Abe and Xochitl Go to Ecuador

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That's all folks!

So, our last Guayaquil post was the last one we have from Ecuador. If you're following (you're probably family), thanks so much for staying with us over the course of our Ecuador adventure. It was an amazing learning experience - from cacao production to local cultures, we learned SO much, and are so happy that we had this experience.

Thanks again Fund For Teachers for the opportunity!

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So, our last day in Guayaquil - we weren't planning on doing anything cacao-related, just wander around the city. As we were walking down the Malecon 2000, a waterfront boardwalk on the Guayas River, Xochitl turned to me, and asked if I smelled chocolate. The smell was overpowering!

We followed our noses to La Universal's factory and outlet. La Universal Sweet Industries S.A. produces a variety of commercial cacao, carmels and candies. After spending so much time on smaller scale farms, it was incredible to see larger-scale production. The difference in chocolate was noticable, and not very surprising.

Guayaquil is an impressive city - it's the largest in Ecuador at 2.7 million, and the port of the city is responsible for many of the exports out of the country. This includes cacao, bananas and shrimp. The city reminded us of Quevedo, another farming and export-oriented town.

Any stay in a city wouldn't be complete without sampling some local food - in this case the encebollado, which was delicious.

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After a week or so in Cuenca, we headed back down to Guayaquil, our last city before heading out of Ecuador - but no rest yet! On the next day, we headed out to Cacao y Mango, near Naranjal.

The farm is small and family owned. Ninfa, one of the family members and our guide, told us that the farm has been in her family for 70 years. The family knowledge of plant production was incredible - they grow everything, from cacao to rice to tilapia.

The family only grows CCN-51, a modified plant, for cacao sale. The price is the same on the market as it would be for Arriba, but the gm plants produce 3 times the amount of fruit. No market demand for better product, not production. This doesn't mean that they don't care - they keep a few arriba plants for home use, and that's the type we made.

Ninfa showed us one of her family recipies for hot chocolate. She told us that the recipe was passed from her mother, who had learned it from her mother. The recipe is only passed through one child (her sisters didn't learn the recipe). We won't give away the whole thing, but it involved lemongrass and cacao. It was delicious.

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So, a sad post here - we took a trip to Sigsig and Gualeceo today (two farming towns with famous markets outside of Cuenca) but our camera ran out of batteries halfway through :(.

The top image is of the Sigsig market; each division is for a different vendor; there are 2 floors of produce, and the top floor is deveoted to cooked food. There's even more space for meats, each labelled, including cuy - guinea pig - named after the sound it makes ("cuy, cuy").

The trip was a showcase of the incredible local farming culture in Ecuador. Like many markets we had visited before, there were insane amounts of produce. Most locals take cabs from the market (all cabs are actually pickup trucks here), loaded with produce.

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It'd been a while since we'd actually made something using local products. Ecuador has a variety of exports, among the most popular are bananas.

We decided to meet and cook with a local chef, Kathy from La Warmi, to give us some local cooking lessons. Kathy specializes in French cooking techniques, and helped us to prepare garlic shrimp (a local specialty) and patacones, something we'd eaten at practically every meal in Ecuador.

Patacones (if you're from the D.R., tostones) are created with plantains, sliced, squashed, and then fried. Kathy buys a lot of produce from La Fiera Libre, where she gets the freshest merchandise. 

Actually making some food was a great way to connect produce to the kitchen, and helped us get a new perspective on the connection between plants and people. Thanks to Kathy at La Warmi for the patience and knowledge!

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After another day at La Fiera Libre, we were told (again) that we had to go to Cajas National Park for a day, so we decided to use one of our down days to take a trip up.

The ride is about 45 minutes from Cuenca via bus, and was absolutely gorgeous. It turns out that Cuenca gets most of its water from the area, and locals claim that it's the cleanest in Ecuador. The landscapes were other-worldly; you feel like you're in a fairy tale. Seriously.

We spent all day hiking, and ended up spending 35 minutes anxiously waiting for a bus. If you ever go to Ecuador, visit Cajas!

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We're Back!

For those of you who are keeping track, Xochitl and I are back in NYC... but we still haven't finished all the posts we want to do. We're still going to make updates until we go through all our experiences in Ecuador, so stay posted!

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"More chocolate, more happy. This is simple."

