Monday, March 21, 2011

A Quick Progression to a Chocolate Tour

If you would have asked me 8 months ago what cacao is I would have told you I had no idea. That was before I joined the Peace Corps and before I knew I was coming to Panama. Fast forward to today and you can find me quickly correcting everyone’s pronunciation of cacao as it comes out of their mouth. That's “cah-cow” just so you know. I had been to Rio Oeste Arriba located just out of Almirante in the foothills (and yes its up the river to the West) during training and the volunteer that I visited here seemed to be a little somber. It rained more than it shined and sickness was a weekly battle. He seemed more than beat down and was ready to go home. After coming returning to Peace Corps headquarters near Panama City from my visit I quickly told my superior that I didn't want to be in that site and preferably somewhere where it didn't rain as much. It was taken into account and I was sure to get placed in the beach community I had always dreamed about. If you don't know anything about the Peace Corps, we are unpaid volunteers working with the state and local governments who each live in severely underdeveloped and poor communities for just over 2 years.

Needless to say, I got placed in the site I had feared and I was not happy. Not only was I afraid of hating my service for 2 years, I was afraid of being sick the whole time. I had already started things off on a bad note and the day I met President Martinelli I had two ear infections and an allergic reaction. Things didn't get better. The first three months in my community when we are required to live with host families, I became sick with, amoebas, parasites, and dysentery. I had lost 15 lbs, along with any motivation I still had and my Spanish was sometimes good enough to see if the latrine was occupied. I was miserable to say the least but was determined to make it through.

As time went by my body started getting accustomed to the food and I started filtering and adding chlorine to my water. My Spanish got better by pure necessity and I even started to gain back some of the weight I had lost by keeping the peanut butter companies in business. The cultural differences were still great and the belief I had that my talents were being wasted in a place that had no electricity was hard to get over (I worked with non-profit websites and marketing back home), but I hung in there. I hung in there because every day I woke up in my host families house and watched the kids eat the same dismal meal I was and get just as sick as I was getting but without the help of government sponsored health care or a jar of peanut butter in their room. I also knew that living poor for 2 years is nothing compared to living poor your entire life.

The day came where my Spanish clicked and the dry season came. I had worked in the cacao farms to get to know the farmers and their work and because of this I had learned a great deal about what goes into the process. I also learned that my gringo body is nothing compared to the pure muscle Ngabe people that have worked like this for hundreds of years if not longer. I woke up at 5am when they did and hauled hundred pound sacks of cacao beans to the road where we took a taxis to the cacao co-op in Almirante and waited all day for them to check the quality. I read up on the process of chocolate and researched what made a good bean and where those beans came from, I talked to Peace Corps experts and cacao vendors and found out that our cacao goes into some of the best chocolate in the world, and then I talked to the local farmers and found out they already knew all this information. Each day I became amazed on how much these people really knew about the tree that has become their livelihood. I came to the conclusion that when you have no TV and all you have is time, you tend to notice what makes a good cacao bean.

I quickly realized I was living within experts and my interest in cacao and chocolate was rising right along side my excitement. I found out that waves of international and local government agencies have been teaching and mentoring these people for years. Mixing old traditions with new methods and keeping everything 100% organic and shade grown. USAID had come in and built expensive solar dryers for the cacao so people could sell year round, a Swiss company came in and showed advanced techniques of using compost and natural plants and animals from the forest to become organic certified, and the Peace Corps had been here for over 5 years now helping build composting latrines and organizing the main artisan group to work together.

I became mesmerized at the different types of cacao and how they each had a distinct flavor, shape, and color (We have more than 100 different kinds of cacao trees here), I became intrigued as to how just a slight variation in temperature could effect the harvesting cycle, tree growth, fermentation process, and drying process, and I became increasingly impressed that these people knew so much about it all. I also found out after doing what we call a “Community Analysis” in the Peace Corps, that 98% of my community absolutely relies on their cacao farms for income meaning that without it, they would either have nothing or have to sell all the trees in their farms. Luckily for everyone they kept the trees and kept the their traditions of keeping the trees healthy.

