On May 12, we started our day in Quito once again and the main focus for the day was chocolate. First, we visited Yumbos Chocolate Timbre to taste several chocolates with different flavor profiles and backgrounds. We also learned how they make their chocolate and how they decrease the cocoa percentage to make the chocolate sweeter. Afterwards, we visited an Ecuadorian food place and each got new food to try. We then traveled off to our next chocolate factory, BIOS, and talked with chocolatier David about the history of BIOS and why certain chocolate seems to have secondary flavors. We taste tested multiple chocolates there as well and were able to fold our own chocolate to compare it to the factory made version. Once we bought a bunch of chocolate from Bios, we made our to a new location which was almost like a ranch hotel. The showers there were all freezing cold.
The next day, we woke up to the sound of roosters at 6:50 in the morning and took a trip to a rose farm that was located between a bunch mountains. The sheer size of the farm was overwhelming, and learning about how different holidays affect the amount of roses they need to harvest. After walking through the greenhouses, we made our way to the packing warehouses and were given roses as gifts from the farm. A couple hours later, we visited The Community. Their mission was to provide roses and food to the surrounding community. Unfortunately, we were not able to spend much time with them and had to travel back to the hotel ranch where we played a soccer game against the local Ecuadorian students.
The soccer game was a chaotic, 8 v 8 game in the rain which went on for what seemed like an hour. During the game, my knee was sacrificed after a true Brexit tackle from the goalkeeper which left me on the floor. This ended my game for the day, but fortunately, we pulled through and won the game in overtime. It was such an amazing experience and will be one that is hard to forget, given situation and the surrounding area. It truly was an unforgettable experience that reignited my love for the game.
