougher than the one to the organic cacao farm but we finally made it after what seemed about 45 minutes of driving through more mountainous terrain.
When we arrived at the entrance to Rio Blanco Park lunch was unpacked and we all sat down for a quick bite underneath the ranger station. The falls were a short hike down a 1/4 mile path.
Once there, I was feeling a little adventurous and decided that I should try to jump into the swimming hole. There were a few different heights to choose from and the first jump I took was from the highest ledge; probably about 25 feet above the water. I had trouble building my nerve up so our guide Agapito jumped in first. After some more trouble I finally made a go of it but by no means was it a graceful jump and I was holding my nose the whole way down. Regardless, I got to jump about four more times into the swiming hole - although none of the attempts were at all elegant.
In all the falls was a great place to enjoy a swim after the cocao plantation visit.
We got back to Machaca Hill about 5 PM for a shower a some dinner.
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