Minca - Heart of Ecotourism

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After the madness of Cartagena we were more than ready to take it easy and find nature again. Our next stop was the eco-village of Minca which was a bit inland from the coast and known for being super green (in all senses of the word) and not (yet) very touristy. A few hours and two buses later we pulled up in the dark into this charming mountain hilly town with a few Christmas lights and a fair amount of moto-taxis; basically the only way to get around if you don’t want to use your own two feet. Marco was quite against us taking moto-taxis for various reasons; firstly because Colombians drive like mentalists and probably don’t even have a license, a secondly because he was worried I might get stolen being on a different bike to him (sweet). Of course, there’s also the fact that we are young and fit and want to use our legs while we can. So we declined all the offers of moto-taxis and walked about 15 minutes in total darkness with our rucksacks up and down some winding dirt tracks to Casa las Piedras which was to be our very own little house by a stream complete with a cascade, dipping pool, hanging hammock and the most beautiful greenery. We were in total jungle heaven. We were met by the owner, a lovely and lively lady with a walking stick that told us about the short cut to get into town to shave off 10 minutes. The main trick was to walk across the little rickety bridge one person at a time as it would not withhold the weight of us both! She also excitedly mentioned that her brother owned the cacao (kakaw) museum and baked the best focaccia in Colombia and upon hearing that two Italians were coming to stay, he insisted on inviting us to taste his famous focaccia. We gladly accepted to go there the next day for lunch.



This little house was super cool, nothing like we’d seen before and very in line with the surrounding jungle. It was really secluded and exactly what we were after, with a big kitchen looking out into the depths of the forest and a indoor hammock for me to chill in while Marco made pasta (what else!) The only downside was the invisible mosquitoes that destroyed our legs over the next few days. We learned that they were called jejen and weren’t anything like the buzzing mosquitoes we are used to. These were smaller, like a grain of pepper, and barely visible but my god did they leave their mark! Someone we met said that they actually stay inside the skin and that’s why they itch so badly and leave you looking like you’ve developed a major rush. Anyway - it really was the only downside to this amazing little town that we felt lucky to have visited as it was because it was crystal clear that soon, this little secret would be discovered by the masses and likely will lose its charm.



As a huge fan of 100% cacao for a morning alternative to coffee, I was delighted to visit a cacao farm and learn more about this delicious plant food that gives me so much energy and buzzy feeling. We walked about 45 minutes along a trail to Finca San Rafael where we saw lots of butterflies and a snake with a red pattern! We were greeted by Manuel and the rest of the group which were a group of guys in their thirties from Bogotá on holiday. Manuel took us to an amazing viewpoint at the top of the finca about 1 hour’s walk up hill but unfortunately he didn’t divulge much information about the actual process of growing cacao which was a bit disappointing. But Marco got a leaflet describing the process, so he read it before the tour, and, because he had studied agriculture at high school, he understood everything but he kept it for himself... I asked a few questions and understood that the finca was one of the only ones left growing “criollo” cacao which is known as the best quality cacao where to trees are 80-100 years old and at the ideal altitude of no more than a thousand metres. One of the biggest eye openers for me was tasting the raw cacao seeds fresh from the tree. Manuel picked two cacao “mazorcas”; one that was less mature and still green and the other beginning to turn dark red and cracked them both open. Inside were extra large corn-shaped pieces covered in a white sticky film that smelled amazingly sweet. We tried both the fruits and were surprised at how much they tasted of a tropical fruit like passion fruit. The green one was more acidic and citrusy and the red one super sweet and moorish. This kind of stuff would fly off the shelves in London if you made it into a smoothie.



We also tried the actual cacao nib when fresh and it’s still unfermented and it tasted bitter and yummy. I loved the vibrant purple colour. The process is to ferment them for a few days, dry them and then toast them before removing the skin and that’s how you get your cacao nib. If you then put the nib through a processor it comes out as a dark and oily textured paste that you can either roll into little balls and eat directly with a dash of honey for sweetness or stick it straight on your face for an amazing face scrub. We did both and loved both. It’s like a best kept secret because our skin was genuinely super soft, glowing and moisturised after the mask. I obviously bought some and Marco said we would make a better one ourselves back in London 😉



We arrived starving and ready for our focaccia after the tour. At the kakaw museum we met the owner Eliacer. To say he was an interesting and intriguing character would be an understatement. Probably in his sixties, Eliacer had the gift of the gab as they say...he could talk for England (or in this case Colombia). He had a story for everything and gave us a personal tour of the kakaw museum that turned out to not only sell cacao but the all 5-C’s: CACAO, COFFEE, CANNABIS, COCA and CIGARS(tobacco)as well as Focaccia and other stuff! His “best-seller” was a mix of the 5-Cs in powdered form that you could either put into a smoothie, drink as a tea or even snort up your nose to give you a very unique high! He warned us that you could only take the 5-Cs when you were in a happy mood as if you were feeling low it could be quite dangerous...while we were happy we still decided against trying his magic product that smelled exactly as a damp mouldy basement. He told us that nowadays young people in the city sniff cacao up their nose instead of cocaine as it’s legal and makes you high. I prefer to stick to my hot chocolate morning drink thank you very much! He also had various cannabis oils for ingesting or using as massage oils and the CIGARS were tobacco from the region but he couldn’t have 4Cs and 1T so ‘tobacco’ became ‘cigars’. Jokes aside he was super helpful and knowledgeable and his focaccia was damn good that we bought two more from him for breakfast. We also learned a lot from him about the various indigenous populations and even met the boss of the Sierra; a young guy with long jet black hair dressed all in cotton white robes and some pretty snazzy trainers! As well as his focaccia we did buy one of his Cs...the COCA tea. The coca leaf used to make cocaine after you add 150 chemical substances to it and god knows what else, is actually a very gentle plant medicine used by these indigenous groups to help with altitude sickness and to help maintain energy levels when walking very long distances. Nowadays they also make a tea from the dried leaf and as someone who doesn’t drink black or green tea, I found it to be a really good alternative that gives you a little kick of energy like cacao. So instead of tea and coffee my two vices are now coca leaf tea and 100% cacao! Eliacer also told us about the Russian couple who run yoga classes in the forest each morning at 7.30am. They are the only people to offer yoga there and apparently he looks like Rasputin; super tall, skinny, long dark beard. We went over to their house to meet them but he was leading a cacao retreat over the days we were in Minca so we will have to meet Rasputin next time.



On our final day we chilled at the mini cascade pretty much in our back garden and Marco went swimming. The water was too cold for me but I did put my feet in and enjoyed lying on the rocks getting bitten by the jejen while sunbathing.

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