Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Oriente!




Having a cook up next to the river



We have the Chinese Convention coming up this weekend, so we took it as a good opportunity to go to the Oriente to invite the Chinese in some smaller cities. Half the group went to Loja and Zamora, but Damaris and I went with Jenny to stay with her Grandparents (about 6 hours away from Cuenca). We visited Sucua and Maccas and had some good success.
The next day we went to a Cacao plantation with Jenny's family - a real highlight. I think I've found my dream job because this is where CHOCOLATE comes from. When you open the pod, the beans are covered in slimy white flesh which you can suck on (it tastes kind of tangy, sweet and delicious)
So you put the beans in a bucket and let it ferment, then dry the seeds. These particular beans go to Germany to make organic chocolate. Heres a short video of the process.


1st official meeting in Mendez

6 comments:

The Kinlocher's said...

great post - thanks Amanda - you certainly are having a great adventure huh.

AJ and Jordanne said...

Great video ~ I'm sure you were loving every moment!!!!

The Crazy's said...

Hi Beth and Mark, Fae here, I stayed at Nic and Lyndons last night and just reading your blog. Wow, what an interesting life you have and your experiences sound really great, must make you appreciate how Jehovah's organisation is really world wide. Keep up the good work and will here of you again when I next read the blog.

Elizabeth in Ecuador (de nuevo) said...

Hi Faqe - nice to see a comment from you and yes it is a very interesting life we live here - always something different to keep us on our toes!
Look forward to seeing you here again sometime!
Chao

The Scottys said...

Kia ora guys,
ERR daylight saving really sleepy.
BUt I have finally caught up with your blogs!!
Hoping to get my emails up and running so I can email you back bethy boo!!
We are all well here in tauranga keep up the great work.
lots of love
the scottys

Daniel said...

I thought I lived in the land of chocolate because we have a Lindt factory - but there it grows on trees!

Thanks for the video.