Our 3rd day, Monday May 8th, began with another early morning! We had a full day of site visits so I made sure to fuel up on our regular Hotel de San Fransisco breakfast of coffee, bread pastries, and watermelon. We hopped on our tour bus to drive an hour and a half away for the first site visit! When we arrived at Jet Fresh Flower Growers in Cotopaxi, we were greeted by the loud honking of 2 white ducks that seemed to guard the outside of the greenhouse. Then, we looked to the left to see 3 llamas and 3 adorable dogs hanging out next to the bus, so we knew that we would be in for an amazing tour. Our tour guide, Juanita, educated us on the process that the floral industry follows.
Jet Fresh Flowers is a boutique greenhouse (only 10 hectares) and their target market is distributors in Europe and the United States for luxury floral arrangements (such as for hotels and weddings). We went to the testing greenhouse first, and got to see some of the new colors that may be for sale soon! We learned that the type of plastic used for the roof of the greenhouse depends on the color of the rose, because a different luminosity can change the way that a rose grows. Next, we toured the larger greenhouses which had so many roses beautiful colors and friendly employees! I even got the chance to cut a rose. Each rose color had a fun and “quirky” name. Maddie and I’s favorite was “Hot Explorer”.
After seeing the beautiful roses, it was time to see what helps them to grow; we went to the building where they mix chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Afterwards, we went to the packing plant to see the process that the employees follow. They quickly classify the roses by length and quality, then pack them by color in bunches of 25 stems. We entered the shipping port next, which was super chilly in order to keep the roses fresh! 50-300 roses are placed in each box to ship . We even got to see some of the roses get sprayed in unique colors, and they printed a University of Pittsburgh logo on yellow roses for everyone!
At Jet Fresh Flowers, the culture of the greenhouse makes the experience better for their employees and visitors. Many of the employees are indigenous women. They are treated very well; there is a laundry service so that the women are able to have less work to do on the weekends. They also provide these women with healthcare including birth control and menstrual products. For the visitors like us, they have so many cool animals! Llamas, peacocks, dogs, cats, ducks, chickens and more; and they’re so friendly. Juanita went above and beyond for our tour, so Jet Fresh Flowers served us traditional Ecuadorian fruits and lemonade. I tried a few of them, including the cactus fruit, guava, and golden berries. They also gave us each one of the Pitt roses and a cute tshirt!
Our next stop was an unexpected highlight of the trip so far! We were surpised with a trip to see “Incan ruins”, so i was confused when the bus pulled up into what looked like someone’s home. It turned out to be ican ruins that the spanish did not destroy during the conquisition that had been turned into a hotel! It is called Hacienda San Agustin de Callo as of now, but they plan on changing the same to be centered more around the Incan aspect. We got a tour of the hotel and learned that 600 years ago the farm was an inca structure. It survived the biggest eruption of the Cotopaxi volcano in 1720! The Incans didn’t have roofs on their structures because they wanted to connect with nature and feel the elements. The hotel is trying to recreate the ambiance by adding a glass roof onto one of the Incan rooms. One of the coolest parts of the tour was being able to see the differences in Incan and Spanish construction. Even without the modern tools and technology that the Spanish had, the Incans built neat structures that planned for the humidity by using porous bricks. The Spanish could not mimic this, and it is very obvious which walls are Incan and which are Spanish because of the uneven shapes and moss that the Spanish walls possess. The property was purchased in 1921 by president of Ecuador, who is the great grandfather of our tour guide! It was converted into a hotel in 1998.
After our tour, we tried a traditional Incan welcome drink in the living room that was thought was our surprise that the tour guide had mentioned. However, he took us outside and we actually got to feed the llamas! This was one of the coolest experiences ever. I even got to feed the llama a carrot from my mouth! We were so thankful that we were able to interact so closely with the llamas, and on such a beautiful farm!
Our 3rd and final stop of the day was back in Quito, so we hopped on our bus for another hour and a half long drive. We arrived at Bios Chocolates, and were hit with the delicious aroma of chocolate as soon as we walked through the door. Yum!
Davíd gave us some background knowledge about chocolate as well as the chocolate industry before we headed into the factory. Before 2006, no one knew that chocolate actually originated in Ecuador. Archeologists tested the cacao plants and found out that the oldest plants are actually Ecuadorian. Ecuador has the natural, ideal growing conditions so a unique aspect of chocolate here is that the beans will have different flavors depending on the amount of sunlight, rain, and type of soil they are grown in. There are 3 “families” of fine flavored chocolate: fruity, woody/nutty, and floral. We got to try many different fine flavored chocolates and I was able to identify which type each of our chocolates were! Bios Chocolate was the 2nd chocolate factory in Ecuador and the 1st in Quito. 200 tons of chocolate are produced at Bios each year. We got to do a tour of the factory next, but we couldn’t forget our hairnets!
When we entered the actual factory, we got to see where the cacao is fermented and the shell is separated from the nibs inside. The beans are wood smoked at Bios, which gives their chocolate a unique flavor. The nibs are then placed in a machine that grinds them into a “playdo” paste using granite. By using stretching instead of chopping to blend the chocolate, the fine flavors are preserved. Next, the chocolate and the fermented vinegar are separated and additional ingredients are added such as milk and sugar. Finally, the chocolate mixture is poured into molds and frozen. We actually got to make our own chocolate! We added a filling into the molds and the employees poured more chocolate over the filling and popped them in the freezer. While we waited for them to harden, we got to try liquid chocolate straight out of the machine! I honestly loved it, I could drink chocolate any day!
Our chocolates were finally ready for the last step: wrapping. The 2 kind ladies who stayed after hours for our tour showed us how to wrap our chocolates in Bios paper, and we got to take them home. I also bought some more Bios Chocolate to take home for my family and friends to try!
Overall, the best part of the entire trip so far has been the people. Everyone is so kind and goes above and beyond to ensure that we have an amazing experience. I was absolutely blown away by how genuinely caring these people are!
Tonight is our last night in Quito, but tomorrow we will be having a fun travel day as we continue our journey from Quito to the Amazon!
-Anna