03/07/09 - Some rest and making chocolate from beans!
Today was a real rest day. We lolly-gagged, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Tami's, then walked into town to buy some groceries at the market.
In the evening, we made some spaghetti in the community kitchen. It was a great thing we did, because we happened upon a chocolate making demonstration by some climbers. They had purchased three types of cocoa beans at the market, roasted and shelled them when we showed up.
We learned about the value of the beans - they are traded among the indigenous people in the region. We took turns turning the crank that smushed them. The beans were sent through the crank three times. Amazingly, it turned into a liquid of sorts the more it was cranked.
For some other beans, we used the rolling method using a molcahete of sorts. After the beans were ground up, we put them in some trays/molds. Then we smacked the molds on the table over and over again. This turns the chocolate into a glossy more liquid state. It was bizarre to see that tapping the molds on the table would produce such and effect. After all the bubbles came out from this, the trays were placed in the refrigerator over night.
The people demonstrating brought out some already completed chocolate to show us.
Not only did we look at the finished product, some hot chocolate was made that we all got to taste. It was really really good!
People were eager to help clean the tools used. Cleaning meant eating and left-over chocolate! You can see one climber working hard cleaning (licking her fingers!) and another climber from New Zealand (Ian, Scout's dad btw) enjoying some hot chocolate.
What a fun evening to stumble into!
Tomorrow is a big day. We're getting up early and going to climb Time Wave Zero - a 23 pitch route - for our last climbing day here. Should be a blast!
Today was a real rest day. We lolly-gagged, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Tami's, then walked into town to buy some groceries at the market.
In the evening, we made some spaghetti in the community kitchen. It was a great thing we did, because we happened upon a chocolate making demonstration by some climbers. They had purchased three types of cocoa beans at the market, roasted and shelled them when we showed up.
We learned about the value of the beans - they are traded among the indigenous people in the region. We took turns turning the crank that smushed them. The beans were sent through the crank three times. Amazingly, it turned into a liquid of sorts the more it was cranked.
For some other beans, we used the rolling method using a molcahete of sorts. After the beans were ground up, we put them in some trays/molds. Then we smacked the molds on the table over and over again. This turns the chocolate into a glossy more liquid state. It was bizarre to see that tapping the molds on the table would produce such and effect. After all the bubbles came out from this, the trays were placed in the refrigerator over night.
The people demonstrating brought out some already completed chocolate to show us.
Not only did we look at the finished product, some hot chocolate was made that we all got to taste. It was really really good!
People were eager to help clean the tools used. Cleaning meant eating and left-over chocolate! You can see one climber working hard cleaning (licking her fingers!) and another climber from New Zealand (Ian, Scout's dad btw) enjoying some hot chocolate.
What a fun evening to stumble into!
Tomorrow is a big day. We're getting up early and going to climb Time Wave Zero - a 23 pitch route - for our last climbing day here. Should be a blast!
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