While exploring places to visit in Costa Rica near Manuel Antonio, I found Rainforest Spices, a sustainable spice farm that uses companion planting. The person who arrived at our hotel to drive us to the farm was the owner, Henry Karczynski. On the trip, he told us how he took the farm from devastation to productivity, from a monoculture of vanilla to one of diversity with vanilla, cocoa,cinnamon, and other spices. It’s a fascinating story and I strongly suggest you spend some time on the website reading about it.
At the farm, we took the tour, which you can see a bit online. When we arrived spices, including tumeric, were drying in the sun. We were introduced to chocolate by the tour guide showing us the inside of a cocao bean, which you can see if you go here and scroll down a bit. Look at the top right. The inside looks a lot like the inside of the sci-fi slimy pod and then…then the tour guide told us to try it. Big pause. There were only four of us and no one moved. Then I decided to bite the bullet (so to speak) and tried it. What a relief! It tasted fine.
Anyway, none of this is pink. But as we walked through the verdant farm, we saw growing pineapples. That’s something else I’d never seen and I certainly never imagined they’d look like this. Yeah, now the pink part. 🙂 However, I’m compelled to add that the chocolate bar they gave us made from their own chocolate was the best I’ve ever eaten. If you’re ever in Costa Rica, this farm comes highly recommended by us!
for Life in Colour: pink and Squares: bright
My time away’s coming to an end but even though I’m writing this in advance of my trip, I’m sure I’ll be having a good time. Thank goodness for books on CD that will make the drive home less boring!!
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