Kellee Tracker: Day 8: Pura Vida, Kellee-style

My last full day in Costa Rica started with a morning yoga class at a nearby studio that overlooked the treetops, and with only one other student it felt like a private session. getting up early to exercise isn’t my norm, but when in Jaco, right? A funny thing about supermarkets is they tend to sell the fruit that’s not local, so my attempts to find passion fruit had been…fruitless. I asked the instructor after class, and he gave me directions to a nearby produce shop that sold a little of everything–including passion fruit! In my excitement to finally find it, I bought five, and the hotel was kind enough to cut them open for me to enjoy with my breakfast. The meal was great, and all the better for including my treasured fruit, but I probably overdid it a little with the quantity.

The yoga studio just after class

The full breakfast, including passion fruit (in the glass)

The area had several chocolate tours and farms for tourists to visit, and one stood out to me called La Iguana because they were a bean-to-bar operation. The drive was a little longer, but worth it and gave me a chance to see palm oil and banana plantations on the way. I arrived to learn that they typically give tours at set times, and that I’d arrived in their downtime between those times. But when I started asking nerdy questions about their cocoa varieties and agricultural practices because of the projects I’d read about at work, the farmer graciously gave me a personal tour and nerded out with me on the different varieties they’re growing, the various practices that encourage wildlife, etc. that would probably bore the average tour group. He said their generation is the one doing this experiment to transition the farm, that their relatives on neighboring farms think they’re a little crazy, but that their farm is now a wildlife corridor connecting forest patches. He also showed me the small conching machines and other equipment they have to craft their chocolate on site, and how they’ve started to learn that trade. Their building with the kitchen, gift shop, etc. had an upstairs classroom, where his sister graciously made me a traditional chocolate drink and shared more about her role in the business. Seeing the cocoa trees, vanilla vines, and spice plants used to make their chocolates up close made it all the more enjoyable to select bars to bring back with me.

The cacao farm I visited

Check out all the colors of the cacao pods!

This cacao tree doubles as a trellis for a vanilla bean vine--they'll pair up again in a bar of chocolate.

One of the test varieties of cacao trees.

in this type of farming system, cacao is just one of many types of trees

view from the rooftop--can you spot the cacao?

one of their educational signs about this type of farming

the ingredients and tools to make a traditional cacao drink

cacao beans drying and curing

vanilla pods and spices drying

this modified bike was their early grinding equipment

for contrast, at the base of the mountain I saw this train of palm oil fruit from the surrounding plantations

The rest of the day was spent finally enjoying the hotel pool I’d been just looking at all week, getting further in my fluffy book, and getting in a little time at the beach (again, the black sand wasn’t the best choice on a hot afternoon). But it was great to enjoy another sunset over the ocean before heading into town for a nice dinner at a restaurant called Lemon Zest that makes an effort to source their ingredients locally. The food was delicious, and my seat on the balcony made for some great people watching of fellow diners and the tourists below. Back at the hotel, I capped off the night with a swim, and the deserted pool was just the right depth to enjoy that weightless feeling as I dusted off some ballet moves from my recent class.