Saturday, November 23, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
Up the hill: Boquete coffee plantation and hot springs
On Saturday we said goodbye to our Bocas house and took the wáter taxi to the bus to Boquete, Panama, in the mountains. It`s a completely different climate up here, the ``land of eternal spring``; cool in the mornings and cloudy or rainy in the afternoons. Everything is green and the air smells fresh.
Yesterday we went to a small coffee plantation, Finca La Milagrosa, run by Señor Tito, named because of all the miracles he feels helped him on his way. He grew up picking coffee on a larger plantation with his parents, and had a dream of starting his own. The bank wouldn´t give him money, so he worked and saved and built all his own equipment, most of which he still uses. His roaster is made from car and washing machine parts, and our favorite was the ``scroon``, a long spoon made from a screwdriver and spoon welded together, to reach into the test roaster with. He came up from humble beginnings and now his specialty coffee (Geisha variety) sells for over $300/lb on the world market and he made over 150k from that variety alone last year. He also makes a blended variety which is less expensive but still amazing. He uses only organic methods to grow his coffee. We saw every step in the process from the plants to the fermenting to the roasting (Josef got to help roast some beans and use the scroon to check them) and tasted the final product as well. Apparently he is not well known in Panama, but at an international coffee tasters event in Europe, when his name came up, he was given a standing ovation. His coffee has flavors of orange and passionfruit from the local soil. He and his dogs were puttering around the farm and he is the picture of humble beginnings in an old t shirt and camo pants. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coffee-Tour-Farm-La-Milagrosa-Boquete/111275142306105 and http://www.hablayapanama.com/ecotourism/boquete/coffee/
Today we went on a drive to the town of Caldera and hiked to see some amazing things. We saw petroglyphs that are thousands of years old, made by ancient people and of unknown meanings. On the top of the rock where the petroglyphs are, there is a kind of map made with other symbols of the local peaks and of the towns and trails that were in between. We had some good views of Volcán Baru, a dormant peak that is nearby. http://www.hablayapanama.com/ecotourism/boquete/hotsprings/
Then we hiked to a natural hot springs near a cold river. The woman whose property the springs are on lets people use them. They are low sulfur so don´t smell like some springs we´ve been in, but have healing minerals according to the locals. It was great to go from the hot wáter to the cold river nearby!
This is the first internet Access we´ve had since Saturday; it´s amazing how odd that feels in this day and age. More notes and pics later.
Yesterday we went to a small coffee plantation, Finca La Milagrosa, run by Señor Tito, named because of all the miracles he feels helped him on his way. He grew up picking coffee on a larger plantation with his parents, and had a dream of starting his own. The bank wouldn´t give him money, so he worked and saved and built all his own equipment, most of which he still uses. His roaster is made from car and washing machine parts, and our favorite was the ``scroon``, a long spoon made from a screwdriver and spoon welded together, to reach into the test roaster with. He came up from humble beginnings and now his specialty coffee (Geisha variety) sells for over $300/lb on the world market and he made over 150k from that variety alone last year. He also makes a blended variety which is less expensive but still amazing. He uses only organic methods to grow his coffee. We saw every step in the process from the plants to the fermenting to the roasting (Josef got to help roast some beans and use the scroon to check them) and tasted the final product as well. Apparently he is not well known in Panama, but at an international coffee tasters event in Europe, when his name came up, he was given a standing ovation. His coffee has flavors of orange and passionfruit from the local soil. He and his dogs were puttering around the farm and he is the picture of humble beginnings in an old t shirt and camo pants. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Coffee-Tour-Farm-La-Milagrosa-Boquete/111275142306105 and http://www.hablayapanama.com/ecotourism/boquete/coffee/
Today we went on a drive to the town of Caldera and hiked to see some amazing things. We saw petroglyphs that are thousands of years old, made by ancient people and of unknown meanings. On the top of the rock where the petroglyphs are, there is a kind of map made with other symbols of the local peaks and of the towns and trails that were in between. We had some good views of Volcán Baru, a dormant peak that is nearby. http://www.hablayapanama.com/ecotourism/boquete/hotsprings/
Then we hiked to a natural hot springs near a cold river. The woman whose property the springs are on lets people use them. They are low sulfur so don´t smell like some springs we´ve been in, but have healing minerals according to the locals. It was great to go from the hot wáter to the cold river nearby!
This is the first internet Access we´ve had since Saturday; it´s amazing how odd that feels in this day and age. More notes and pics later.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Lobster part 2, by Josef.
