WEBVTT - Bolivia For Dummies 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.680 To get to Vulcan Lehman's compound in the Amazon kept 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:22.400 really want together there. For me, that involved a red 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.800 eye from Miami to Santa Cruz, Olivia's biggest city, then 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.760 a puddle jumper to a town called Trinidad, a sweaty 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:33.040 night there, and then nine grueling hours in a collectivo 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:37.880 taxi squeeze between farm hands and crying babies, hammering over 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.800 washboard rows at thirty miles per hour, which is about 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:44.400 twenty miles per hour too fast. At last, I got 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:50.160 dropped off at Vulkar's place. Hello. Hello, it's changed since 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:52.920 my visit twelve years ago. For our river trip. Folcus 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:56.240 built himself a crazy new house, all screen, no walls. 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.120 A few feet away, there's an out house with tree 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.160 frogs in the toilet, a workshop with a generator, and 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:06.559 a big greenhouse for fermenting cacao. There's papayetrees and bananas, 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.720 and a tiny white local chili called goose anita. It 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:13.639 looks like little worms. They're brutally hot. The vulgar munches 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:18.160 them like popcorn. Surrounding it all, of course, are the cocaudries, 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:22.480 acres of them. Poker calls the place tranquila DoD. It 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:26.120 means tranquility in Spanish, and most of the time the 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.440 name fits most of the time. So um, if you can, 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.039 you runt down all the things to watch out for. 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:38.360 I'm wandering around. I always tell the people when they come, 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:44.119 please don't touch anything. I think National Geographic and all 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:48.680 Animal planet they give a false perspective. There are people, 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.880 you know, gripping crocodiles and snakes and whatnot, and so 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:56.200 don't touch the crocodiles or the snakes. Is in general, 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:00.800 there's actually a lot of crocodiles, not a touch. The 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.680 place is filled with them. Technically, the ones in the 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:07.040 Amazon are called caymans, not crocodiles, but I know a 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.320 crocodile smile when I see one. The big ones in 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.640 Bolivia can be more than twelve ft long, and Folkers 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:16.280 says to stay away from them because they like to 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.320 charge people. But the smaller ones, well, he's caught a 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.320 five footer in honor of our reunion, and now he's 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:27.880 prepping it for dinner. We have like rips and tail. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:30.880 The tail will eat raw with lime juice like svich. 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:34.440 The ribs get fried not too long, so it stays 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:38.919 juicy inside, its wanderful. When you're talking about wild chocolate. 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:42.880 This is ground zero. Tranquilidad is where the movement was born. 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:45.760 The beans from these trees produced the first run of 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.200 Cruise Savage and set off the gold rush to find 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:51.280 more last ca cow with wicked new flavors. I've come 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:53.400 to work the harvest, to learn the arts of picking 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:57.000 and fermenting, to understand on a deeper level, where great 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:05.520 chocolate comes from. The Last time I was here a 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.440 dozen years ago, the trip had gone from bad to absurd, 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.280 but it ended well. Volker lined up lots of new 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.720 sources of cacao. Cruise Evage was a hit, and Volker 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:18.160 became a legend in the fine chocolate community. And then 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.760 something went terribly wrong. I've only heard the details from 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:32.840 a distance, but just like those golden pods, were cursed. Yeah. 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.720 I had no intention to dig into this jungle. Actually, 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:43.240 I I fell into the trap. It was just looking 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:47.280 for some stupid kaka in the forest. I wasn't even 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:59.120 planning on this. Yeah, well you'll see what happened. For 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.360 thirty years, has been chasing that grail, always believing it 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:05.760 was one step away, always believing that with just a 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:12.080 little more organization, the Amazon would fall into place. And 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:14.600 of course he was just the latest in a long 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.479 line of outsiders to believe that he could make sense 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:21.560 of the chaos, from the Spanish gold hunters and the Jesuits, 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.120 to the rubber barons of the eight hundreds and they 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:30.000 explorer Percy Fawcett, who disappeared in Still Seeking the Lost 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.159 City of z And to the characters in Werner Herzog's 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.719 Amazon films, and even Herzog himself, who seems to have 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.000 gone at least partially insane trying to make those movies. 