We started off the second day of our Ecuadorian Adventure with a stop at Yumbo’s Chocolate, where we did a tasting of a variety of different cacao percentages and learned about the cacao fermentation process that creates the chocolate we all know and love! We followed that up with a quick bus ride to the BIOS Chocolate factory, where the owner David taught us all about the history of the factory and chocolate production, various types of cacao beans, and even gave us a tour of the factory a-la Willy Wonka. Afterwards, I failed to wrap some chocolate and we were off, this time to the town of Picalqui in Pedro Muncayo.
We stayed at a small commune, a place that brought back plenty of memories of Boy Scout Camp, where our host Antonio served up delicious meals, helped us with a bonfire, and sang songs with us in the night. While in Pedro Muncayo, we headed to the EcuarosCanada Flower plantation, a ten-hectare piece of land where we saw the ins and outs of rose production while learning even more about customer demand during certain times of the year(especially last week with Mother’s Day!). We headed back to our lodging after that where we engaged a group of local Ecuadorean high schoolers in a friendly football match, ending with a great bond and a fantastic time.
Finally, we made it to Otovalo, where we had time to explore a local market, see a beautiful local waterfall, and even headed to the National Condor Park(on a very bumpy road!) where we saw Ecuador’s national bird and other beautiful birds of prey.
Overall, these last three days have been a blast, and I can’t wait to get to the Iyarina Lodge tomorrow!
