1 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: I'm in the co pilot seat of this small Cessna 2 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: plane and we're circling the Bolivian Amazon. Beside me, pilot 3 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: sweating because we're looking for a place to land and 4 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:33,680 Speaker 1: we can't find one. The weather was bad and and 5 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,800 Speaker 1: the pilot was nervous, and it was it was quite exciting. 6 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 1: Behind me. Is this guy just been a day ago? 7 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: This German accou hunter named Volker Lahman. Bolker looks a 8 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: bit like the German director Werner Herzog. Sounds like him too. 9 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: The more dangerous or tricky the situation dance of the 10 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: kalmar Get. It's two thousand ten, and Folker's letting me 11 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: tag along. If you searches for a holy grail while 12 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: cocao tree that gives us chocolate. Coco's native to the Amazon, 13 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 1: and now it's farmed all over the tropics, mostly in Africa. 14 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: A few years before our trip, Focus stumbled upon an 15 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: incredible variety of wild cow in Bolivia and he turned 16 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: it into this mind blowing chocolate. So now there's a 17 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,120 Speaker 1: gold rush for these magic beans, and Volker's hope is 18 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: to stay one step ahead. There's an indigenous group in 19 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: the forest of the Europare. Rumor has it they have 20 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: a ton of wildcata cell So the plan is fly in, 21 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,039 Speaker 1: find a landing strip, take a dugout canoe to the 22 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: Eurokari village, strike a deal below us. The jungle looks otherworldly. 23 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:47,040 Speaker 1: The whole thing is steaming, miss rising to form these 24 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: immense thunderheads, and the thunderheads are dropping ropes black rain 25 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: back to the forest. At one point we punched through 26 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: a storm and water comes spitting through the vents of 27 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: the plain. Shoot a glance at the pilot, like what, 28 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: but he just waves me off. It's getting hard to 29 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: tell what to worry about and what not to worry about. 30 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: For that, all I can do is counting vulgar because 31 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: he's been navigating the Amazon for twenty years. This part 32 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: of Olivia is all rainforests and grasslands. It's also a 33 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: major cocaine flyaway. The rivers are dotted with these homemade 34 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,120 Speaker 1: landing strips and small planes swoop in, pick up the drugs, 35 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: and head for Brazil. Those landing strips are super convenient 36 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: if you need to get into the deepoots quickly, which 37 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: we do, but it's also super dangerous. Hundreds of people 38 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: get shot in the Amazon every year for all sorts 39 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: of reasons. Just being an environmental activist is enough, But 40 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: stumbling upon a cocaine lab that's one of the surest 41 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: ways to make it happen. But when you need a 42 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: landing strip, you need a landing strip. The problem is 43 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,239 Speaker 1: that it's the rainy season and everything is fly it. 44 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: The rivers have risen like thirty feet, The trees are 45 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: in standing water, the ground is gleaming like a mirror. 46 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:11,079 Speaker 1: At last, there's a strip near a small cabin on 47 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: the river, but it's really short. The rain swamped part 48 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:21,080 Speaker 1: of the landing strip, and the landing strip was homemade. No, 49 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: it's not official landing strip. The pilot swoops down to 50 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: get a closer look, and he doesn't like what he sees, 51 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: and neither do I. He pulls back up and circles 52 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: the area looking for alternatives, but there are no alternatives. 53 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: The pilot keeps circling back to that original strip. He's 54 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: trying to psych himself up, and for all I know, 55 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: we're running well on fuel. Get vulcars still sitting there 56 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: like it's another day in the park. And that is 57 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: making me more nervous because I can tell that his 58 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: appetite for risk is a lot higher than mine. And 59 00:03:55,680 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: then the pilot banks the plane towards that strip. For second, 60 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: I think, well, this must be another reconnaissance run, because 61 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 1: nobody would. Oh no, he's going for it right now. 62 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: The ground is rising in front of us fast. So 63 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: I grabbed the handle above the door, tucked my head 64 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:18,600 Speaker 1: and brace and we hit actually hits the wrong word. 65 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: It's super soft thanks to all that spongey ground. So 66 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 1: we break hard and slammed the stop spraying puddles, and 67 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: I'm like, holy sh it, we made it. So I 68 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,479 Speaker 1: grabbed my back and hop out. Vulkers behind me and 69 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: it's like, hello Amazon. It's a cathedral. When you're on 70 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: the ground, there's these massive trees that are dripping thick fines. 