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:43.200 What are your plans when this movie is all over? 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:47.440 What are you gonna be doing? I shouldn't make movies anymore. 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:54.640 Should go to a lunatic asylum right away. These dreamers 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.800 always think they're close, and every time the same thing 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:02.560 happens there, attempts to make it work on their terms fail. 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:11.320 From Kaleidoscope and I Heeart podcasts. This is Obsessions, Wild Chocolate. 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:28.520 I'm Roman Jacobson, Chapter two, Olivia for Dummies. Long before 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.039 he ever saw a cowpot, Volker Lehman was a little 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.760 boy in Berlin with a green thumb. His father was 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:37.800 an army veteran and a coal miner battling exhaustion and PTSD. 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:40.599 So he came from work and then he went for 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.320 one or two hours into the garden. Yeah, and that 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:49.560 helped him also to maybe forget a little about about 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:53.360 the harsh conditions in the coal mine. By the time 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.240 he was five, Folker was gardening right alongside him. I 0:05:56.279 --> 0:06:01.160 had to pull out the weeds and well, sometimes I 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:07.400 missed and put on the carrots. Education, but he never 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.360 much liked the German climate. After high school, he took 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.040 a trip to Latin America and compared to the gray 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:16.160 horizons of post war Germany, it was like stepping into 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:20.040 a technicolor wonderland. I was intrigued by the climb, at 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:24.640 the music, the food. It's like you feel friendly. But 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.679 it wasn't just the culture around farming. Volka was amazed 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.240 by the power of tropical plants, the way they grew 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.520 so ferociously, and the incredible amount of food and medicine 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:37.320 they could produce. One he decided to devote his life 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.760 to them. He knocked around the tropics for a few 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.839 years doing development work, and by the nineties he'd found 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.680 his way to Bolivia. The German government had a program 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.479 to try to get Bolivia's farmers to switch from coca 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.440 to less controversial crops, and Vulgar's job was to teach 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.520 the farmers how to work with the new ones. Bolivians 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.480 consider coca their most sacred plant. The leaves are chewed 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:02.159 daily for stamina and stimulation, but they're also the source 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:06.000 of cocaine. And the ninety nineties Olivia was awash and 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:11.080 the stuff. Folker told me about those strange days as 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:13.800 we sat in his jungle home. No, but Santa Cruz 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:20.720 was like Carnival in real seven actually on Bolivia, and 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:26.559 Santa Cruz was the expansion project from the Colombians because 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:30.120 they needed more for you, you know that is you 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:35.520 being meat being America. They needed more cocaine to feed 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.560 our insatiable appetite, more than they could produce in Columbia, right, right, 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.200 So first they moved into Peru, and then that wasn't enough. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:49.360 Then they moved over and to to Bolivia. People are 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:53.760 coming from Columbia by plane, small planes, bringing even their 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:58.520 bands with bringing the band. Yeah, yes, you heard that right. 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:01.240 If you're a Colombian drug hiller on the Bolivian range, 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:09.400 how do you party without your local tunes. There was 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:13.520 a small town, Santa Ananda, Yukuma, which was then the 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.480 hot spot. And did you ever have to worry about 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.000 crossing those guys? So sometimes you sit next to one 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:21.920 and he would not he would invite you. Oh you're American, 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:23.560 you know where you come from. He wants to know 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.360 where we are if you're not from d A right right, 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:29.360 And then he he puts a bottle of whiskey into you. 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:32.280 And then you start singing, you know, and and then 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.199 he he says, oh, this this guy is harmless. So 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:38.880 as Volker continued his work, he found himself caught between 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.640 his new friends, the farmers and the d e a. 