Today I was gifted the responsibilty of having the snapchat glasses. I had a lot of pressure on me to take pictures and videos with them. Our first stop of the day was Jet Fresh Flowers – a rose farm in  Latacunga. When we arrived at the rose farm, we were greeted by many animals such as geese, llamas, dogs, and cats. They even had a sign up that said University of Pittsburgh on it. We were given a brief explanation of the company and its history and then began our tour. We walked through all the greenhouses and saw all the different kinds of roses, the names of them, and their many colors. We saw a really cool Volkswagen and a few students got to go inside the van. We saw some of their other facilities such as their on-side laundry. Then we toured the factory part of the farm. We saw the entire process from start to finish. We saw them separate the flowers, cut the stems, wrap them together, package them, and some were even spray painted with color. They also showed us how they stamp flowers and made flowers that said University of Pittsburgh on them for all of us.

After the tour they presented us with a table of unique foods. I tried so many fruits I’ve never had before, and they were all so good. We then took some pictures with the llamas and in front of the sign and drove to our next destination – Mignon Plaza. The Mignon Plaza is a hotel built on the Inka ruins. Almost every room in the hotel is surrounded by the original walls built by the Inkas. It is a beautiful property in the countryside of Ecuador. The first thing we saw when we got off the bus was their lab, Lady Gaga, that came right up to us to be pet. We then met their adorable puppy, Maxi. They both followed us throughout the whole tour.

They first brought us to the horse stables to show us one of their horses. Then we got a tour of the hotel which was absolutely amazing. During the tour he explained the Inka and Spanish history of the hotel. The tour guide explained how the way the Inkas built things with so little technology is still a mystery today because it was done so specifically and so well. We then went into the living room and they served us one of their traditional drinks. It was very good. After the tour was over they told us they had a surprise for us. They handed us all a basket of carrots and a few minutes later about 15 llamas came running in. We got to feed them, pet them, and take pictures.

Our last stop of the day was a chocolate tasting at the Bios Chocolate factory. When we got there we tasted many of the cholocolates made in the factory. We even tried freeze dried cocoa mucilage, which is the white substance that surrounds the cocoa beans inside the pod. It was actually pretty sour. He even let us try one of the new recipies he is testing. He also gave us a history of the factory and his family. Then we put really cute hair nets on for a tour of the factory. We were shown all the machines and how they work. He even let us put our heads under one of the liquid chocolate machines to get it poured right into our mouths. We got to pack chocolate into a mold and wrap the finished product. However many you could wrap in the time he gave us what what you could take home for free. He let us buy some other chocolates and then we headed back to the hotel for dinner.