71 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: There's flocks of actual parrots screeching through the canopy. And 72 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,160 Speaker 1: then from that little cabin up ahead, four guys emerge 73 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:01,280 Speaker 1: and they're holding rifles. There were like one guy coming, 74 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 1: and then the second, and the third and the fourth, 75 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: and then they were surrounding us. And I was looking 76 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:10,920 Speaker 1: at the pilot and he said, I have to leave 77 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: because of the weather, and you know, nobody said anything, 78 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: and so he turned around this plane and off he 79 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: off he went, and then I realized, oh, we are 80 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,920 Speaker 1: in the middle of some people we don't know. I 81 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: was nervous. I am trying not to make any fast 82 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: moves because these guys are twitchy. Everything they say confirmed 83 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: my worst fears. They're watching the place for their boss, 84 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 1: who's a Columbian man, and we've just landed on his 85 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: private runway without permission. And I've been in the Amazon 86 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 1: for all five minutes, and I'm starting to wonder if 87 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 1: maybe I'm not really cut out of this cacao anything. 88 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:51,720 Speaker 1: And all I can do is look over vulgar and think, 89 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: I hope the hell you got this from Kaleidostoe and 90 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:04,839 Speaker 1: I podcasts. This is Obsessions Wild Chocolate. I'm Rowan Jacobson, 91 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: Chapter one, The Hunt. So one thing I should explain 92 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: is that I'm a food writer, but not a normal 93 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: food writer. I don't write cookbooks or restaurant reviews. Instead, 94 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,720 Speaker 1: the thing I do is harder to explain. This is 95 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: All Things Considered from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block. Listen 96 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: to how Rowan Jacobson describes a temperamental mollusk. I kind 97 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: of think of these as the Sean pen of oysters 98 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 1: like very intense and memorable, but you wouldn't want have 99 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 1: him every day. Rowan Jacobson talks about oysters the way 100 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: a lover might recall his favorite conquests. You have to 101 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: think about the after globe. See what I mean. My 102 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,800 Speaker 1: call is to bring amazing ingredients to life, to use 103 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: intense sensory experience as a wormhole to jump into a 104 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: universe of exotic landscapes, diverse traditions, revelations, and obsessions. Back 105 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: in two thousand nine, I was writing a book about 106 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: the world's best ingredients, and I was working on chapter 107 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: about chocolate. Chocolate, of course, is on anybody's shortlist of 108 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: great ingredients, as it should be. It's our most complex food. 109 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: It has more than six hundred different flavor components. If 110 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: you think of flavor as a kind of language away 111 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: the world communicates to us through our senses, then chocolate 112 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: is like epic poetry. It speaks in these lush, rhythmic 113 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: phrases that sweep over us and sometimes sweep us away 114 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: at good chocolate does. But the stuff you find in 115 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: your typical candy aisle that's more brain fart than epic poem. 116 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: There's just not that much chocolate in your average chocolate bar, 117 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: and the quality is nothing special. Just like great wine 118 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: requires great grapes, epic chocolate requires the very best cacalbeans, 119 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: and those are really hard to find. For decades, nobody 120 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: outside the Amazon was really looking for them. Now that's change. 121 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,320 Speaker 1: A new wave of extreme chocolate makers is seeking out 122 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: the best of the best and using it to make 123 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 1: the most intensely delicious chocolate that has ever been made, 124 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: chocolate that is so different from what has come before 125 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: that the experience is like some sort of drug. In 126 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 1: two thousand nine, I was tasting my way through these 127 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,000 Speaker 1: trippy bars from my book, and it kept coming across 128 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: rumors about the trippiest of them all. Supposedly it was 129 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:51,560 Speaker 1: the first bar in history that wasn't made out of 130 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:55,480 Speaker 1: farm to cacab This one was all wild, sourced from 131 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: the Amazon rainforest itself, and it tasted like nothing that 132 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:03,080 Speaker 1: had come before. Well. Summoning all of my journalistic skills, 133 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: I managed to track down a bar. I had to 134 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:07,600 Speaker 1: order it from Switzerland and it cost me twenty six 135 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: bucks was shipping, but a week later the FedEx truck 136 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: dropped the hot little box on my porch and I 137 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: tore it open. The bars cloaked in snazzy Swiss wrapping, 138 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:20,720 Speaker 1: slid off the sleeve and part of the gold foil 139 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: to reveal a thin plank of chocolate embossed with a feather. 