General update and some photos

Things have been busy here in Quito, with some houseguests, a birthday, and a field trip to Mindo for some chocolate research. Alvi's friend Clem (from France, met in Chile, he now lives in Colombia) was here a few weeks ago, and my friend Ashley who I met on my Birthright trip in Israel came down a week ago with her boyfriend as well. We toured around with all of these friends, and had a good time pointing out some of my favorite places in Quito.

Alvi inside La Basílica church

Alvi also turned 26 on Saturday, and we had a nice celebration with homemade cinnamon rolls and he got to open a few gifts, including "surprise" gifts from Mom & Dad and Nanny & Papa, since he didn't know that they had sent a package and a gift down with me, respectively. In the evening we had a shin-dig, and Alvi made pisco sours and I made sushi. In general, it was a good birthday and we had  nice visits with friends.

Last week I had a visit scheduled to go out to Mindo to meet with the folks who work at Mindo Chocolate Makers. They make chocolate (usually in Michigan) out of beans that are sourced from outside Mindo in Puerto Quito (Mindo is a little more than 2 hours from Quito, and Pto Quito is about 2 hours further from Mindo), and they pay a "fair" price, although they're not certified Fair Trade- this is called a Direct Trade model because they work directly with the farmers, paying them a fair price without the burden of paying for FT certification. (The downside is that consumers have to understand the extra financial commitment that the chocolate makers make to the cocoa farmers in order to be willing to pay more money for a fairly traded bar.) From what I could tell, they treat their cocoa farmers well and with respect, and they truly want the best outcome for the farmers. That includes a desire for the farmers to educate themselves and learn how to produce truly high quality beans by fermenting and drying the beans under strict quality standards.

View from their hostel El Quetzal in Mindo that serves as a mini-chocolate factory

I know lots about cocoa production, but less about chocolate making- mostly, I just forget what most chocolate makers tell me. On the right is a winnowing machine which blows the shells off of the cocoa beans once they've been fermented, dried, roasted, and ground.

These are essentially cocoa nibs, waiting to be made into chocolate

They are a small-scale chocolate maker, and can't/don't need to import as much cocoa per year as a really big chocolate company, so they're able to develop relationships with one or two co-ops and/or farmers and have most of their needs satisfied.

This is a 100% cocoa mixture that's being tempered (blurry hand frantically moving the cocoa back and forth) so that the crystals line up in the perfect formation which gives chocolate that crisp sound when you break it apart

The Mindo Chocolate Makers owners took me out to meet one of the farmers that they usually buy from, and he chatted with me about his cocoa philosophy and about his understanding of certifications and selling schemes. Pedro is a doctor who is trying to live self-sustainably on his finca- land plot- and he has a very organic vision of his cocoa finca. He has lots of different trees planted throughout his finca- palms, pineapples, guayabas, papayas, mandarins, oranges, bananas, coffee, yucca, and plenty more.

Pedro's finca

Their first successful pineapple, they told me

He has at least eight different varieties of Ecuador's heirloom Nacional cocoa, and his plants all seemed to be very high-producing. Nacional cocoa plants don't require lots of fertilizers or pesticides (especially on Pedro's farm because it's all (non-certified) organic), so he has a pretty ideal situation- he works as a doctor, and supplements his medical income with cocoa beans, which don't take lots of extra work.

High producing Nacional cocoa tree

Cocoa beans split in half after we sucked the baba or the sweet pulp off of them

He also has a lot of bamboo trees, and he recently cut down several to make a stunning wall in his non-sheltered house (roof, but no outdoor walls) and to make some nice pan flutes.

I learned that cutting down bamboo is the most dangerous activity done on the finca- it falls very unreliably

This is a cocoa pod with monilla, or frosty pod disease, a fungus that transmits via spores on the surface

The destroyed inside of the pod with monilla- these pods should be buried to avoid further contamination on the finca

The river marked the edge of his finca

Climbing through the finca on our tour

Alvaro took a day off of work, and Ashley and Coop came to Mindo too, so it was nice to have some company on the bus to and back. They took a long hike and saw the butterfly museum. Although they got drenched at the end, I think that everyone had a nice trip.