This website has always been about my obsession with chocolate. It is written, edited, and created from my point of view, and when I seek out other viewpoints, they are more frequently synthesized than cited.
On a global scale, the past few years have been challenging, and on a personal level, I’ve been struggling with health difficulties that make my day-to-day life very difficult. Yet, six and a half years ago, when the site was still mostly a chocolate bar review site and a chronicle of my Latin American trips, I took on a project, a challenge if you will, that began to influence my viewpoint on who I was keeping this blog for.
The project was my first attempt at creating and maintaining an online presence for someone other than myself, and it is still available on my Instagram today. As I hadn’t blogged in a while, it felt like a good moment to properly put that project on the site and take a short trip down memory lane. Some of the photographs I picked are charming, some are amusing, but they are all genuine. They’re even available in many languages, including Danish and French in addition to English and Spanish. This is far from the whole collection from the project, some of which were permanently removed from my profile a few years ago, but it is a selection of the most diverse tales I could record.
Although while this is a project for and about other people, it also recounts my personal journey, from the cocoa farm to the caf, and finally to the Galapagos Islands. I believe we can never really remove ourselves from our job.
Contents
Settling Into La Finca
A magnificent coffee estate with cocoa and citrus trees may be found about two hours north of Ecuador’s capital city of Quito. Those who become coworkers will be among the most diverse and intriguing individuals you’ll encounter on your travels around the nation.
Laura on Day 2 I truly left my fingerprint on Ecuador’s chocolate business, since my thumbprints can be seen on the backs of numerous chocolates after pressing them into shapes at the farm!
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on Jul 14, 2015 at 5:43am PDT.
Day 5: Living together On one of the clipped branches, this small companion accompanied us to the cocoa tree nursery. Typically, he’d be having a good time, bouncing from branch to branch! #NoFilter
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on July 17, 2015 at 7:18am PDT.
Then it was on to Quito.
Regrettably, your baggage was abandoned in Mexico City on your route from Guatemala to Ecuador, so you had to return to Quito after just a few days to make the lengthy drive to the airport to retrieve your belongings. One outfit for five days is just insufficient.
Yesenia and Marisol from Da 6 Work in the field is very difficult, but it may also be extremely productive for a country. [Yesenia] I live in the country, and my family has always had a large plot of land for growing fruits and vegetables such as papas, maz, frijol, and other fruits. Formerly, our relationship with agriculture was simple; now, however, it is difficult. [Marisol]
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on July 17, 2015 at 1:26pm PDT.
Gaby on Day 10 So, it’s really important to me, because my family is an agriculturist. For me, it is the foundation of life; else, you would die. Agriculture was highly important to my Inca ancestors.
On Jul 21, 2015 at 1:56pm PDT, Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) published a post.
Kim on Day Eleven I don’t recall ever eating anything from a can until I began school; we raised the majority of our own food.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on Jul 22, 2015 at 8:28pm PDT.
Prior to returning to Pacto
People you encounter vary from those who are entirely disinterested in agriculture to others who believe it is the world’s sole source of pleasure and harmony.
Rex (Day 18) I live on a farming farm and make my living by barking terrifyingly loudly at everyone who does not touch me. I’m not sure what I’d be doing right now if I didn’t have this great connection to the land and its people. (sic)
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on July 29, 2015 at 2:18pm PDT.
Olga (da 19) Apart from being a job, I divierto!
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on July 30, 2015 at 10:24am PDT.
21: Inez I like growing plants because it allows me to see how the fruits grow, how clean and beautiful they are.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on August 1, 2015 at 7:38pm PDT.
22nd day: Manuel To be so close to agriculture means first and foremost never going hungry, then giving people the opportunity to eat healthy foods, and last, if the cultures are bio, people may live longer lives.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on Aug 2, 2015 at 10:21am PDT.
Jillian is the 26th day. My grandpa was a farmer, and it was through him that I developed an interest in flora. I now employ plants as medicine for myself and others since I would be unable to cure myself and my community without agriculture.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on August 7, 2015 at 4:51pm PDT.
Juan Carlos Da 30 My connection to agriculture is that I have planted some plants on my farm, which I will inherit.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on August 10, 2015 at 4:32pm PDT.
Gansas, Da 32 (Pendejos) Everything we do is with the goal of making the workers unhappy, including the practice of leaving mud on all roads. We have no utility since our connection to agriculture is meaningless. *HONK.*
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on August 12, 2015 at 7:35pm PDT.
Da 33: Norman Indeed, I like it.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on August 13, 2015 at 8:21am PDT.