140 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,080 Speaker 1: I snapped off a shard, placed it on my tongue, 141 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: and the bottom fell out of the room. It melted 142 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: like silk, not a trace of bitterness. There's these notes 143 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: of dried fruit and pipe smoke dancing through my sinuses. 144 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:47,599 Speaker 1: It was like finding an old chest in your grandparents 145 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:52,240 Speaker 1: attic and sticking your nose inside and breathing in the centuries. 146 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:56,959 Speaker 1: It was delicious, for sure, but that was almost beside 147 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: the point for something else going on, something metaphysical. I 148 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:03,840 Speaker 1: don't really have the word for it. All I can 149 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:06,959 Speaker 1: say is, compared to all the chocolate I've known, this 150 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: one tasted real. I wanted more of this wild chocolate, 151 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,760 Speaker 1: this wild experience, and I resolved to find someone who 152 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:23,720 Speaker 1: could lead me into this thicket of flavors. What I 153 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: couldn't have known at the time was that seeking the 154 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:28,920 Speaker 1: answers to those questions was going to lead me into 155 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:33,400 Speaker 1: the rainforest again and again in the shadowed laws, civilizations, 156 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 1: and in the company of some extraordinary people obsessed with 157 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: making god level chocolate. It was frequently going to leave 158 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 1: me soaked, bitten, miserable, and miles from the nearest bed. 159 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 1: It was going to expose me to chocolate's dark history 160 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: of exploitation and environmental destruction. But it was also going 161 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:54,600 Speaker 1: to show me cocow's sacred side and how can we 162 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:58,520 Speaker 1: used to protect the rainforest. But on that day in 163 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:00,640 Speaker 1: two thousand nine, I just wanted to know if the 164 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 1: story was true, if this mythical wild cacao really existed. 165 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,160 Speaker 1: The chocolate maker said it was being supplied from Bolivia 166 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:12,480 Speaker 1: by a man named Vulgar Layman. And that's how I 167 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: met the Herzog of coco hunting over Skype. Hello. Hey. 168 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: When I told him that people I asked had never 169 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:24,440 Speaker 1: heard of wild cacao, he just laughed. He said, most 170 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: people in the business have never even seen a cocountry, 171 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: much less step foot in the rainforest. Basically, they were idiots, 172 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:33,440 Speaker 1: not close to being on his level. I go at 173 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:38,280 Speaker 1: ahead of the pank. Everybody behind me, No, still trying 174 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:48,359 Speaker 1: to catch me. Somehow not possible. I like the intensity 175 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 1: he seemed to have swagger. He said, he was taking 176 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,400 Speaker 1: a trip into your car a territory in search of 177 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: new sources. So why not come and see for myself 178 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:01,440 Speaker 1: what type of details you want me tool send you? 179 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:05,560 Speaker 1: Maybe the plant, the logistics. Yeah, I just want just yeah, 180 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:09,839 Speaker 1: where you want me and when? Basically, um, and then 181 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 1: I'll run it by the podcast people who are interested. 182 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:16,880 Speaker 1: They give you money, yeah, hopefully they I'll make sure 183 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 1: that they can cover my my flights and so on. Yeah, 184 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,679 Speaker 1: and then little money and for the steaks and beers 185 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 1: and oh yeah, okay, yeah, I pictured that's paddling up 186 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:34,560 Speaker 1: a river, joining in wild chocolate ceremonies, rivers of molten 187 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: deliciousness pouring down our chins. That was the plan anyway, 188 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:50,680 Speaker 1: Are there snakes to worry about? They are? Okay. That 189 00:12:50,880 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: was age very large crocodile, which brings me back to 190 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,719 Speaker 1: that landing strip. We're staring at these twittery guys with guns, 191 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:09,840 Speaker 1: and I know what they're thinking. For two white dudes 192 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 1: to drop out of an airplane in this region means 193 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: one of two things. Either they think we're undercovered DA 194 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:20,360 Speaker 1: or they think we're traffickers, and either way is not good. 195 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,720 Speaker 1: It seems like that it was close to the weekend 196 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: and they needed some money to buy food and booze. 197 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: So I said myself, okay, they have a need to 198 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 1: give money, and we have the need to get out 199 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:37,880 Speaker 1: of it. So he says, no problem with guys, what's 200 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: the landing feed and the guys just look at each other, 201 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:44,440 Speaker 1: and finally one says five thousand bolivianos, which is about 202 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 1: seven fifty bucks. And I'm thinking, oh my god, that's 203 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: a pretty good deal. We've definitely got enough to swing that. 204 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:57,160 Speaker 1: And before I can get there, Bulker says, stone faced, sorry, 205 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: we don't have that much. I said, look, I am myself. 