Thursday we visited a cacao plantation and got the full bean-to-bar walkthrough. The coolest part was learning how they graft multiple cacao varieties onto a single tree to pull the best traits out of each one, way more science behind chocolate than I’d ever realized. The drying and fermenting process was dialed in too, and…
Author: baf114
Waorani Way to the Jungle
Sunday started painfully early. Like 5:30 a.m. early. We grabbed a quick breakfast, loaded onto the bus, and immediately got introduced to what I can only describe as a two hour whiplash session disguised as a road. From there, we loaded all our stuff onto these big motorized canoes manned by the Geyepare tribe, with…
Waking Up in a Rainforest Paradise
Friday morning was the first time I got to see the lodge in actual daylight, and it was unreal. The whole place is built right into the rainforest, literally on the river, like someone took a treehouse fantasy and made it real. We had breakfast at the main lodge with the river running by below,…
Exploring Nature and Traveling Ecuador
Wednesday started with a gift: waking up to completely clear skies and a direct view of Cotopaxi right from the hotel. After breakfast, we headed up into the volcano and visited a crater lake at the top of the mountain, getting a guided tour with views that made you feel like you were standing inside…
Chocolate, Markets, and More (money)
Monday was another early morning, getting used to it now. We had our usual morning breakfast at the hotel, then hit the town to go on a chocolate experience by Yumbos, trying different flavors and learning about the history of chocolate and how they make it. We then explored Quito, getting lunch at a traditional…
From Pittsburgh to Miami to Quito
Nobody tells you how brutal a 3 AM alarm feels when you’re running on excitement and not nearly enough sleep. I grabbed my bags, made my way to Pittsburgh International in the dark, and caught my flight to Miami. We landed with the sun up and made the most of the layover, heading straight to…
VAMOS ECUADOR
Hey everyone! My name is Ben, and I’m beyond pumped to get on the road to Ecuador. I’m from Philadelphia, PA (yes, inside Philly) and am majoring in marketing and finance, but who knows, maybe after this I’ll switch to supply chain. I love all things sports, playing sports and watching sports, no matter what…