We revisited Masatepe to see the famous furniture makers work.
But the local botanical farm is what really blew our minds. The first plant introduced to us looked like a rotting squash.
Once open, Joshua thought it looked like a cow brain. The fruit around the seed tasted, however, AMAZING. It was tangy and sweet and delicious.
When we learned that the seed inside was actually cacao (the main ingredient for chocolate) —I lost it. We also tried lemon grass, salvia, cinnamon tree bark, cilantro, paprika, etc. Joshua even took home a noni fruit. Supposedly there is a health craze in the states because its juice has many antioxidants. It smells and tastes like old cheese. No thanks! Literally, Joshua spent an hour trying to turn it into a decent tasting juice by adding about 10 oranges and some honey. It didn’t work. The woman uses all the herbal remedies to create teas, medicines and other bath products like soap and shampoo.
The Catarina vista was beautiful, but windy. Gusts must have been 40 mph…at one point we couldn’t even see the lake through the mist.
Even in Nicaragua, Joshua remembered Valentine’s Day. I got a handmade card on my pillow and a massage from a local woman who specializes in therapeutic remedies. He is such a gem.
Lucky for him, I too had been thinking. After receiving the recommendation from a fellow traveler, we are now the proud foster parents to an orphan elephant named Sities who we will get to visit on our trip to Kenya this fall at the Sheldrick Trust.
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