During the night there's a good rain and we wake up to overcast skies. We hurry through breakfast as we are meeting Nanci, Vic, Dianna and Terry at 9:15 for the start of our adventure to Green Acres Chocolate Farm. It rains off-and-on during breakfast but stops just before we leave.
I have arranged with Roberto to take the six of us in his water taxi to Green Acres. When I spoke with him he quoted me $25 per person since there are six of us. The only issue is that I am not sure if that is round trip - at first I assumed that it is, but during the night I have had some doubts. When we arrive at the dock Roberto puts me at ease. He will take us to the Chocolate Farm, stay there while we do the 2-3 hour tour, then bring us back for $25 per person. Normally the fee is $30, but since we have six people he has provided a discount.
The water taxi ride starts out. It is still overcast and we see rain falling in the distance. William and I chose to brave whatever weather comes our way, but Nanci has come prepared with rain gear for the four of them. Luckily it is not needed. The 30 minute ride takes us through Dolphin Bay and we are lucky enough to see a dolphin. We also see the large stand of trees called table-tops as well as mangroves along the way.
I have arranged with Roberto to take the six of us in his water taxi to Green Acres. When I spoke with him he quoted me $25 per person since there are six of us. The only issue is that I am not sure if that is round trip - at first I assumed that it is, but during the night I have had some doubts. When we arrive at the dock Roberto puts me at ease. He will take us to the Chocolate Farm, stay there while we do the 2-3 hour tour, then bring us back for $25 per person. Normally the fee is $30, but since we have six people he has provided a discount.
The water taxi ride starts out. It is still overcast and we see rain falling in the distance. William and I chose to brave whatever weather comes our way, but Nanci has come prepared with rain gear for the four of them. Luckily it is not needed. The 30 minute ride takes us through Dolphin Bay and we are lucky enough to see a dolphin. We also see the large stand of trees called table-tops as well as mangroves along the way.
 | Roberto pulls up to a nice dock - we have arrived at Green Acres Chocolate Farm. A few minutes later a couple arrives in a dingy - they are from one of the sailboats in the harbor and then a family of five arrives. The 13 of us are the 10 am tour. |  |
We walk up to the home and along the way Robert stops to tell us about the plants which includes plantains and two types of banana's. They also have papaya, avocado, coconuts, lemon and limes on the property. Sitting on the back patio Robert explains the cocoa pods and the seeds inside. He cracks some open and we chew on the raw seeds and the sweet pulp around them. The seeds themselves are bitter.
Now it is time to take a walk around the property. Robert is a wealth of knowledge and he shares information about the plants and animals we see. There's a pair of lineated woodpeckers building a nest inside a dead tree. They are very large compared to the woodpeckers at home. We see a nephila orb spider in her web and off to the side is the much smaller male spider. The female eats the male after mating, just like the black widow. A green bandit frog hops by and Robert picks up the poisonous critter carefully to show us. We see cocoa trees that are over 100 years old. Robert describes that he loses 15% of his crop to the squirrels and could lose up to another 15% to the fungus that is hitting cocoa trees world-wide. Being an organic farm, he does not use any chemicals to attempt to destroy the fungus. Instead every day his workers examine the trees and remove any pods showing signs of the fungus.
After an hour or so we arrive at Robert's "Willie Wonka" workshop. It is here that the harvested cocoa pods are processed. The seeds are removed and fermented with naturally occurring yeast. They are then set out in trays to dry in the sun. Once sufficiently dried they are taken into the workshop for processing. A roaster constructed from a propane tank, propane stove small motor and pulley are used. Following roasting the hulls are removed using a machine constructed from a shop vac and the top of a chlorine bleach container(along with a few other parts). Then the cocoa seeds are ground 10 times. The grinder uses some parts from an old fashioned meat grinder. By this point the chocolate is smooth and still contains 100% of the cocoa butter, unlike commercial high quality chocolate which has 40% or more of the butter removed. The chocolate is poured into molds constructed from plastic plumbing pipes which have been cut into six inch pieces the cut lengthwise. After some time in a propane-powered freezer they are wrapped and packaged by hand. Talk about a McGivered operation! And everything runs off-the-grid.
We return to the patio of the house to have some banana bread and sample some of the products. With a small cup of Green Acres chocolate and cream liquor in hand we toast a great experience. Of course there is an opportunity to buy the products, and we leave Green Acres Farm with a little less green in William's wallet. Vic and Terry have the same wallet experience.
Roberto is waiting for us at the dock and our route back to Bocas Town is through a canal which has been cut through the mangroves. It's easy to see how important these trees are to the eco-system. Amazing how they can live in the salt water.
Roberto is waiting for us at the dock and our route back to Bocas Town is through a canal which has been cut through the mangroves. It's easy to see how important these trees are to the eco-system. Amazing how they can live in the salt water.
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