206 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,360 Speaker 1: I'm poor. And he started looking at me and like, well, 207 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 1: what what a story, you know? And they said, okay, 208 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: you know, look, I represent a small project and and 209 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: we're doing with Cacao. We're dealing with the indigenous Jura 210 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: care people. I'm listening to Votres explanation and I can't 211 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: tell how persuaded these guys are. Just then Vulgar pulls 212 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:32,160 Speaker 1: out five hundred bilianos, which is only seventy five bucks, 213 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:37,640 Speaker 1: and offers it up. I take a deep breath and watch, 214 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: and the guy relaxes and takes the money, and then 215 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 1: his buddies relax and suddenly the whole five changes and 216 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:48,680 Speaker 1: they invite us to sit down and have a drink. 217 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 1: So we're making small talk. He actually want a tool, 218 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 1: give me as a gift a book. It was a 219 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: beat up John Grisham paperback someone had left behind. It 220 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:02,200 Speaker 1: was in English. So they us part and I said, no, 221 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:05,560 Speaker 1: keep it. You know, we want to travel light until 222 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: use the money and think of her much and see 223 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 1: you there you go how to win friends and influence 224 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: people in the Amazon. After paying off our new friends, 225 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:17,440 Speaker 1: Bolker and I make our way down to the river. 226 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 1: Two guys are waiting for us in a long, skinny 227 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: dugout with an outboard on the back. Aurelio has a 228 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:30,040 Speaker 1: white gambler hat, a mustache, a cigarette, and a rifle. 229 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,000 Speaker 1: Talked into the bow of the canoe full cowboy vibe. 230 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: In the back of the boat, the pilot Dante, a 231 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 1: big guy with the scruppy beard, a huge wad of 232 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: coca leaves stuffed into his bulgian cheek. We threw our 233 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 1: stuff into the middle of the canoe and wedge ourselves 234 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 1: in between, trying not to capsize the thing. All right, 235 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: here goes nothing. Any last words before we launched the voyage, 236 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:56,840 Speaker 1: I don't never have last words. This is not the 237 00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:12,200 Speaker 1: end at all. I want to taste of some of 238 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 1: this god level chocolate. We got you covered. Kaliscope has 239 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 1: joined forces with Louise Abram and Stetler Chocolate to make 240 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:21,200 Speaker 1: a special box to go along with its very podcast 241 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: taste what has driven many to near madness at www 242 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:40,280 Speaker 1: dot Stetler dash Chocolate dot com. Chocolate is a Mayan 243 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 1: thing a thousand years before Europeans crossed the Atlantic, the 244 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:47,480 Speaker 1: Maya we're already growing cacao all over Central America and 245 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: using it for rituals and ceremonies. Maya people are the 246 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:56,840 Speaker 1: forced people. Known people used it, concurvated, domesticated it and 247 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: for us. But it's a gift from the heavens above. 248 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: That's Julio's the key. He's a man and elder. I 249 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 1: met and belieze. Julia has a chocolate company, but he 250 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: also does demonstrations of traditional Mayan chocolate making. There's a 251 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:12,879 Speaker 1: way of teaching others what cacow means to his people. 252 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:16,320 Speaker 1: We stood in his dashed hut just off the highway 253 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:19,880 Speaker 1: while trucks rattled by as he toasted cacow beans over 254 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:22,960 Speaker 1: a wooden fire, then ground them between two stones to 255 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: form a paste. Then he mixed the paste with hot 256 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:29,000 Speaker 1: water and whipped the drink into a froth. This is 257 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 1: how his mother did it before him, and her mother 258 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:35,119 Speaker 1: before her, sharing the drink and burning the beans on 259 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,639 Speaker 1: an altar is believed. This is our belief that the 260 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:41,359 Speaker 1: prayers that we're seeing, the tanks that we're saying, to 261 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,480 Speaker 1: the jungle, to the rainforest, to the wind, to the breeze, 262 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:48,280 Speaker 1: to the mountains, to the soil, our ancestors would feel 263 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: it would take it. And this is what we strongly 264 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:54,119 Speaker 1: believe the connection is with between the upper world on 265 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:56,439 Speaker 1: the the lower world where we are to it. So 266 00:17:56,520 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: for usc is essentially it's food. He's like talking about 267 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:06,200 Speaker 1: food being a religious experience, but traditionally the creation and 268 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 1: consumption of chocolate is just that. Needless to say, that 269 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: was lost on the first European to encounter cacao, a 270 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: guy named Christopher Columbus. It was August and Columbus was 271 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:27,800 Speaker 1: on his fourth and final voyage to the New World. 