May 2017
During our third trip, we stayed at the hotel El Manchon, which has a swimming pool and where the atmosphere is resolutely focused on « holidays », with its straw roof restaurant, its festive music and its many rooms.
At the beginning of the trip, we had hope to find a land near the Menier plantation, but we quickly abandoned the idea. Valle Menier is located about 7 kilometers from the center of the city (and from the Panamerican), which is quite a detour for visitors, especially since there is not much to see or to do in the vicinity of the old plantation. Today, there is only teak as far as the eye can see, which is not particularly charming.
Nevertheless, we had the immeasurable chance to finally visit the old Menier plantation in full, thanks to the mayor of Nandaime who became very fond of our cocoa plantation project.
During this visit, it was a shock to see the dozen of old surviving cocoa trees, abandoned and left to their plight. Attacked by termites, most did not even have leaves anymore. Some of them had thin pods, blackened and rancid by disease.
Very sad pictures that will follow me all my life.
We would have liked to share them with you, but it was also during this trip that Benito had his cell phone pricked… with all our photos.
New lesson: NEVER get on a crowded bus.
Sad also because the cell contained our first images of the El Manchon barillo, where we stayed for almost a month.
Just enough to fall in love with the place.
The small road between the Panam and the Domitila reserve offers a magical setting where the Mombacho volcano sits majestically. Fabulous!
Here is a picture rescued from this landscape… It does not say much but well… It’s sadly all we have left 😥
Further on in the Domitila reserve are the lagoons, where we can find small pristine beaches and where we can swim in a clear lemony taste water: the aguas agrias. A local micro-business has humbly established a small installation there, and visitors can enjoy the best « spot » for a few dollars (the minimum to keep the place clean and safe).
Convinced that we would settle there, we consulted an engineer specialized in cocoa culture to evaluate the viability of our plantation in the El Manchon sector. Following his analysis, positive in the extreme, we told ourselves that we now had:
• a viable project
• a privileged area
Just remained to find someone who would sell us 2 manzanas at a reasonable price.
We thought it would be easy, given the vast agricultural areas at the feet of the Mombacho. « Two fingers in the nose! » We thought.
How far we were from suspecting the long road ahead!
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FRANÇAIS:: ESPAÑOL
cacaodenandaime.com
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