Antonio, as many of you know by now, is the same guide we had last year. He is used to working with our group. If we head somewhere, and it is a half-hour ride, it is likely to take us at least an hour for all the stops we make for photographs.

In fact, I don’t think we had gotten more than ten minutes from the lodge, when someone cried out, “STOP!”

The mists were on the mountains, and the lovely magentas and yellows contrasted beautifully with the greens and mountain layers.

As some scrambled out of The Jungle Bus, others soon followed, afraid they might miss a shot. We walked up and down the road and into the field to …

This morning, we woke up to no rain. Hurray! Yes, it was cloudy, but cloudy is good for photographs, especially when you are going to visit an organic cacao farm.

“Stop,” we all cried to Antonio, our wonderful guide from last year, as we saw a group of small school children gathered along the road. Antonio asked if we could photograph them. They were adorable, and as soon as we showed them the photos, they crowded around, all wanting to see at once. One has to be careful of one’s camera, because they all want to press buttons.

As we piled into The Jungle Bus, a young man came by carrying a load of wood on his very muddy bike.

We jounced along on the dirt roads, enjoying good conversation, telling jokes, and generally having a good time. After heading up a narrow track, we arrived at our host Eladio’s Agouti Cacao Farm. Eladio is one of those amazing people knows so much about the symbiotic relationship of creatures and plants. He is considered a local legend for the way he does …

After breakfast, we all piled into The Jungle Bus. It is a splendidly painted vehicle. Perfect for its territory! Here, it is parked in the yard outside of Mr. and Mrs. Bo’s house.

Mrs. Bo showed everyone how to make corn tortillas the traditional Mayan way, from drying and husking the corn to rubbing the kernels off the cob. To save time, she had already heated and soaked the corn overnight, so another batch would be ready to put through the hand mill.

It’s tough grinding those kernels down. Most people took a hand at forming the tortillas that Mrs. Bo then cooked over the comal, a traditional metal plate that goes over the fire. Think of it as a griddle.

As the last were cooking, Mrs. Bo’s daughter peeled some hard-boiled eggs and put them on the table with a wonderful tomato mixture that we had with the warm tortillas. Yummm!

We then headed just down the road to the cooperative mill, and while others were photographing the ladies grinding their corn by a simple belt-powered machine, I found some tools over on