First Cacao Farm Tour at la Calera

Yesterday we had our first Cacao Farm Tour with 5 clients from USA and Thailand.

The tour started with 20 minutes of a nice and fresh rain. After that, the sun came out for the whole day to follow us on our trip from the shores fo the lake Cocibolca to the Casa Hacienda passing through the Cacao plantations.


This time, the highlights of the trip were:

• The Congo monkeys that we saw twice: once while waiting for the rain to stop and the second time while swimming in the natural water press inside the rainforest: A unique moment!
• All the butterflies we saw during the whole day: Blue, yellow, big, small, red... Some even came to eat with us and even on the face of Ana one of our client.
• Tasting the white pulp around the beans inside the cacao pod: A culinary must!
  
• Thanks to the beautiful weather we had, the view over las Isletas was absolutely gorgeous.
• Finally, the swim in the thermal waters near the lake just before going back to Granada was really fantastic with this amazing feeling of being alone in the wild.

We all really enjoyed our trip and hope that a lot of other people will go on learning and having fun like we did today.

That's all folks! Next tour soon...

First Cacao Farm Tour at la Calera

The Cacao Tree: Theobroma Cacao

The Cacao Tree: Theobroma Cacao

The Different parts of the Cacao Tree

The Different parts of the Cacao Tree

Preparing the Cacao Tour @ La Calera

Last Saturday, we went to the private nature reserve La Calera at the bottom of Mombacho Volcan.


Ervin, guide and guard of the reserve was waiting for us at the Marina Cocibolca port.

The objective of the day was to prepare the cacao tour we will organise in las isletas in Granada.

We first took a boat across las isletas where we could enjoy birdwatching.

Then wneh we arrived at La Calera, the horses were waiting for us for a horse back ride through the tropical rainforest.

After 30 minutes we arrived to the cacao plantations where we could admire this fantastic tree with pods growing on the trunk.

We went on our trip towards La Casa Hacienda where the lunch will be taken with a view overlooking las Isletas. A natural water pool can be found 100 meters from La Hacienda in the middle of the rainforest (like Ojo de Agua on Ometepe Island).

We took our horses back and learnt more about plantains and coffee growing. We then went to swim in the natural volcanic thermal waters for a while.

Ervin was there waiting for us in a small boat for a boat ride through the mangrove forest.

Our trip for you will finish with a nice tasting of artisanal chocolate made at ChocoMuseo.

More information on the tour will be available soon.

This tour will be the most interesting and complete tour in Granada.

Preparing the Cacao Tour @ La Calera

On the road to Matiguas

Last week, we went to get our cacao in the north of Nicaragua in Matiguas.

Matiguas is situated about 4 hours drive from Granada.

We went to visit la "Cooperativa Cacaotera la Campesina"

The cacao produced by the 500 farmers is mainly organic and certified by BioLatina.

It is known to have a great flavour and is a mix of Criollo type and Forastero type.

For our chocolate at ChocoMuseo we bought 100% Organic Cacao

Then we went to visit one of the cacao plantation near Rio Blanco (30 minutes from La Campesina) : It is Armando's farm with 5.6 Hectares of cacao plantation (about 6000 cacao trees)

Armando showed us his plantation and also the bio fertilizer he was using for its trees to grow.

Armando has one of the most productive cacao plantation and the seeds from his trees are used to improve genetically the plantation of the cooperativa.

In the museum, you will be able to read more about "la Cooperativa Cacaotera la Campesina" and also on Armando's farm

On the road to Matiguas

Welcoming our new cacao tree

Less than a month from the opening day, we received today our cacao tree for the museum.


It was brought by Yvette working for a "vivero" in Catarina (15 miles from Granada).

The cacao tree was planted in the first patio of the Hotel Spa Granada near the chocolate museum.


It is under our mango tree so that it is under the shade all day long. We need to water it three times a day.


We also installed some coffee plants for the coffee place area.

Welcoming our new cacao tree