After such a good night’s sleep, we woke up to the most beautiful views and sounds. The river was literally right outside our doors. It was so dark the night before that we thought it was just raining (which it was), not the river current.

My favorite part of the day was picking our own cacao. We grabbed some boots, made our way to the trees right across the street, and just started picking! I like to think I found a pretty good cacao fruit, especially because it tasted so good. To open it, I just cracked it against a tree and it worked. I really felt like a true cacao harvester, it was great. And to add on to my expertise, after roasting the beans, I helped grind it into the fine powder. I should just stay in Ecuador and make this my job!

Later in the afternoon, another brand, Kallari, came to give us a presentation and of course, a chocolate tasting. It was so interesting hearing about how their brand came to be, their focus, and then taste their chocolate and compare it to Hershey’s (which as absolutely awful compared to Ecuadorian chocolate).