Wednesday is market day in Punta Gorda. Apparently the market starts at 3:30am and goes until noon. There were crazy thunder storms last night and it poured (at least it sounded like it on our tin roof) so I'm not sure if it actually started at 3:30, but we went to the market at 7. It was mostly fruit and veggies - a lot of the normal ones we recognize and some that were completely unfamiliar. I got a banana, but besides that it was just nice to walk around. At 9 we left for the chocolate farm! Juan and Abelina came to our hotel to pick us up and Juan spent the rest of the time with us. He explained that we would see Abelina later, but that she was going to head straight to the farm to start making our lunch.
We started the day at a Mayan site that was a center for education. Before we got to the chocolate, Juan wanted us to learn about the Mayan people. We learned a lot about their culture and language and he took us around the archeological site so we could take pictures and he could show is everything. It was really interesting to learn about the Mayan culture.
After we learned about the culture, we went to the farm. Before we got to the chocolate, we had to learn about all the plants. We taste cocoa beans (chocolate before it becomes chocolate), which tasted more like mangos than chocolate, coffee beans, and jibber jabber(palms). The farm is completely organic so there aren't any chemicals. The trees aren't in rows because it's exactly how Juan's great grandparents planted them. They have 60 acres of land and Juan said he has no reason to go to the grocery store.
After we explored the farm and saw the cocoa beans, it was time to go to the factory for lunch! Abelina, Juan's wife, made us two different kinds of rice, beans, chocolate chicken, chocolate pork, boiled plantains, tomatoes, cucumbers, roasted jibber jabber (the same ones we had eaten raw at the farm), hot chocolate, and lime juice. Everything was delicious!! After we ate, Juan and Abelina's son Henry brought us chocolate covered frozen bananas (delicious) and six different flavors of chocolate to try. The flavors of chocolate were dark, milk, spicy, ginger, orange, and coconut. Once we were done picking at out food/chocolate, Juan said it was time to get to work! He brought us all cocoa beans that were still warm from being roasted and we had to crack the shell to get to the bean.
This was easier said that done. Juan could crack them by pinching them, but I could only crack them by twisting them or smashing them like a caveman on the table (Juan found this pretty funny). Once we had enough beans, we began to learn the process to turn the beans into chocolate the way that Juan's ancestors used to. The beans for put on this stone table tool thing and then we rubbed them with a stone "mano" until the beans were crushed and smooth. 
Once it was completely smooth, we got to taste it. I thought it tasted good, but most people thought the 100% cocoa was too bitter. In order to make it sweeter, you add cane sugar. Cane sugar is also what we added to our hot chocolate to sweeten because that too was 100%. We wanted to make it 80% cocoa, so we guesstimated using fractions like Juan's ancestors would've done. He split the blob of chocolate with a spatula so that 20% of it was slid to the side and then he had us fill in that 20% with sugar. Then we used the Mano again to grind the sugar in with the chocolate. We could see the chocolate getting lighter with the added sugar. Once it was mixed, we added more sugar using the same process. Then we tasted it and he put it into molds and put it into the freezer for us to try later.
After we learned how to make chocolate without using modern technology, we went downstairs to see how Juan and his family make chocolate today. They have machines, but we're talking pretty general kitchen appliances that are used like a crockpot. They even use a hair dryer for one step. After we saw all the modern machinery, he took the hocomate we made out of the freezer so we could try it and let us wander around the gift shop. Unfortunately I was afraid to buy candy bars because I don't think they'll make it through the hot bus ride tomorrow, but I did get some other non-meltable treats to please the chocoholics back home (that's you, mom and dad).
Tomorrow we catch the bus at 6am to Belmopan and then take a bus from there to the Belize Zoo for a few hours and then it's off to San Ignacio for the rest of our trip inland!
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