Day 410: Ecuadorian chocolate? Yes, please!

We weren’t sure we were going to be able to make it to Mindo between all of our Spanish lessons, but we decided getting out of Quito for the weekend was a good idea. I’ve realized throughout this trip (time and again) that I prefer living in bigger cities, and visiting smaller ones. Mindo is certainly much smaller than Quito, and just the idea of getting out into a smaller town made me so happy. We rolled into town late in the afternoon on Friday, and inadvertently explored the majority of the (teensy) town while looking for our guesthouse. Our priority was dinner, and then sleep before taking advantage of all of the activities Mindo has to offer the next day. Like El Quetzal, where we went on a tour of the chocolate factory. Who can refuse Ecuadorian chocolate? Not. me.

So yes, technically I’m cheating (again). We actually went to El Quetzal on Day 411, but I keep trying to spare you the long bus-rides whenever I can. Our bus ride wasn’t so bad from Quito to Ecuador, but a post about chocolate is so much sweeter! When we showed up at El Quetzal, we thought we were going to be indoors the entire time, in what we assumed was a more traditional factory like setting. We were wrong. The “factory tour” was mostly held in the garden where we saw cacao trees (above), banana trees (below) and so much more. It was great, but had I known we were going to be in the garden the majority of the time… I definitely would not have shown up in shorts. The sandflies were out. of. control. and by the time we got back to our hotel, my legs were covered in bites (more like welts) and I was suffering.

After the garden tour, we peeked into a few different rooms of the “factory” and learned more about the process of making cacao beans into chocolate- chocolate as we know it today (oftentimes with milk and sugar). We watched the paste being mixed and then readied to pour into molds. We tasted straight up chocolate without any additives. It was bitter. Then we added sugar, then we added chillies, and we even added vinegar to the bitter chocolate giving it different flavors and textures. It was interesting, a little redundant after our visit to the Choco Museum in Cusco, but nice. We even made it through the entire tour in Español as well! A group of American students were in the middle of a semester abroad in Quito and wanted to practice. We didn’t have much choiceindulged them. Despite loving the chocolate (with chillies was my favorite) and wanting to get some to bring home, traveling so close to the equator with a few bars didn’t seem wise. American chocolate might pale in comparison, but I have a weakness for those mini squares of Dove Dark. I guess I can wait until we get home (in the middle of winter) to purchase a bag of chocolate!

Day 371: Back in Cusco

Momma’s last full day in Peru! We’ve been moving so fast through Peru, that we were content with wandering around the city of Cusco and seeing what we could find. We hadn’t heard very good things about the Inca Museum(s) so instead we headed towards one of the higher rated museums first, The Center for Traditional Textiles, walking past Quirikancha, once the most important temple in the Incan Empire, and then through the many squares of Cusco, ending up at the Chocolate Museum.

Quirikancha was once the most important temple and the center of the Inca Empire. Once upon a time it was covered in gold, as it was dedicated to the Sun God, Inti. That is, until the Spanish came along and demanded a ransom in place of the Inca Atahualpa, and the temple was stripped of all of its gold. Juan Pizarro, one of Francisco Pizarro’s brothers received Quirikancha and before he died, donated it to the Dominican Order of priests. Eventually, the church that you see behind (or rather, inside the walls of the former Temple of the Sun) the Incan foundation was built.

However, our first stop of the day was the Center for Traditional Textiles, a free museum with rather beautiful displays of the intricate weaving that is so common throughout Peru. I was a little hesitant, but Andrew assured us that it was one of the highest rated museums in Cusco… and Mom had just finished her first course in weaving, so we pretty much had to go. 

My favorite part of the museum were the live demonstrations and the half finished weavings that were tied off. After our visit, I noticed that these half woven pieces used as wall hangings instead of scarves or blankets or even wraps were quite popular around Cusco. Again, if I knew exactly how many walls I was returning to, I would have bought them all up! I thought they made such beautiful art pieces, especially knowing that they were preserving a traditional culture that is being quickly replaced by low cost imported string and machinery. The Center for Traditional Textiles is right down the street from Quirikancha, and the Convent of Santo Domingo.

What’s somewhat unbelievable is that the Incan walls were kept entirely intact and the church was built in between the walls of the Incan temple. Above you can see the courtyard, but throughout the building were different Incan rooms that were still free standing with dirt floors and nothing inside. Technically we weren’t supposed to take pictures, but I saw many people freely taking photographs out in the courtyard. I’m not sure why there was a no photo rule- maybe for the interior rooms that held loads and loads of religious art? Either way, it was interesting to walk through, but it made me feel a little uncomfortable wondering how the Incans must have felt back in the day when their most important temple was handed over to an entirely different religion, one that built a gigantic church and monastery around walls that once used to be covered in gold.

The above picture was to show how Quirikancha was at the center of the Incan universe. How other temples in the empire all led to Quirikancha. The picture below illustrates how the Incas looked at the stars. While we look at the stars, and the constellations by connecting the stars together, the Incans looked at the pictures made in the dark spots or shadows in between the stars.

Outside of not only Quirikancha, but throughout the streets of Cusco, women in traditional dress walked around tethered to a grown llama or holding a baby lamb. Often, they would put the lamb in your arms, encouraging you to take a photo, for which you would have to pay for after. I didn’t need a photo of myself with a baby lamb, so I would always get really excited and pet the lamb (simultaneously empathizing for it) until they would realize I wasn’t going to pose for a picture with it.

After The Choco Museo (which was an informative, albeit glorified shop) we wandered around, fed the birds, and coerced Mom into one last drink before her last day began in the morning.