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:44.680 Santa ana was known as a ranching town, but it 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:48.439 was also the heart of Olivia's cocaine network, because, as 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.480 it turned out, the ranchers and the traffickers could be 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:54.120 one and the same. Because when you have a farm, 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:56.439 when you have a farm here, you don't have a plane, 0:08:56.320 --> 0:09:04.280 yeah normally and now to over watch anty hectares and 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:08.680 and you have to travel no roads. The natural thing 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.480 is to buy yourself as cessna. Then the pilot can 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:15.680 transport some some packages. You know what means, you know, 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:19.400 makes some side business, and of course that side business 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.400 turned out to be a lot more lucrative than cattle. 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.239 Soon Bolivia's ranchers were saddle deep in the drug business, 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:29.439 and everyone knew it. On the night of June, the 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.960 d e A took action. Dozens of helicopters carrying hundreds 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:35.560 of anti drug agents from Bolivia and the United States 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:39.600 swooped down on Santana. According to the d e A, 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.880 agents destroyed fifteen cocaine labs hidden in the little town 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.160 and confiscated dozens of planes along with hundreds of kilos 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:49.320 of coke. But they met stiff resistance from the townspeople, 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:53.240 who stormed the airport and surrounded the helicopters, chanting kill 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:57.559 the Yankees, leaving no uncertainty as to where their loyalties lay. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:00.800 Vulgar tried hard to persuade farmers to switch crops, but 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:05.920 eventually he burned out bananas, pineapple, hearts of palm. None 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:11.720 of the alternative crops could ever compete with cocamine. He 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:15.200 felt useless, so he went back to his original obsession, 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.680 studying the local plants, and before long he was searching 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:21.680 the rainforest for the next big thing, a plant with 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.560 global appeal, Like a vegetal talent scout. He needed a 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:30.320 buzzy new client, and he found one. But it wasn't cocao, 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:33.720 not yet. It was brazil nuts, one of the great 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:37.400 treats of the Amazon. The territory of Bolivia was always 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:41.760 the main source of the main spot of the brazil nuts. 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:45.960 Always because Brazil chopped theres down or even before no, 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:49.960 it's yeah and um. The nuts were always sold through 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:52.920 Brazil and this is why they called brazil nuts. But 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:56.880 they always came from Bolivia. Bolivia nuts really yeah. Brazil 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:59.839 Nut trees are these giants of the rainforest, towering over 0:10:59.880 --> 0:11:02.520 the rest of the canopy. They have these little coconuts 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:04.840 the size of bocci balls clinging to their trunks, and 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.720 each one is filled with delicious nuts. The trees are 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:13.480 kind of perfect for developing a rainforest economy, wild, sustainable, delicious, 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.600 but on their own they aren't exactly a big ticket item. 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.480 Bulker needed a sex air product, and he thought he 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:23.079 might have the perfect candidate, a lady from the Chimana tribe. 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:27.160 She showed me in the wild cacao. A few years earlier. 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.800 Bulker had been exploring the jungle for valuable new plants. 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:32.720 The natural people to ask where the Shimani, a group 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:35.679 of hunter gatherers who still lived off the wild, and 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:39.079 one old Shimani woman in particular, was known for her expertise. 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:43.760 That friend introduced me. Ah, he said, I I know 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:47.599 Chimana and they have some cacaw that might be of 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:52.400 your interest. Let's go, and not just any cacao, wild cacao, 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.840 something Vulka had never come across in his development work. 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:58.480 So they went to the forest and found the old woman. 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.640 She lived in intent made from sticks and palm thatch, 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.040 and she knew all the useful plants in the forest. 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:08.360 They still can see her, you know, she was really tiny. 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:10.839 They asked if she could show them the wild cocow 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:13.480 and she said sure, and she led them down a 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:16.840 footpath into the forest. So we were walking and I 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:22.200 was behind her sawing. I saw her hair like a nest, 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:27.160 and her hair was a little monkey. It was a 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.360 little pet monkey. And Falker could not stop looking at it. 