Traveling in Ecuador
As you go out of the city or off the farm, you feel lucky to witness so many different sides of this lovely nation, from the ecotourism hotspot of Mindo to the beach resort of Salinas. In retrospect, you’ll simply wish you’d taken more weekends off.
Jos Luis da Silva Agriculture is the most beautiful thing about Ecuador. It’s similar to how we survived in Ecuador, and it’s more natural here in Pacto.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on August 14, 2015 at 6:43pm PDT.
Day 43: JJ I, like everyone else, am completely reliant on agriculture. In fact, I believe that without agriculture, towns and civilizations would not have emerged. It’s amazing how much we take for granted.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on Aug 23, 2015 at 3:30pm PDT.
Anne Dag 45: Landbrug is something very special to me, since it is the foundation of our whole community. Mad er ligesom en af det vigtiste vigtigheder vi mennesker har brug for:) Desvrre er den mde vi dyrker landbrug p ikke lngere s naturlig som den burde, og vi har udnyttet og forgiftet vores jorde over flere rtider! We have become more aware of the fact that ecological land use is the only way to improve land use.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on August 26, 2015 at 1:20pm PDT.
Mariposa for Day 46 As much as I like bad banana mush, fermenting cacao pulp is what drives me insane. I’m attracted in by the sweet smell and then buried in my own hunger. Unless Im was fished out in a fit of human sympathy.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on August 27, 2015 at 8:49am PDT.
Zac on Day 50 It is, after all, the foundation of the civilization in which we all live. When Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge in the book of Genesis, they are driven out of this perfect system in which the abundance of the world surrounding them supplies for all their needs. Adam was doomed to obtain nourishment exclusively by the sweat of his brow and the labor of his hands. It, I believe, was meant to be a metaphor for the development of agriculture. We are thrown into a system that is frequently unpleasant, cruel for many of its members, and highly unnatural. Yet in return, we have the ability to modify the world around us, as well as knowledge that grants us god-like powers.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on August 31, 2015 at 7:21am PDT.
One Last Farm Visit
This is your last stay at the farm after nearly two months of continual back and forth, so you want to make the most of it. Each coffee cherry delivers another possible final surprise, while every cold shower reminds you why farm life isn’t for you.
Day 59: Cacao Baby Tree I feel totally at home here in Ecuador, amid hundreds of different crops. Thank you for inviting me to the agricultural celebration!
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on Sep 8, 2015 at 1:29pm PDT.
60th day: Mark Weeds irritate me.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on Sep 10, 2015 at 1:18pm PDT.
Mathieu (Day 62) It has given me a new life despite the fact that I am not a farmer. Six years ago, I couldn’t tell you what a tree was; I mean, I couldn’t identify a tree from a shrub, but now I feel like it’s altered my life. I mean, I never considered myself a tree-hugger before, but now I am, to use an American expression.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on Sep 12, 2015 at 12:57pm PDT.
A Journey to the Galapagos Islands
Before you depart for good, you manage to go to San Cristobal for a very inexpensive fee. The experience is out of this world.
Sea Lion (Day 63) What is my connection to agriculture? Therefore, I think the plants and I are both looking for the same thing: light. But the real issue is whether I’m always sleeping off a cold or a hangover. #NoFilter
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on Sep 14, 2015 at 2:55pm PDT.
Seora Becerra, Da 66 I like agriculture because I enjoy gardening; I enjoy cultivating, and I have always worked in agriculture. He has had several consultations with technicians and agricultural engineers. Compose a good sentence.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on Sep 18, 2015 at 6:33pm PDT.
Galapagos Tortoise on Day 70 You found me, now go out! You scumbags are always interrupting my steady diet of banana leaves with selfie requests, and I’m having none of it. Let me return to my small dinosaur life; I had to study Spanish a few millennia ago. #NoFilter
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on Sep 21, 2015 at 10:42am PDT.
Max on Day 73 Growing up, I ate whatever was offered to me, with little to no knowledge of where it came from. Yet as I grew older, my interest about where my food came from grew, and I discovered that everything begins in the dirt. Everything comes from the earth. My connection with food matured with my bond with the planet. Even the ants are included. Thus, despite the fact that I don’t own a farm or have ever milked a cow, I consider myself friendly with my food, keeping a careful eye on the agricultural business while hugging my chocolate bars tighter.
Max Gandy | Chocolate Travel? (@damecacao) shared a post on Sep 29, 2015 at 12:35pm PDT.
I hope this piece has made your personal connection to agriculture even more valuable. More about my chocolate escapades may be found here.
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