272 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 1: He'd blown it on the whole passage to India. Thing 273 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: he hadn't found any big stores of gold, his ships 274 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: were in tatters, and after his last voyage he'd been 275 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:41,520 Speaker 1: carted back to Spain and shackles. He needed a big score, 276 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:46,120 Speaker 1: and miraculously, off the coast of Honduras he got it. 277 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 1: A huge mind trading canoe more than a hundred feet long, 278 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:55,000 Speaker 1: laden with cloth axes, war clubs, corn beer, and what 279 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 1: looked like almonds. Columbus hauled them eye on their cargo 280 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 1: on board, and when some of those alm and spilled, 281 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:05,320 Speaker 1: the mind merchants freaked. Glumbus's son wrote that they scrambled 282 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:09,280 Speaker 1: for them as if their eyeballs had fallen out. Obviously, 283 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 1: to the Maya, these weird almonds were precious. If you're 284 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,760 Speaker 1: a master explorer desperate defined treasure, wouldn't you go ashore 285 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 1: and see if there's any more of these things lying around? 286 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,280 Speaker 1: If Colemus had, he'd have learned that the eyeballs rolling 287 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: around his deck were cacao beans, and they were the 288 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 1: lifeblood of Mayan culture. Everybody had a few trees in 289 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 1: their backyard, some people had whole forests. No wedding or 290 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,600 Speaker 1: holiday was complete without a round of hot chocolate whipped 291 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 1: into a froth with a nice head of phone. The 292 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:42,280 Speaker 1: dried beans could last for years, so they were the 293 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 1: coin of the realm. According to records from the fift hundreds, 294 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:48,240 Speaker 1: one coco bean to get you it to molly, three 295 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:53,040 Speaker 1: an avocado for a salamander, and eight a rabbit or 296 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:57,920 Speaker 1: a prostitute. Cocaw is still used as currency in some places. 297 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: Julio Saki says that when he was growing up and 298 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:05,520 Speaker 1: believe in the nineteen seventies, cacao was cash. My mom 299 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:08,679 Speaker 1: mused to send me as she heard that somebody just 300 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,600 Speaker 1: got a fresh neat coming in from the jungle. She 301 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: would send me over to treat to buy that meat, 302 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:21,439 Speaker 1: essentially with that half kilo of coca beats, and the 303 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:25,440 Speaker 1: owner never refuses it. They would say, oh wow, yes, yes, yes, 304 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: here's here's your meat. The point is cocao was the 305 00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:33,840 Speaker 1: sacred heart of Mine society and Aztec society. The Aztec 306 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:37,520 Speaker 1: emperor Montezuma was known to drink fifty cups of chocolate 307 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: over the course of a single meal. When Spanish conquistadors 308 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:44,359 Speaker 1: rated his treasure vaults, they found nine hundred and sixty 309 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,840 Speaker 1: million cacal beans sitting inside. It was the Fort Knox 310 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:50,479 Speaker 1: of the New World, and Spanish quickly claimed it as 311 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:54,119 Speaker 1: their own. Soon they'd taken over the whole cocao operation. 312 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:56,920 Speaker 1: But they never learned to love chocolate until they began 313 00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: pouring sugar into it. Then they introduced it to Europe 314 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:04,119 Speaker 1: and the craze began. Chocolate houses sprang up from England 315 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,360 Speaker 1: to Austria. They were basically the Starbucks of their day, 316 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,800 Speaker 1: and Spanish controlled the entire trade. For all the talk 317 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: of Elderado, the real treasure they found was chocolate. For 318 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 1: a while, all the cocoa in the New World came 319 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:22,560 Speaker 1: from traditional varieties that had great flavor, But as demand exploded, 320 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,440 Speaker 1: supplies got tight. The old orchards just couldn't keep up. 321 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,160 Speaker 1: So the chocolate industry planted cacou all over the tropics, 322 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:35,720 Speaker 1: especially in West Africa, where labor was unfortunately cheapest of all, 323 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:40,359 Speaker 1: and the industry planted whatever hybrid varieties produced the highest yields, 324 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:44,640 Speaker 1: no matter how they tasted, because back then nobody paid 325 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:48,359 Speaker 1: extra for flavor. A bean was a bean. There's a 326 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 1: saying in West Africa, Mark Christian, one of the world's 327 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:56,680 Speaker 1: leading chocolate critics, there's no cemetery for cocoa beans, which 328 00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:00,080 Speaker 1: means it doesn't matter every single one of them. We 329 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:03,479 Speaker 1: sell them because no matter how good are bad they are, 330 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 1: Nestlee's or whoever, you know, he's gonna get their hands 331 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: on them. And then they'll