Ahhh, CHOCOLATE! We went to one of the family-owned cacao farms. Juan and his wife, Abelina, have taken the farm over from Juan’s family. It is strictly organic, and Juan took us through some of the fields and pointed out how they have done sustainable farming, using natural “enemies” to work for them. It was fascinating. They have around 1,500 trees in addition to oranges, papayas, wild vanilla, allspice, and a host of other plants…

Since all of our group arrived early, we invited them to join us on our final days of scouting. Everyone said, “YES,” so we took them to a different river from the one we had visited the day before, with kids swimming and women doing laundry.

It was lightly raining, the hills enshrouded in mist. We passed fields of corn, orange groves, villages …

We were warmly welcomed at the Lodge after our fun boat ride in. The cabana in which we are staying is perfect. We have lots of room, a veranda with two hammocks, a settee, and a chair, all overlooking the river that flows several yards below. At night, the howler monkeys didn’t actually howl. The sound they made was more like a Manatee breathing, and for those of you who don’t know that sound, somewhat like a horse when it breaths out.

For our first excursion scouting, we went out to some Mayan ruins. Old tablets had been excavated, and we were fascinated with them. You’ll be seeing a lot more when we post our galleries, both from our student and from Arnie and me.