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:34.720 There are tiny monkeys her right, and she got one, 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.200 and I was following her and looking at the monkey 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:40.959 all the time, and all of a sudden, she she 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:55.040 stopped and showed me a cow tree. And here it 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:57.760 is the argent moment of the man who's going to 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.360 make wild chocolate famous. In the Hollywood version of this tale, 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.079 the wise woman hands him the yellow pod and he 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:08.200 stares transfixed, like Indiana Jones gazing at the golden idol. 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.319 Here is the answer. He seeks, the thing that is 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.880 going to bring sustainable agriculture to the Amazon and transform 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:17.800 the world of chocolate. Does he break open the pod, 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:20.920 sniff the fragrant seeds, and hold it up like the 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:25.720 Holy Grail. I wasn't really interested in the tree much, really, 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:32.679 so oh, yeah, I see colcohol. Okay, Nope. All he 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.800 could think about was the monkey. And then my friend said, yeah, 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:38.920 do you think this is something? I said, I have 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:43.640 no idea, But he tucked the experience away in the 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.120 back of his mind, and when he was searching for 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.560 a sexy partner to inrobe his Brazilian nuts, he unpacked it. 0:13:50.400 --> 0:14:13.560 And we will too after the break, Welcome back to 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:20.520 wild Chocolate. So we we put this Oh what oh 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:26.360 you call this? What's what's greater? Greater? Yeah? In La 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:29.040 Paz and Santa Cruz and the other cities of Bolivia. 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.320 You see rustic chocolate for sale in the markets, grainy 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:35.440 brown patties shaped my hand, just like he'saly in Mexico. 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.000 It's an old tradition in Bolivia, and they used stone 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.640 on stone blinders. Yeah, so that's how it's still done here. 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:50.160 This is the same, maybe fifty years ago. Amazing. But 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.440 if you bite into one of these patties by itself, 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.440 you're in for a bad time. Some of it tastes burnt, 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.600 some tastes like blue cheese, and it all crumbles like dirt. 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.200 For the locals, that doesn't really matter because it all 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.600 gets drunk. Is hot chocolate with enough sugar to cover 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:09.720 up any off flavors. For Vulcan, though, this chocolate wouldn't 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:11.800 cut it. There was no way he could cut his 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.480 precious brazil nuts and this stuff and pass it off 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:18.440 as a gourmet item. He needed better chocolate, but he 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:22.360 couldn't find any. He considered giving up on the whole idea, 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.000 but then he found a tiny, run down chocolate shop 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.560 in a back alley of Lapase. The proprietor was an 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:31.800 eighty five year old Jewish man who could escape the 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.800 Warsaw Ghetto during World War two. And he he was 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:39.120 like a very traditional chocolate lover and had a small 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:47.800 um choco factory. Jewish artisans have been at the heart 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.200 of Europ's chocolate making tradition since the days of the 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:53.080 Spanish court, and this old guy knew the traditional well. 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.600 When Vulgar tasted his chocolate, he could not believe his 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:02.680 daste buds. It was not terrible, but why Vulker put 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:05.560 the questions to him, and it turned out the guy 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.000 was doing what European chocolate makers have always done when 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:10.960 stuck with funky beans. They beat the warm coco mass 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.960 for hour after hour in a machine to blow off 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:17.720 as much of the off flavors as possible. It wasn't perfect, 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:19.840 but it was enough for Vulca to get his first 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.480 real sense of the beans behind the funk, and he 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.520 liked what he sensed. Behind the char and the cheese, 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:31.960 there was something beautiful at heart. Vulcan is an engineer. 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:34.640 When he sees a system, he thinks he's running poorly, 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.360 that could be so much better with just a few tweaks. 