standardize the flavor by smearing 332 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:15,880 Speaker 1: it with big vanilla. Maybe it'll go into milk chocolate 333 00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:17,960 Speaker 1: or whatnot. You know, there are lots of ways to 334 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:23,440 Speaker 1: mask it, and they're fine with it because it's about volume, volume, 335 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:29,119 Speaker 1: but not taste. And that's still true. But now a 336 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 1: few Indiana Jones style cocao hunters like Vulgar are trying 337 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: something new. They're raising money for expeditions and scouring the 338 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:40,359 Speaker 1: jungles for cacao with real flavor, flavors that have been 339 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:45,320 Speaker 1: lost for centuries, or in some cases, new flavors no 340 00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: one has ever tasted before. The funny thing is this 341 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,399 Speaker 1: new way of thinking about chocolate. It's really just the 342 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 1: old way of thinking about chocolate. It always was the 343 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:01,159 Speaker 1: gold of the forest. We finally got to this city 344 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:06,920 Speaker 1: called Boca, which is mouth of Acre, the Acre River, 345 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: and it was dry season. It was August. That's Louisa Abram, 346 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: the new rock star of wild Chocolate at twenty two, 347 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:19,960 Speaker 1: fresh out of culinary school, she launched her chocolate company 348 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: and began looking around for source of fantastic cacaw. She 349 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: heard a rumor that a tiny co op deep in 350 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: the Amazon had a stash to sell, so she charted 351 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,160 Speaker 1: a skinny boat and made the trip. The river was 352 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 1: so dangerous, Oh my gosh, like I've never saw so 353 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 1: many trunks and so many like obstacles. Rivers in Amazonia 354 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,040 Speaker 1: are filled with buried tree trunks just waiting to impale 355 00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:49,720 Speaker 1: your boat. It can be treacherous. But they made it 356 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:51,960 Speaker 1: through the big river and then they turned down a 357 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,280 Speaker 1: tiny stream just wide enough for the boat, and they 358 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,879 Speaker 1: followed it wherever. It was six hours in the little 359 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: like stream. Suddenly you see like this big ass bridge. 360 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:15,119 Speaker 1: Humanous if you would, and you're like, something's here. It 361 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 1: was a town of eight people in the middle of 362 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:22,280 Speaker 1: the jungle. It was called Mapia, which means heaven, and 363 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: it was a very particular sort of heaven. We had 364 00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:28,639 Speaker 1: no idea when we got there. They build the co 365 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:34,920 Speaker 1: op to sustain the Santo Daimi Community Center. DAM is 366 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:38,080 Speaker 1: a religion based in part on ayahuasca, a drink brewed 367 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:42,880 Speaker 1: from psychedelic plants that triggers visions and euphoria. It's part Catholicism, 368 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: part paganism. It's practitioners drink ayahuasca in group rituals that 369 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 1: involve chanting and dancing that goes on all night long. 370 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 1: They believe the ayahuasca, or dim as they call it, 371 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: brings the spirit of the divine into them. The farest 372 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,119 Speaker 1: around Mapia were filled countries, and the beans were one 373 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:04,800 Speaker 1: of the community's main sources of income. It was a 374 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,199 Speaker 1: perfect way to make a little money while leaving the forest. Intact, 375 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 1: Louis loved the idea of working with wild cacao and 376 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:12,960 Speaker 1: using it as a way to support the dame A 377 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 1: community and to protect their sacred forest. She began making 378 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,879 Speaker 1: regular visits to the community, slowly learning their ways and 379 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: winning their trust, but she knew that to really be 380 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 1: in sync with them, she needed to experience the ayahuasca. 381 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:32,280 Speaker 1: I think for them, it was important that I could 382 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:39,480 Speaker 1: see them outside of being a labor force. I could 383 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: see them as people. I knew that I was going 384 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:48,720 Speaker 1: to keep on going there, so I said to one 385 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,639 Speaker 1: of the leaders in the community, can I be a 386 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: part of the ceremony tonight. He was so surprised that 387 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: he invited the whole community, eighty people. And I was afraid, 388 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,479 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. I was a little bit afraid, 389 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,719 Speaker 1: like if I take this, it's gonna mess up my 390 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:18,879 Speaker 1: mind for my whole entire life. That night, the people 391 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: gathered in the church with guitars and drums. The church 392 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,360 Speaker 1: is not a church that like we know, with like 393 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:30,920 Speaker 1: four walls, nothing like that. It's open, so you can 394 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: here the environment. As the night sounds of the forest 395 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,879 Speaker 1: filtered into the church. Everyone lined up to receive communions. 