Jungle #3

dOnce back down from the mountains, we stopped in at the house of one of the guides to have a meal (which according to Amy was the best one yet in Ecuador). The house also had a little farm, with plants that we had never seen up close. Here is a pineapple bush, with a little pineapple growing out of the top. So cool looking.

















Here is a cacao tree. The cacao seeds are found in the pods that hang from the tree. On a side note, we went to Guayaquil last week and saw immense farms of cacao and banana along the sides of the highway. It reminded me of the freeways in the US in the midwest, where you drive for hours and see only corn and wheat.


















Here are the seeds from the cacao pod, they are slimy and covered with some kind of sticky white substance.


















The seeds are laid out on the floor or along side the road to dry. It looks just like when farmers lay out rice alongside the road to dry out before they peel off the husk. Then the seeds are roasted and ground and then made somehow into chocolate. I'm not sure how.