Fincas and Fabricas

All the factories I have made my way to in the US have consisted of ridiculously elaorate metal machines stuffed in a warehouse doing all the steps and creating more tedious steps to make the product. We headed to a nearby chocolate factory today and I was expecting to see something similar. I have seen many of the chocolate bars by this company in stores, therefore assuming it must be a real booming factory. Oh boy was I wrong. Upon arrival we rung a little gong to get let in and then were shown to the factory which is a castle. Stone walls, a little turret and so on. Not only does the production take place in a castle but much of the steps are done by hand. This includes crushing and crumbling the coco beans from their shells with a stone morter. The lady who works in the factory and guided us kept emphassizing that it was easy work and she could do 300 lbs in a day no sweat. I was not convinced though. We also made ourselves sick (in a goodish way) from exessive chocolate tasting and got to take home fudgy brownies.

Yesterday was the coffee platation, Selva Negra where most of the land is protected rainforest. It was a fantasy land, and our entrance fee let us wander to any part of the land we wished. We walked through many questionable foot paths leading us through coffee bushes, banana trees with full banana bundles, past cotteges with clothes drying on lines strung about, in a tomato patch, through flower gardens and to a lake full of geese. We also discovered a little farm with calves, horses, pigs, and piglets, which we could just walk straight up to. We ate our lunch under a small garden which had dangling flower pots everywhere and then headed back home.

Also, we have counted out the days and have decided that two days from now (the 24th) marks our half way point already!