396 00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:45,359 Speaker 1: It's a thick drink, almost like a smoothie, and you 397 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 1: take it like a shot, and it tastes earthy, bitter. 398 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:58,000 Speaker 1: At first, you don't feel nothing, and then it started. 399 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:07,440 Speaker 1: I started really feeling different, feeling lighter, feeling happier, feeling 400 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:12,919 Speaker 1: more aware of the sounds of the forest. There was 401 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:22,120 Speaker 1: this frog making this sound, everyone singing, moving to rhythms, 402 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:28,320 Speaker 1: them dancing, and closing my eyes and feeling that union 403 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 1: with all the women singing and the men playing the guitar. 404 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:41,679 Speaker 1: The noises start becoming a sea of colors, different colors, 405 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:47,480 Speaker 1: and like a brushstroke of like purple, pink, and then 406 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: green neon and then light bloom. It's just synestisia, the 407 00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 1: waves of color coming towards to me and going backwards. 408 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: And then fourty minutes later we take another shot. I 409 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:16,520 Speaker 1: took three shots. Hour after hour. They keep saying, keep dancing, 410 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:20,480 Speaker 1: and the dime is rising within them. It starts becoming 411 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:26,800 Speaker 1: like more fluid, and you just like feel euphoria. But 412 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 1: at the same time, you know that your energy is 413 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: resignating towards the person that it's by your side, and 414 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:42,160 Speaker 1: the same with that person, and you're dancing the whole time, 415 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: and you don't feel higher. And then the dima is everywhere, 416 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 1: flowing through everyone and everything, emerging, the people and the 417 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:54,280 Speaker 1: animals and the vines and the trees into one unified being. 418 00:28:54,880 --> 00:29:11,120 Speaker 1: Everyone surrounding you, and the forest they were one. Afterwards, 419 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: she lay in her hammock, floating in the darkness, and 420 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:33,760 Speaker 1: she knew she had been changed forever. Here's a confession. 421 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:37,120 Speaker 1: There are times on this journey when I thought, hold on, now, 422 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 1: what are you people doing? What am I doing? Usually 423 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:43,760 Speaker 1: these moments come when I'm hanging in some hammock in 424 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: the jungle, nursing my bug bites and dreaming about a 425 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: shower or facing down another dinner of dry fried paranya. 426 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:53,760 Speaker 1: Let's face it, this is a crazy way to make 427 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 1: a living loan sharks on one end, jaguars on the other, 428 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:00,320 Speaker 1: and even if you do everything right, you could better 429 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: money waiting tables. Sometimes I think a cow is edible gold, 430 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,600 Speaker 1: and sometimes I think it's fool's gold. But you know what, 431 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,040 Speaker 1: people keep committing their lives to this and it has 432 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:15,120 Speaker 1: nothing to do with money. So what's the draw. Well, 433 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:21,280 Speaker 1: that's an easy one. I remember when I first chocolate 434 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:25,560 Speaker 1: in my mouth, it was like it was like a drug. 435 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,160 Speaker 1: They were like, oh my god, Like I was just 436 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: so amazed. This was like, you know, a classic symphony orchestra. 437 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 1: When it's really good chocolate like that, the world screeches 438 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: to a halt and the heavens let loose. Kind of 439 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: crazy that a bunch of crust seeds can do that 440 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,560 Speaker 1: to you. But like I said, chocolate is epic poetry. 441 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,200 Speaker 1: It gives voice to the rainforest in the language your 442 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: senses understand perfectly. I never had a chance to experience 443 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: the sense of dimes eremony like Louisa, But the more 444 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 1: time I spent chasing chocolate in the Amazon, the more 445 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:09,240 Speaker 1: I realized I didn't have to ayahuasca. It was all 446 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:11,920 Speaker 1: part of the well spring, all part of the library 447 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 1: of transcendence that this most endangered and mysterious of places 448 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:38,840 Speaker 1: still holds. So we took off and we were just 449 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,160 Speaker 1: floating on on the river of the river was quite 450 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:47,400 Speaker 1: high and calm. The turtles normally sit on the on 451 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,000 Speaker 1: the river bank, on a on a on a little 452 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: trunk and jump in the water when you passed. I'm 453 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:55,920 Speaker 1: in a dugout canoe with Vulkers sitting behind me. We're 454 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,840 Speaker 1: headed to the Urquari village, three hours downstream. It's our fixer, 455 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:03,080 Speaker 1: Ralio's recommendation. He's been selling the vulcan for a while, 456 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,160 Speaker 1: and when Volker said he was looking for new supplies, 457 00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 1: Ralio suggested we meet with the uk Arre. We glide 458 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: over the brown water, leaving the heat and bugs behind 459 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,960 Speaker 1: at least for the moment. Pink river dolphins surface around 460 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:19,040 Speaker 1: us with little gasps. At last, I have time to breathe. 