So we woke up and - after eating breakfast - we started the cacao (chocolate) tour. We first got to try the roasted cacao beans by cracking them open like peanuts. They were really bitter and tasted vaguely of dark chocolate. After that, we made the hot cacao drink with vanilla, chili, and sugar. Next, we had the chocolate spread and then tasted the "Costa Rica gold" and "California" chocolates (if you want to taste some of the great chocolate for yourselves, you can purchase some at http://www.upalachocolate.com/upala/. Pablo and Ana will package it up and happily send it straight to you!). Finally, we visited the cacao plantation and got to try the sweet, mango-y pulp of the cacao.
Promptly afterwards, we got our boots, and Pablo harvested the heart of palm for our lunch salad. Then, most of us went to the village again and some of us went to see the army ants. After that, the microbiologist Dr. Pinto taught us the scientific method and we practiced it by swabbing various places around the farm to find which place has the most bacteria.
After that, we had dinner, which was mostly uneventful except for the tiny pineapple that we saw in the decorations. But, there was an alate bullet ant that flew onto one of the tables. While everyone was screaming, Pablo marched over there and squashed it (but I managed to get a picture of it before that happened).
Next, we went to the classroom to watch two short movies - one of which Pinto was in. Pinto also taught us the main differences between the two leaf cutter ants, Atta and Acromyrmex - during which, I had a banana cockroach land on my hand. Shortly after we ended our discussion, the banana cockroach started giving live birth on my hand. I have officially become a father. Russell says godfather, because the bug is an arthropod. A video will be posted in the future on return.
Yours truly,
Ben Stave
A bullet ant I managed to snap a picture of before Pablo crushed it
Nice Ben!
ReplyDelete