On 10/19/2013 a man came to our dock and asked if we wanted a lobster.
We said yes.
We meant to buy 1 lobster but accidentally got 4.
We let them go and 3 went away but 1 was on its back.
We think he was the first one to be caught.
Soon he was almost dead so we got him and put him in the freezer.
We meant to eat him tonight but our gas for the stove ran out.
Hope we eat him soon.
We said yes.
We meant to buy 1 lobster but accidentally got 4.
We let them go and 3 went away but 1 was on its back.
We think he was the first one to be caught.
Soon he was almost dead so we got him and put him in the freezer.
We meant to eat him tonight but our gas for the stove ran out.
Hope we eat him soon.
mmmm, chocolate....Oreba Cacao
Today we took a water taxi to Almirante for a day at the Oreba Cacao plantation. We were met by Mauricio, a member of the Ngobe community, an indigenous tribe of Panama. His people have cultivated cacao in the mountains around Almirante for innumerable years. Apparently the Conquistadores wiped out most of his people when they came through, and with them, the original cacao trees. Several hundred years ago, the Ngobe that were left brought cacao back to the area and have been growing it ever since. He said that the trees that are here now are not as hearty nor as good producers as the ones that were here previously, but they still do well in the hot humid climate.
The Ngobe that live in the area have a school that teaches 300 kids and has 11 teachers. They learn Spanish at school, but most speak Ngobe at home. We learned the Ngobe names for some of the plants and animals we saw today.
We hiked on a narrow path up the mountain, where we saw a sloth and poison dart frogs, and many plants, such as yucca, mountain ginger, starfruit trees, orange and lime trees, Noni trees, and others that are used for food or medicine. The Ngobe practice traditional healing and use many of the plants he showed us today for various purposes. The Noni tree that he showed us was the same as the one we'd seem previously at the Smithsonian. He told us that the fruit is good for cancer, the bark for bad stomach problems, and the leaves for hepatitis. He also showed us a vine that can cure snakebite from any of the several venomous snakes that inhabit the area.
We climbed through the farm that grows 30 varieties of cacao trees. Oreba uses no chemicals or pesticides in the growing of their cacao. If the trees get fungus, they have to be pruned back carefully. They face competition from squirrels and night monkeys, who like to come at night and eat the cacao pods. A hungry night monkey can eat three cacao pods (which are the size of a small Nerf football). To dissuade the monkeys, the Ngobe plant banana and mango trees around their farm to give the monkeys something else to eat instead.
At the top of the hill, we reached a small shelter where two women were working. Mauricio showed us how to open a cacao pod; two swift strikes of the machete, being careful of fingers, and then catch the edge of the blade and pop the top off. Inside are seeds which can be sucked on like candy. They are light beige in color and have a juicy goopy covering that reminded me of a green grape. The seeds are scooped out and the pods are composted for fertilizer for the farm. The seeds are then fermented and dried, and then roasted over a fire. We tasted the roasted seeds, which were crunchy and the size of a small grape, and had the texture of a coffee bean and the taste of cocoa powder. One of the women showed us the traditional way to grind the seeds, on a flat stone using a rounded stone for grinding, and the kids and I tried it. For big batches, however, they use a grinder, as the traditional way is quite labor intensive. Mauricio told me that his ancestors used to use much bigger stones for grinding, but smaller ones are used today because his ancestors were much stronger than the Ngobe are today.
We made our way back down the hill using our walking sticks to keep our footing along the narrow path, and were met by several other women who had a lunch of traditional roots, greens, and also chicken for the non vegetarians. We were given roasted cacao beans to take home, and bought a few other items as well.
The roasted cacao bits are sold in the local market, but the Oreba farm sells 97% of their beans directly to Switzerland. The market price varies greatly but apparently the Swiss are willing to pay for quality organic cacao. Mauricio told us that the local price for cacao has dropped from $3/lb down to the current rate of 19 cents per pound, which makes a difficult living. He was interested to know where the chocolate we eat in the U.S. comes from, and now I have some looking to do because I was unable to tell him. He said that large farms in other countries who use lots of chemicals have driven the price down so far that it's difficult for small farms to make a living unless they find a specialty market like Oreba has. (Sound familiar?)
On the boat home, we shared a bar of the "eating chocolate" made in the small factory at Oreba. It was beyond description.... I think it's just cacao, sea salt, and cane sugar. Super dark, a little grainy and unprocessed tasting, and heaven on earth... the best chocolate I have ever eaten, hands down.
Here's their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Orebachocolate
Some good photos on there, and ours will be coming soon.
