You better Belize it, Part 2

Monday, Dec.15:  It was a beautiful day in Belize. There was a cloud in the valley under the Sleeping Giant, which Kate said looked like a pillow under his head.

Sleeping Giant, upper left, with a cloud pillow

Because Kate had eaten banana pancakes the previous day and declared them good, I ordered pancakes. Not being a fan of cooked bananas, I ordered my pancakes with chocolate chips. Kate and I clearly had different standards for pancakes. I rarely have pancakes out that are as good as the ones I make at home. These pancakes were heavy and dry. The bacon was good, though. There was a new kind of fruit on the plate that I didn’t recognize. It was crunchy and did not have much flavor.

Chocolate chip pancakes and bacon

We hiked through the jungle to a lookout tower to learn about medicinal plants, agricultural practices, and water sheds. Our guide, Pablo, pointed out over a dozen plants that native peoples have traditionally used to treat various ailments. Sap from the give-and-take tree is used to stop pain and bleeding. Jackass bitters are used to treat malaria. Barba de jolote will cure stomach cramps. The one that most surprised the students was Chinese root, which is a contraceptive. The current controversy surrounding contraceptive use made the students think it was something new. 

Chinese root

Pablo showed us a custard apple tree. One of the girls mentioned that it was the mystery fruit at breakfast.

“You mean the piece of Styrofoam?” Liz asked.

We saw the black orchid, the national flower of Belize. The students were surprised that it was small and not very showy. I reminded them that the orchids they saw in the flower shops had been selected for large, pretty flowers. The black orchid, according to Pablo, is the only orchid in the world that blooms year round.

The black orchid, the national flower of Belize

From the lookout tower at the top of the hill, we could see the Sibun River valley, cattle pastures, and orange groves. Kate and I explained that a water shed is the area that drains into a particular body of water. The tops of the hills are the divide, and everything on our side of the divide drains into the Sibun River. We could see orange groves in various stages of maturity. The cattle in the pasture were Brahma, imported from India because the climate is similar.

Orange groves in the Sibun River valley

We were all glad to have a shorter path back down to the lodge. We passed a stone outcrop that had trees growing from the sheer face and aerial roots hanging down from the top.

Tree growing on bare, vertical rock

Kate poses as a size reference to a tree's buttress roots

The path down the mountain

I had shrimp quesadillas for lunch.

Shrimp quesadillas

In the afternoon we traveled a short distance from the lodge for a tour of an organic cacao plantation. The plantation was abandoned 20 years ago when cacao prices dropped and has just come back into production this year. We were the first group to tour the plantation since its reopening. Our guide, Rupert, explained the last part of the process first, since that was where we were when we arrived. He went to a a large wooden box and pulled back covers of burlap and banana leaves to reveal the fermenting cacao beans as well as a cloud of fruit flies and an overwhelming and unpleasant odor that was somewhere between wine and very old silage.  

Cacao beans fermenting underneath banana leaves and burlap

Rupert plunged his hand into the box and pulled it out to show us the “worms” (fruit fly larva) that ate the pulp off the outside of the seed while anaerobic microorganisms fermented the beans. 

White fruit fly larva on Rupert's hand

When fermentation was completed, the beans were spread in the sun for a day and then moved to screens under a roof to complete the drying process. 

Rupert explains that the fermented beans stay in the sun for one day

The beans are then moved to a covered drying area for several days

We walked through the cacao groves as Rupert explained organic practices, pruning, grafting, and harvesting cacao. Everything was done by hand. The only disease they have to worry about is black pod, a fungus. They deal with it by picking the infected pods and burying them.

A spore-covered pod

Rupert has a chain saw crew working to clear the underbrush from 20 years of abandonment.

An area that has been cleared of brush in front of an area that hasn't.

Another crew harvests the ripe pods year-round. There is a high season and a low season, and this was low season. I had the girls taste the sweet slimy covering of the seeds. The texture is a little off-putting, but I find it delicious. Reviews were mixed among my companions. I explained the seed dispersal strategy—sweet outer covering to get an animal to carry the seed away, bitter chocolate compounds in the seed to keep the animal from damaging the embryo.

Baby pods just starting to develop

A pile of ripe pods

Seeds covered in sweet goo

At the end of our tour, Rupert demonstrated how to make a bud graft and asked one of his nurserymen to bring up some grafted scions to show us what they looked like in various stages of development. 

Grafted bud beginning to grow

Partially filled bag of dried cacao beans. When full, the bag will weigh 120 pounds

We left with new appreciation for the chocolate we love so much. At the end of the tour, Rupert gave us a burlap sack as a souvenir. Kate had the idea of having all the girls sign it so I could hang it in my office.

The group with our signed burlap bag

I passed on the snapper special of the night in favor of blackened pork chops with fruit salsa. The fruit salsa contained the largest raisins I have ever seen. They were the size of kalamata olives. I also positively identified pineapple and tentatively identified apple. And I had garlic mashed potatoes again and the now-familiar steamed vegetables.

Swans greeted us when we got back to our room

Blackened pork chops with fruit salsa