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:42.160 He can't resist. So now he couldn't help wonder if 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:44.400 the funk was built into the beans, or if there 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:46.400 was a way to get the beauty without the beast, 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:49.440 And there was only one way to answer that. He 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.720 had to go to the source, and that meant a 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:55.240 scruffy town called Trinidad, where everything the jungle produced, from 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:59.240 cocaw to cocaine could be found for sale. Tread is 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:04.359 Uh is the center of trade, and then people running 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:08.320 up and down the river with and and doing batta 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.240 batta business. Traders would spend weeks in the jungle and 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:15.119 then paddle into Trinidad to so other goods like the 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.600 rice and and everything you need because there's no there's 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:22.120 no money system. No, it was easier. It was easier 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:26.120 than you know. Give me, would give me bananas, give 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:30.240 me cocoa and and or whatever you have, and what 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:36.720 the market accepts then turn into money. Cacao is money basically. 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:41.160 So Volka flew to Trinidad. He started hanging out, getting 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.119 another locals asking questions, but how do you how do 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:48.400 you even do that? No, you just ask around. I 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:52.480 was talking to more elderly people because they were telling 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.800 me better the story. So I was sitting with them 0:17:55.840 --> 0:18:00.960 having tea and chats. Yeah, and then a little by 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.280 little I got the picture. Most of the cacao was 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.439 coming from a town called Ballets. Barrets was truly at 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.880 the end of the earth, days from Trinidad by river, 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.360 but of course, like every other town in the Cocaine 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:16.560 So lowlands, it had an airstrip. So Volka hired a 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.280 plane and headed for it, never guessing how much his 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:28.000 life was about to change. There was no route, no electricity, nothing, no, no, 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:31.520 not even for nothing. We were talking on on on 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:36.920 shortwave radio. As he got to do the people in Bowrets, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:41.560 the picture got even clearer. And that picture, well, he 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:44.800 almost had to pinch himself. The cocat was coming from 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:48.960 islands of high grounds scattered across the wetlands, natural terraces 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.400 that didn't get drowned during the four months rainy seasons. 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:56.520 The locals called these forest islands Chocolatales. It was always 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:02.560 harvested and used for local chocolate in Yeah, but on 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:05.639 a very very low price, and during the wet season 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.159 when the cacao was ripe, families would travel to the 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.960 chocolate tales by canoe. The journey alone could take days. 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:15.360 Then they camp in the forest for months, picking the pods, 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.520 opening them and drawing the beans on mats in the sun. 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.800 Then they'd sell the beans back in town, But the 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:25.479 tradition was dying in Bolivious cities. People were switching over 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:28.880 to powdered cocoa mix, which was easier to use. Prices 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.800 for the wild cacao were too low to justify the work. 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:35.040 The kids were less interested, so the people were starting 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.359 to give up on the yearly trips. Many of the 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.200 chocolate tallies had been abandoned, a few had been cut 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:43.240 down for cattle grazing. It didn't take long for Volker 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.520 to understand why the quality was bad. Two essential steps 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:49.239 to making great beans are pretty darn hard to do 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.600 in the Amazon. Drawing beans in the rainforest without a 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:55.840 shelter of any kind is impossible. Many of the beans 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:58.560 were moldy, and even the ones that weren't moldy had 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:02.440 very little chocolate flavor. Fresh cacao beans are naturally bitter 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.040 and a stringer. They have to be heaped together with 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.640 their sugary pulp for days and fermented to transform those 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:13.960 nasty flavors into chocolate ones. Unfortunately, most of the people 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:17.200 in the world harvest in cacao don't have the time, expertise, 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:20.080 or facilities to do it. Properly, and that was the 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:23.720 case in Bolivia, and that spoke to Vulcar's engineer Soul. 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.880 A little training and infrastructure, a micro dose of good 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:32.280 old German organization could make all the difference. All he 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.840 needed was to see just how much cacao was out 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:37.639 there and if it was at all feasible to improve 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.879 the fermenting and drying. But getting around the roadless jungle 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:46.040 was brutal. There were certain islands I wanted to go to, 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:48.920 so I had to find a horse and a guide. 