Last night we left the swaying waters of the Pacific Ocean side of the Osa Peninsula to enter the calm dark waters of the Golfo Dulce. Still on the Osa Peninsula, this morning we landed onto the very long and grey Playa Blanca (the white beach) which is part of a small community called La Palma. We changed gears a little bit today and our focus moved from the dense tropical rain forests to small community or family projects. All of us had the opportunity to visit two of three sites, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
The first one was the hearts of Palm Plantation called Jacana ran by Eida, her husband Simon, children and nieces. This is a project ran by two women who decided to take charge of their family fate. The second one is a visit to Kobo Cacao project. Ran by Alex and his family, Kobo translated directly to “Dream” because it is Alex’s dreamed life. Fifty hectares of property of which five acres are dedicated to the educational garden. Fruits, leaves, plants, and flowers were in the menu of the day with cacao/chocolate being the star of the visit. Last but not least, our third outing is a combination of two things, a visit to a traditional “trapiche” or sugar mill, ran by Mr. Carmen – at 94 years old - and his family, where we learn the process of extraction of juice from the sugar cane and various products created with it, like “sobado” and “tapa de dulce” and “agua de sapo”, which we got to try.
Whether the morning or afternoon activities, all sites delivered our expectations and yet some more. To make a perfect day even better, various couples of scarlet macaws came to say hello all through the day. A lovely picnic lunch at midday and pouring rain biding us farewell were two perfect fragments of our day.