461 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,960 Speaker 1: Around a bend, we come upon a surreal scene. There 462 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 1: were people going with canoes into the forest which were 463 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:32,440 Speaker 1: flooded and tried to get the pods from the trees, 464 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:35,400 Speaker 1: and so I I saw it, and I saw, oh, well, 465 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:39,400 Speaker 1: this is a very unusual situation. We pick a couple 466 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:41,560 Speaker 1: of pods ourselves and crack them open on the side 467 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 1: of the boat and scoop the white pulp into our mouths. 468 00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 1: It's delicious, sweet and sour, like lemonade. We spit out 469 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,320 Speaker 1: the raw seeds, which won't taste like chocolate until they 470 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 1: get fermented and roasted. Ulcer's eyes are shining as we 471 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 1: passed more boats and trees in the flooded forests, and 472 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:03,200 Speaker 1: I start to understand why he's here chasing chocolate, Why 473 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,520 Speaker 1: anyone would take on such an impossible challenge, Because this 474 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,520 Speaker 1: place is unlike anywhere else, and he wants to protect it. 475 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:14,440 Speaker 1: And in wild cocao, he thinks he's found away. Dante 476 00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:16,479 Speaker 1: hands me his coca pouch and I stuff a fistful 477 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,880 Speaker 1: leaves into my cheek and has the alkaloids trickle into 478 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,760 Speaker 1: my bloodstream and feel like God just bumped up the 479 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 1: pop on my monitor. Thunder rolls over the jungle. Howler 480 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 1: monkeys roar in response, and as we melt into the forest, 481 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: I wedged myself into the bow of the boat next 482 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:37,440 Speaker 1: to Aurelio's rifle and lean back against the curved wood. 483 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:41,680 Speaker 1: Somewhere around the next bend lies revelation, the essence of 484 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:47,520 Speaker 1: the Amazon. And I'm not wrong, but be careful what 485 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 1: you ask for. So the rain has just been pounding 486 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,880 Speaker 1: all my long, and the river is now as the 487 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,520 Speaker 1: rivers reclaimed all the land like, there's just water everywhere. 488 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:05,840 Speaker 1: There's no dry land to little walk on. We're supposed 489 00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:10,120 Speaker 1: to head back up river and very just gonna be 490 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:15,040 Speaker 1: full of massive trees tearing down stream. Um and said, 491 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:18,279 Speaker 1: moving so fast. I'm not sure the boat's gonna be 492 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:36,200 Speaker 1: able to do it, but we'll see. This season on Obsessions, 493 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:41,280 Speaker 1: wild chocolate, chocolate sort of forms this vortex that sucks 494 00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:44,480 Speaker 1: you in. I had no idea what this is going 495 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:47,040 Speaker 1: to be, and you keep getting deeper deeper into it. 496 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:52,280 Speaker 1: We're lost. What should we do. I can conquer chocolate 497 00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:56,439 Speaker 1: like I can be the Queen of wild chocolate. There's 498 00:34:56,480 --> 00:35:00,640 Speaker 1: always this risk of complete boss. It wasn't always money, yeah, 499 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,640 Speaker 1: but now there's no more money. Basically this like disgruntled 500 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: guy and his family surrounded the building armed with machetes. 501 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:09,680 Speaker 1: We've heard all sorts of things that you know, somebody 502 00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:13,040 Speaker 1: got shot over this, and I don't like guns, but 503 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:15,040 Speaker 1: I mean you saw the stacks of cash in our office. 504 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:19,800 Speaker 1: Sometimes I think all this for a damn bar of chocolate. 505 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,879 Speaker 1: Wild Chocolate is a Kaleidoscope production with I Heart Podcasts, 506 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 1: hosted and reported by me Ron Jacobson and produced by 507 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,720 Speaker 1: Shane mckeit at Nice Marmot Media. Edited by Kate Osborne 508 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 1: and Gesh how To Goudar, sound design and mixing by Soundboard. 509 00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:39,959 Speaker 1: Original music composition by Spencer Stevenson, a k a Botany 510 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:43,520 Speaker 1: production help from Bahi ni Short from My Heart Are. 511 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:47,879 Speaker 1: Executive producers are Katrina Norval and Nikki Etart. Special thanks 512 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:52,880 Speaker 1: to Laura Mayor Costas, Lenos Oswallas and Aaron Kaufman, Will Pearson, 513 00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:56,920 Speaker 1: conel Burne, Bob Pittman, Daria Daniel and the team at 514 00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,800 Speaker 1: Statler who are helping us make a very special chocolate 515 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:02,680 Speaker 1: of our own. That's right, We're working with Louisa and 516 00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:05,960 Speaker 1: others to protect the rainforest and make delicious Amazonian chocolate. 517 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:10,560 Speaker 1: Visit www dot Stetler dash Chocolate dot com to taste 518 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:17,640 Speaker 1: it for yourself. That's www. Dot Stetler dash Chocolate dot com. 519 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:19,000 Speaker 1: And if you want to hear more of this type 520 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,759 Speaker 1: of content. Nothing is more important to the creators here 521 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:26,040 Speaker 1: at Kaleidoscope than subscribers, ratings, and reviews. Please spread the 522 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:27,359 Speaker 1: love wherever you listen.