Oreba Tours

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Yesterday all the students went to Rio Oeste Arriba for a tour of a cocoa farm. It was a unique chance to
see a large organic chocolate farm and the chocholate making process from tree to fineans ished product. The
tour was led in English and Spanish by two different guides. We were led by the fermenting and
solar drying oven then walked up into the farm which is spread out over a steep hillside.
There are over 7,000 trees apx! Cocoa fruit grows year round but peaks in Oct-Jan. There are 70 different types
on the farm, one being the Orebe variety. We tasted the fruit and watched as two wommen roasted, and
ground the beans by hand.When it is ground it creates a paste that can be sweetened with
condensed milk and suger. Rosa and Adamenia gave us a bowl and spoon made out of a gourd
with a small amt of the sweetened cocoa. It was so good. I also ate several roasted beans.
They taste like a yummy nutty cocoa almond. SO good! The tour included a traditional lunch of
da sheen, pollo and young da sheen leaves. They were cooked and tasted like spinach. I just
recently tasted these for the first time a few weeks ago. I don't know anyone on Popa who
eats them but they should! The group sells fresh made chocholate bars, roasted beans and
chahcaras and braclets. The tour lasted 4 hours including the transport to and from the dock in Almirante.
ormally the tour is 3 hours I believe. Our group arrived seperately straight from Drago. We had to wait a bit for a few other people
from the water taxi from Bocas. If you are in the area, I recomend taking this tour. All the
money is reinvested into the community through salaries, community projects and buisness
improvements. They seem to be doing well.

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