In no time I started loving the community and the people in it. Seeing sloths and toucans on a daily basis traversing the jungle and having fresh chocolate, and chocolate milk 3 times a day didn't seem all that bad and my Spanish got better than I ever thought it could. I also realized the potential of my particular community in terms of processed chocolate sales and the possibility of having tourists. After spending about month doing a comprehensive analysis of the market and the communities ability to have tourists I saw nothing but green lights. Rio Oeste Arriba is only a short 15 minute taxi ride away from the boat dock in Almirante, there is a brand new government paved road all the way into the community, and the people here have had so many book keeping and marketing classes it had seemed they were just waiting for the opportunity.

We spent months talking and defining what we could do for a tour and brought tourists in from the island to come see what we had and help us determine what we needed to add and cut out. People in the community took notice and started to get excited at the fact that people might come see what they have been doing for hundreds of years and that these people might even want to pay for it. Groups of 30 people sometimes spent days clearing paths and cutting stairs into the mountain (cacao grows better on a hill which is all we have here). We built a traditional house made from penka (a type of palm leave) and vines over the ancient grinding stone deep within the cacao trees so we could do chocolate making demonstrations. I noticed people making artisan crafts to sell, more people showing up to my English class, and many people asking me questions about gringos and if they would like the things here. These people have been ready to share their secrets with the world but just didn't know how.

We decided on the name Oreba meaning cacao in their native language of Ngabere and after days of community members giving up ideas for a logo we decided on one that was then sent to another Peace Corps member with graphic design experience to finalize. After teaching a couple community members about presentation and marketing and with our new packaging for our hand roasted and ground cacao, we have now started selling our finished products on the island. Of course without the help of a couple generous and business savvy individuals on the island we could have never gotten as far as we have already. Namely, Lorelei at Super Gourmet, and Bryan and Jana at Lula's B and B whom have supported our chocolate selling effort with great feedback and ideas, met with local community members about their products, and helped promote our chocolate and our tour.

We have now had many groups now take our tour with rave reviews and word is spreading faster than I ever thought it would. I'm busier than I ever thought I would be and love every minute of it. I'm only about ¼ of my way through my service and I've already had people come up to me and thank me. I feel great about the work and I'm excited, but I also know that it will be never ending. With all of the profits from the tour and chocolate sales percentages will be going towards eduction, re-forestation, and community projects such a computer lab and library. What is probably one of the most important funds that money will be put into is one that anyone in the community can use in case of medical emergency and not have to pay back.

So if your a garden buff come check out our tour and learn learn about the 3 level organic eco system that lets animals pollinate the flowers, top trees provide just the right temperature for the cacao to grow, and organic material to replenish nutrients into the soil. If your an animal enthusiast come see the wide variety of poison dart frogs, giant tropical ants, butterflies, sloths, and toucans. Or if your just a plain old fashioned chocolate lover come watch a native chocolate making demonstration, eat raw cacao, try freshly made chocolate served on a cacao leaf, and take some packaged cacao home to show off. Tours run every day rain or shine starting at 10am and lasting about 3 hours and at the moment can be booked at Casa Verde Hostel or by calling 664 914 57. The tour includes transportation to and from the Bocas Marine Tour boat dock in Almirante, a complete guided tour of the cacao farm and village including explanations of the entire cacao and chocolate process, viewings of plants and animals of the jungle, a native chocolate demonstration where you can make your own chocolate to eat, a traditional Ngabe lunch including local roots and spices, and one package of chocolate to take home. The tour prices are $30 per person and $25 per person for groups of 5 or more. All money goes back into the community and is spent on health, education, re-forestation, and community projects.

If you would like more information, would like to sell the tour or chocolate, or would like to donate to the community, you can e-mail Adam Armstrong at californiaadam@yahoo.com or call him at 694 292-71. Also look for Oreba Tour on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Oreba-Chocolate/196669717020468


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