In late June, my new friend Noreen and I headed up to Bocas del Toro for a mini vacation. We decided that it would be fun to visit a chocolate plantation, not realizing that we were in for a 90 minute uphill hike on a muddy slope. We couldn't have made it without the walking sticks.
But it was pretty neat to see cocoa plants growing in nature. They are those purple husks, each about the size of a football.
After the beans are harvested from the husks, they are roasted, and then ground. On the tour, we got to see the traditional way of grinding cocoa, using only two rocks and a lot of upper arm strength.
And then, on the boat back to our hotel, we got to ride with a coffin, wrapped in garbage bags to keep it dry, that was being delivered to the island. But it was empty (we hope).
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