Ninfa Lara Ramirez

Manager, Cacao & Mango

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While in Quito, we heard about a farmer's collective near Cuenca called MCCH (Maquita Cushunchic Comercializando como Hermanos). The name means "Let us join hands and do business as brothers." Due to the nature of the highlands, farmers will often grow different crops at different altitudes, running from cacao to potatoes.

On our way to visit one of the farming groups, we rode the Devil's Nose train and visited Ingapirca, a site of Incan and Cañari ruins. The experience was enlightening and gave us a rich view of the agricultural history and significance of the area.

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Another day in Cuenca, and our first trip to La Feria Libre, a massive open-air market that takes up about 8 city blocks. A  huge amount of agricultural goods were available - from herbs to meats to grains to vegetables. We spent an hour wandering around the labyrinth, and never saw the same stall twice.

If you choose to visit, know that everything (at the beginning) costs a dollar. 15 bananas? Un dólar. 8 apples? Un dólar. A bag of strawberries? Un dólar. 10 banans? Un dólar. Almost all the shopkeepers are willing to drop 25-50 cents off each price; we were actually laughed at at our first stall when we bought strawberries for the asked price!

No trip to the market would be complete without a slice of pork off of the 20 roasting pigs in the cerdo row. We had the opportunity to speak to a woman who worked as a vendor (and a grandma), who gave us many excellent stories about the market, and some very specific political opinions. 

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After going down the coast for a week, we returned to the Andean Highlands.  This time we settled in Cuenca as our base.  It is a beautiful city (more pictures to be posted later) within reach of many other smaller towns and farms.

Although the Andes are not a place where cacao is grown, it is a place where it is processed and used.  We started our time there by visiting Museo del Banco Central and Pumapungo, an old Incan ruin.

The museum highlighted the practices, foods, and industries of the different regions of Ecuador.  The ruins showed us a little about the system of chakras that was inspired by Incan terracing practices from Peru.  (Terracing was not necessary in Ecuador because of the climate.)

We finished the day off with some chocolate (of course), made from locally produced chocolate.

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Arroz, yuca, platano, frutas, ademas de la caza y la pesca, componen su alimentación. Pero la agricultura es actividad principal, generalmente monocultivos para exportación: cacao, cafe y banana.

Museo del Banco Central Pumapugo (Cuenca)

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After concluding our work with Kallari and Huasquila we headed back over the Andes to Quito.  We left the beautiful clouds and scenery of the rainforest for the beautiful clouds and scenery of the eastern Andes range.  NOTE: The clouds are REAL!!

As we reentered Quito, we followed a truck that reminded us what happens when you harvest, ferment, dry, and roast the seeds of Theobroma cacao...CHOCOLATE.

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Our last day at Huasquilla included a treat - we went hiking in the caves in the area (all remnants of volcanic flows) and a trip down the Yasuni River via raft. The Yasuni meets with the Napo, one of the major tributaries to the Amazon River.

Our guide, Leonardo, belonged to the local tribes and told us some of the local myths about the area, including the Mother Tree (which we're pretty sure was the inspiration for Fern Gully and Avatar).

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Another day, another hike with Jose through the jungle. We spent time today on Jose's chakra, checking out some of his plants. His plants require different growing methods than those in Los Rios - cloned plants won't grow as well; humidity wreaks havoc on smaller plants. He's tried to plant some, but they have a tendency to get Witches Broom (Escoba de Bruja). Jose pointed out that he really only experiences two types of cacao - national, and clones.

It was a treat to see how Jose tended his plants, in contrast to Samuel, or even Luis. Jose's farm has a variety of other plants, and even has some home-made animal traps.

Maybe the highlight of the day was eating some beetle grubs (Timon and Pumba style) while Jose cackled away.

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Our next day at Huasquilla, we spent a day at a local guayusa and cacao farm. Guayusa has a variety of local uses, including tea and cooking for traditional dishes. We spent the day traipsing through the jungle, and even had an opportunity to get our hands dirty in planting guayusa.

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After a day at Huasquilla Lodge, Xochitl and I went on a medicinal plants tour with Jose, a local farmer who knows quite a bit about local flora and fauna. Along with tasting some local plants, we learned quite a lot about indigenous uses of plants and animals - Jose's tribe, for instance, burns the termite mounds to ward off insects. Along with food, and repellant, the Huasquilla tribe uses native plants and animals for furniture, remedies, and decoration (among others).

Jose even took us to a small waterfall where magnificent fossils had been preserved (see above).