Today was relaxing and informative! We started the day with yet another breakfast of bread and eggs, accompanied by a refreshing bowl of fruit. Todd, the owner of the lodge, gave us a lesson on the Waorani tribe and his background about how his lodge came to be and his connection to it. Todd is very family-oriented and enjoys keeping his family together. I really enjoyed his lesson and learning how he has utilized the lodge to help students like us develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of Ecuador and its unique and diverse culture and history.
We then met two women who have been doing ceramics for over 40 years, and had a ceramic pot-making lesson. I found it to be difficult to make my pot and fear that it may break in the process of making it throughout the week. The ceramic artists are very talented and artistic when helping us shape our pots and create small animals. I had a lot of fun doing this and found it to be very calming. I am excited to start painting them next week… if my pot makes it out without breaking!
We had free time before lunch where we explored and found butterflies and all kinds of bugs. Lunch consisted of pasta, salad, cauliflower, and broccoli, served with a beef and vegetable sauce. I thought the sauce was very interesting and the beef had an interesting texture, but overall it was good.
After lunch, Skip gave us a chocolate lesson. We learned about the different countries’ chocolate production, the continued rise of demand in cacao, and the countries that do not consume chocolate as much like China for example. This was interesting because, as a daughter whose mom owns our small family business, it would be interesting to help with this supply chain and find ways to market chocolate brands to reach even more countries!
We headed to a cacao farm area with Cynthia, who helped us pick the good cacao, Criollo and Trinitario, to take back with us for their harvest. I even got to taste the cacao pods! Some tasted like a sweet mango, and others were harder and had a less sweet taste but it was still very delicious. After scooping it all out of the cacao, we drove back to the lodge just in time for dinner. Dinner was a cheese and tomato sandwich with salad and watermelon.
Afterward, some of us went to the hammocks to hang out and relax. I had so much fun today, and I am so excited to do some more activities with chocolate tomorrow!