More about Noni: http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/noni
The Ngobe that live in the area have a school that teaches 300 kids and has 11 teachers. They learn Spanish at school, but most speak Ngobe at home. We learned the Ngobe names for some of the plants and animals we saw today.
We hiked on a narrow path up the mountain, where we saw a sloth and poison dart frogs, and many plants, such as yucca, mountain ginger, starfruit trees, orange and lime trees, Noni trees, and others that are used for food or medicine. The Ngobe practice traditional healing and use many of the plants he showed us today for various purposes. The Noni tree that he showed us was the same as the one we'd seem previously at the Smithsonian. He told us that the fruit is good for cancer, the bark for bad stomach problems, and the leaves for hepatitis. He also showed us a vine that can cure snakebite from any of the several venomous snakes that inhabit the area.
We climbed through the farm that grows 30 varieties of cacao trees. Oreba uses no chemicals or pesticides in the growing of their cacao. If the trees get fungus, they have to be pruned back carefully. They face competition from squirrels and night monkeys, who like to come at night and eat the cacao pods. A hungry night monkey can eat three cacao pods (which are the size of a small Nerf football). To dissuade the monkeys, the Ngobe plant banana and mango trees around their farm to give the monkeys something else to eat instead.
At the top of the hill, we reached a small shelter where two women were working. Mauricio showed us how to open a cacao pod; two swift strikes of the machete, being careful of fingers, and then catch the edge of the blade and pop the top off. Inside are seeds which can be sucked on like candy. They are light beige in color and have a juicy goopy covering that reminded me of a green grape. The seeds are scooped out and the pods are composted for fertilizer for the farm. The seeds are then fermented and dried, and then roasted over a fire. We tasted the roasted seeds, which were crunchy and the size of a small grape, and had the texture of a coffee bean and the taste of cocoa powder. One of the women showed us the traditional way to grind the seeds, on a flat stone using a rounded stone for grinding, and the kids and I tried it. For big batches, however, they use a grinder, as the traditional way is quite labor intensive. Mauricio told me that his ancestors used to use much bigger stones for grinding, but smaller ones are used today because his ancestors were much stronger than the Ngobe are today.
We made our way back down the hill using our walking sticks to keep our footing along the narrow path, and were met by several other women who had a lunch of traditional roots, greens, and also chicken for the non vegetarians. We were given roasted cacao beans to take home, and bought a few other items as well.
The roasted cacao bits are sold in the local market, but the Oreba farm sells 97% of their beans directly to Switzerland. The market price varies greatly but apparently the Swiss are willing to pay for quality organic cacao. Mauricio told us that the local price for cacao has dropped from $3/lb down to the current rate of 19 cents per pound, which makes a difficult living. He was interested to know where the chocolate we eat in the U.S. comes from, and now I have some looking to do because I was unable to tell him. He said that large farms in other countries who use lots of chemicals have driven the price down so far that it's difficult for small farms to make a living unless they find a specialty market like Oreba has. (Sound familiar?)
On the boat home, we shared a bar of the "eating chocolate" made in the small factory at Oreba. It was beyond description.... I think it's just cacao, sea salt, and cane sugar. Super dark, a little grainy and unprocessed tasting, and heaven on earth... the best chocolate I have ever eaten, hands down.
Here's their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Orebachocolate
Some good photos on there, and ours will be coming soon.
More about Noni: http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/noni
Friday, October 18, 2013
JELLYFISH!!!!!!!!!!! By, Josef 10/18/2013
I just saw a huge jellyfish by our dock!!!!
It was about 2 times the size of my hand!
We saw tiny fish right by its tentacles.
We got some sweet pictures.
My mom was swimming and I was about to get in when she said "Jo there is a huge jellyfish over here!" I got in the boat and paddled over and I saw it.
It was a pinkish color with short tentacles.
It had kind of a flower shape on its top.
Later me and my dad went out by it and it went under our boat.
Here are some pictures that me and my mom took,
Are you wondering how I got so close??? Well the answer is you got to be brave.
It was about 2 times the size of my hand!
We saw tiny fish right by its tentacles.
We got some sweet pictures.
My mom was swimming and I was about to get in when she said "Jo there is a huge jellyfish over here!" I got in the boat and paddled over and I saw it.
It was a pinkish color with short tentacles.
It had kind of a flower shape on its top.
Later me and my dad went out by it and it went under our boat.
Here are some pictures that me and my mom took,
Are you wondering how I got so close??? Well the answer is you got to be brave.
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