Tarapoto: Coffee and Chocolate

By far, my favorite part was our visits to a coffee co-op and an organic chocolate farm. In both locales, we learned the whole farm-to-table process of making two of my favorite products.

First was the visit to the coffee co-op, Agroindustria Warmi.  There, one of the partners, Fanny, talked us through the process of making coffee.  Though I had learned a lot of this through my training with Starbucks, it was so much better to actually see all the steps of the process in person.

The coffee cherries are picked.

The bean is removed from the cherry and dried in the sun.  We saw mats laid out, drying the beans, all through the town.

The farmers bring their dried beans to the co-op facility.

This contraption is used to remove the dried husks from the beans.

The beans are then roasted in this pan in small batches.

The dried beans next to the roasted beans

The beans are hand ground before packaging

Liz & I took our turn at the grinder in order to sample some and it was definitely worth it! 

Then, we moved on to visit the Rio Bosque Magico in Chazuta, where Heriberto and his family explained how they grow, harvest and produce their own organic atisanal chocolate:

This cacao variety is Peruvian.  The ripening fruits are green while the mature ones are yellow.  

This variety is from Ecuador.  It´s a deep red when ripening and a lighter red/orange color when mature.  Heriberto is working on combining these two species to create an even more superior variety of cacao.

These tiny buds take about 6 months to grow into the mature fruit. 

We got to sample the actual cacao fruit from each variety.  We were surprised at how distinct they were from each other (but both were delicious!)  Liz said that it reminded her of the Indian jackfruit, something along the lines of a flowery mango flavor. At this farm, they also use the fruit to produce a honey sauce, ensuring that all parts of the cacao plant are used as fully as possible.

As this is an organic farm, Heriberto relies on the natural fauna to help the plants to grow and mature.  This large grub (toe for size comparison) is one of those creatures that helps the process.

After touring the farm, it was on to the production side:

They carefully select the beans that they want to use for their own chocolate and sell the rest in the market, again so that nothing is wasted.  Currently they use a combination of the two varieties to give their chocolate it´s unique taste.

Heriberto´s wife Marilena, runs this part of the operation.  Here she is toasting the dried beans on a wood-fired stove. She prefers the wood over gas to better know when the beans are properly toasted.  

After the toasted beans cool, the last layer of husk is removed.

I was so enthusiastic about helping I managed to burn my thumb on the hot beans.  :(

Now, you´re left with nibs, which can be eaten straight, but are especially good when added to smoothies, granola, etc, for a light chocolate flavor.

Once again, we were put to work at the grinder!  Here the nibs are ground and mixed with sugar.  They go on to regrind the mixture 5 more times to make it smooth and silky!  (My arm was tired after just one round!)  After that the chocolate is mixed with any additions (peanuts, honey, liquor) and put into molds.  Liz and I both agreed that the peanut ones are our favorite-they tasted like you´re eating a crunchy dark chocolate Reeses´ peanut butter cup.  (I don´t actually know if that exists, but if it does, that is what is should taste like!)

Just writing this post has made me hungry for some more of this chocolate.  Time to plan another trip to the jungle!

Tarapoto: The handicrafts

Another thing that Liz and I wanted to do on our trip to the jungle was make some handicrafts.  Our guide, Daniel, set us up with demonstrations in weaving and pottery from local artisans.

To do this, we spent one day in an artists' retreat deeper into the jungle, living in what was affectionately called "the hobbit house".

 

The weaving demonstration was done by a young local girl who had learned this technique since she was a child.

This was hands-on as we both got a chance to try this out

What we are attempting to make is a belt, similar to the green and white one Liz is using to stabilize the thread

 

I found it interesting, but Liz enjoyed it more than I did.  We both, however, found it difficult to "see" the patterns we were making in order to select the right threads.

 

Whereas our instructor can make one of these belts in about a day, after more than an hour this is all Liz & I had completed.

Later we visited some potters in the local town of Chazuta where we learned about the historical uses of the pottery as well as observing them in action.

These burial pots were all found locally when they were working on the streets of the village, showing that the tradition of pottery goes back many years. 

Close up of a burial pot-the deceased was cremated and their ashes were put in these pots.

Artisans at work

Traditionally the pots were fired directly in the fire, but now more modern kilns are used.

Some of the common symbols used in painting the pottery.  They said there were over 1500 different symbols used in this culture.

Tarapoto: Being tourists

Last year when Liz came to visit me, we spent a couple of weeks travelling around Peru. We visited several places on the mountains and on the coast, but we didn't make it to the jungle. On her (what will hopefully become annual) visit this year, we decided to remedy that and chose Tarapoto as our first foray into the jungle.

As we had a lot of different things we wanted to do, we decided to customize a tour with Sacharuna Adventures...and we couldn't have been more pleased with the results!  Our tour guide, Daniel, took us to many places that we wouldn't have been able to access on our own.  It ended up being the perfect mix of tourist activities, eco-tourism & artisanal activities that we were looking for.

Tarapoto is known for a number of waterfalls in the area, so our first activity was to visit Ahuashiyacu Waterfall:

The legend of the origin of the waterfall involves the beautiful daughter of a village chieftain (Ahuashi and the love of her life, Shilly (of whom her father, of course, did not approve).  To further compound this sad tale, some witches turned the girl into the beautiful waterfall we now see and turned the lover into a black bull who was charged with guarding the waterfall's pool. [And you thought your love life was complicated.]

Though the jungle was hot, the water was quite cool...thus, merely wading was refreshing enough for us to enjoy our trip there.

We also took a trip to the nearby town, Lamas, to learn more about the native culture there:

Originally only a temporary home for nomadic tribes, Lamas is considered to have been conquered twice-once by a tribe who decided to settle there and once by the Spanish conquistadores.

Ayahuasca is not just a trendy hallucinogenic substance, but in the jungle is considered to be the mother plant and is represented by a snake with ears.  (Apparently it is common to see a snake with ears as one of your first visions under the influence of ayahuasca.)

Clearly, a snake with ears. Not sure I'd want to meet that, even in my dreams.

There, we learned about some of the myths and legends associated with the jungle:

The chullachaqui-the protector of the forest.  Identifiable by his one goat or deer-like foot.  He sometimes appears to you as someone that you know.  [The moral: if you're approached by someone that you are surprised to find in the jungle, check out his feet!]

El Tunchi-something like the Grim Reaper in that he appears when someone is about to die.  Identifiable as a shadowy figure that whistles so shrilly that it produces goosebumps.

This picture depicts the legend of the Chicharra Machacuy.  It seems that if you are bitten by this insect, the only cure is to have sex...immediately.  [Why do I suspect that a man came up with this story???]

We took in some traditional dancing in the native village of Wayku:

But, one of our favorite touristy parts was visiting the castle in Lamas.  After visiting both Chancay castle as well as Unanue in Cañete, I must admit I had pretty low expectations of the use of the word 'castle'.  So you can imagine that I was pleasantly surprised to turn the corner and find this real, honest-to-goodness castle...in the middle of the jungle!

Does anyone else see a face on this tower???