After an early breakfast featuring the Lodge’s signature chocolate bread – made with cacao liquor produced on the farm but not at all sweet – we all set off back to Bocas, where Steve and I said our goodbyes to Tom and Kate and boarded the mid morning flight back …
A day messing about on boats, spinning about different islands and stops around the lagoon investigating cacao production in the Bocas del Toro area. Before setting off though, our host Steve took us and the other guests at La Loma on a short tour of the Lodge’s cacao growing area …
Observant blog watchers will have noticed that this and the following entries of my August travel blog are a little out of date. This is not so much because I gave up writing in Panama, just I ran out of time to post before returning and then found myself smack …
We spent the morning looking around the mainland town of Almirante, after taking a boat from Hotel Angela. Later after an hour on a bus we were given a lift through what seemed like miles of banana plantations, finally arriving at the farm and family home of Orlando Lozada, the …
A chance to relax and get a lie-in in Panama City before catching our afternoon flight to Bocas del Toro, the cacao production and heavy tourist region in the north west of the country. Our connection with Panama stared a couple of years ago when we were contacted by two …
By this morning we were more than ready to leave Venezuela. This leg of the trip had been very rewarding, for me at least, but also frustrating. Next time I’ll know more what to expect. I guess once you get used to the Venezuelan pace of life and the propensity …
Our last full day in Venezuela was full of flight frustrations and banking problems. We’d underestimated how many bolívars we’d need for some of our taxis, and once again I had to go through the painful process of trying to withdraw money from a Venezuelan bank – I had a …
Today we head east to the Paria Peninsula to visit the Hacienda San José plantation, the source of beans for some of Domori’s finest chocolate, and also for many other chocolate makers. Our flight to Cumana was in the afternoon though, so in the usual spirit of this trip of …
Chuao. It was only half a plan to get there, but from Puerto Colombia in Choroni it’s a 20 minute boat ride. We had the choice between another plantation in Choroni or taking the boat, in the end Chuao won. We were arriving blind, without an invite or pre-arrangement, but …
Andrés and I took a bus out of Caracas to Maracay, where we’d arranged a taxi to take us on to Choroni, The route took us over the heights outside Caracas, a sudden, winding climb into the hills, with much cooler temperatures and stunning views back to Caracas. A beautiful, …
Today, on to Venezuela, which might not have the long history of ancient cacao use that Guatemala has, but in terms of quality, remains the king of cacao. After a mere two hours sleep, a pleasant flight with another stop off in Costa Rica, I arrived in a hot, steamy, …
Last night stayed up too late talking on the hotel balcony, and I just couldn’t face the trip across the lake the others were planning. So I managed to chill out, watch the volcanos not being active from the balcony and catch up on some writing. After some more shopping …
So, what would you want for you birthday? I quite like the idea of standing in a cacao farm in Soconusco, the most renowned of Aztec growing areas, where the emperor Motecuhzoma had his own personal cacao groves. So, lucky it actually was my birthday then, and according to some …
After enjoying Antigua for far too short a time, and a quick goodbye to Emily Stone in the morning, Edgar Chávez picked up Lourdes, Kate, Tom and I to take us to Quetzaltenango, another well known centre of artisanal chocolate production, where Edgar has his own family run chocolate factory, …
A busy schedule today and the start of a few days of intense travelling. We were picked up early by Roberto Deleón, President of ANAKAKAW, who drove us to the Ministry of Economics. ANAKAKAW had arranged a meeting with Lic. Jorge R. Castro Delgado (Lourdes’s namesake), the Vice Minister of …