December 2016
Our second trip to Nicaragua marks our first visit to the Chocomuséo of Granada. Casually, this visit was a major trigger that would change the course of our lives. After the chocolate making workshop that we followed there, as we did not have much time left on the trip, we wondered where it would be possible to visit a cocoa plantation not too far from the touristic axes.
In Nicaragua, the cocoa and coffee plantations are all in the vicinity of Matagalpa, 3-4 hours drive from the capital, Managua.
Far and painful back and forth it goes without saying …
It is by pushing his research in more depth that Benito came across an article about an old plantation located in Nandaime, belonging to the famous Menier chocolates and which we have a superb poster at home.
So we went there to visit the place, as good North American tourists that we are.
Okay.
First, we have to know that even the people of Nandaime, for the most part, have absolutely no idea what Menier Chocolates are, and have only a vague idea of where Valle Menier is exactly in their municipality.
Our taxi driver has also asked us a great deal about the reason for this interest, his eyes filled with perplexity. It was only once we got there there that we understood why the old Menier plantation (apart from its intact architecture since 1827) no longer has any meaning.
This is because the plantation has been sold to foreign interests in order to cultivate teak. Today, you can not access it without having a valid reason.
After having negotiated with the security guard for a long time, our taxi driver finally got a VERY SPECIAL permission to pass on the other side of the gates in order to get closer to the historic building … but under the strict condition that we stayed in the car .
Following this impromptuous visit, we told ourselves that it was absolutely necessary to revive the cocoa history in Nandaime.
From then on, we had a project. Enough to get to work and to think it would be easy…
We were not at the end of our sentences.
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