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:52.399 Set on the horse. After two hours, I couldn't I 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:58.920 couldn't feel my legs anymore. And and after six hours 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:01.760 I couldn't feel anything anymore. You know, I was like 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:05.639 I was in full pain. Days on the range in 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:10.200 the sun, battling heat and bugs the horses they attract 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:16.000 also all kinds of flies that sting and suck your blood, 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:20.080 and so you're fighting with the horse together. You're no 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:24.399 not not to leave too much blood every day, you know, 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:28.320 when you're there, I were seeing all kinds of things 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:31.879 on the horizon from from the heat. What kind of 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:35.920 things do you say when you look at the horizon, 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:39.400 Then you see water? And then I saw all kinds 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:44.560 of animals, and there wasn't anything. But finally they made 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:46.639 it to the forest island and the shade of the 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:50.520 chocolate all we went forward with the machetta and in 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:53.959 the inner part it lifted up, and it was like 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:58.040 the trees were standing in a nice distance to each 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:03.080 other and in harmony somehow, at which point he was like, 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:06.560 fuck the brazil nuts. I want to make this cacao famous. 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:09.080 He wondered if he was staring at the greatest development 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:12.479 opportunity of his career. If the international market got excited 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:15.720 about wild cacao, the beans would command much more money, 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.480 the pickers could make a living, the tradition would survive, 0:22:18.800 --> 0:22:22.040 and the chocolate tales could be preserved. He couldn't quite 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:24.200 see how the numbers were going to work, but he 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:29.520 knew it was an hour never. As Volker continued to 0:22:29.520 --> 0:22:32.800 explore the region by foot, boat and horseback, he fell 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:37.800 under its spell. Vast wetlands with hundred mile views, lush 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:42.680 rain for us, more wildlife than he'd ever seen, McCaw's cappa, 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:48.000 bara's weaver birds, jaguars, and tons of cacao just waiting 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:51.560 to be properly fermented. And then came the moment that 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:54.399 whipped the trajectory of his life in a new and 0:22:54.520 --> 0:23:00.120 unexpected direction. Somebody said, hey, there's a place on say 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:07.479 are you interested? Actually, it hit a long term wish 0:23:08.040 --> 0:23:11.560 you not to by by peaceful land. Yeah, to have 0:23:11.720 --> 0:23:16.720 my own farm maybe and in and maybe have a 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:20.760 succure place when the world goes to hell. You know, 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:31.160 well it didn't go to hell, but eventually it will tranquility. 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:52.399 After the break, I want to taste of some of 0:23:52.400 --> 0:23:56.000 this god level chocolate we got you covered. Kaleidoscope has 0:23:56.040 --> 0:23:58.480 joined forces with Louise Abram and Statler's Chocolate to make 0:23:58.520 --> 0:24:00.920 a special box to go along with the very podcast. 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:03.199 Now you could sample of flavors from the banks of 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:06.240 the Amazon without having to fight off jaguars and Anagonda's. 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:11.040 Just visit www. Dot Stetler Dash Chocolate dot com to 0:24:11.160 --> 0:24:13.520 order your Wild Chocolate today. Check the link in the 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:25.320 show notes. You're listening to Wild Chocolate. I think that's it. 0:24:25.840 --> 0:24:31.879 That's yeah. We stopped because we can get lost. Bulker 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:34.760 and I are walking in tranquily Dot in the chocolate 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:38.280 hall he bought all those years ago. It's shady and 0:24:38.320 --> 0:24:42.360 warm and still the ground is smooth with waxy leaves. 0:24:42.840 --> 0:24:45.040 The trunks of the co cow trees are spaced evenly apart, 0:24:45.400 --> 0:24:53.520 like the columns of some temple. There's one, two, three, four, 0:24:54.560 --> 0:25:01.399 five or whatever. Yeah, amazing, Yeah, and spacing. It looks 0:25:01.440 --> 0:25:05.720 like that somebody you know measured the spacing. You could 0:25:05.720 --> 0:25:09.800 actually think about, Hey, somebody planted these trees. You know 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:15.600 they are in a room. No, it's just just a 0:25:15.840 --> 0:25:22.040 natural pattern. So not planted, but maybe not entirely natural, 0:25:22.560 --> 0:25:25.400 depending on how you define natural. Bulker has a theory. 0:25:25.680 --> 0:25:29.679 I say there was a hunter and he had a 0:25:29.680 --> 0:25:34.800 coco pot, and he was sucking on the beans, and 0:25:34.960 --> 0:25:38.240 every ten steps he spit out the beans and sucks 0:25:38.240 --> 0:25:42.600 a dam. And ten steps later and he sucked and 0:25:42.680 --> 0:25:45.800 he spit out the dam. This is what you always 0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:48.080 do when you walk through a chocolate holl You absolut 0:25:48.119 --> 0:25:50.919 mindedly grab a pod, split it open, and scoop a 0:25:50.920 --> 0:25:57.480 goopy handful of white palpon's ease into your mouth. Yeah, 0:25:57.800 --> 0:26:00.320 as you walk, you suck the juice off the sea eats. 0:26:00.840 --> 0:26:04.000 The flavor is sweet and tart, deliciously refreshing in the 0:26:04.000 --> 0:26:06.560 heat of the jungle. Then you spit out the seeds 0:26:06.680 --> 0:26:08.960 and grab another pod, and your walk gets a little 0:26:08.960 --> 0:26:12.720 bit nicer. People have been making that beautiful sound for 0:26:13.000 --> 0:26:16.439 ten thousand years, and wherever you hear it, a baby 0:26:16.480 --> 0:26:25.600 cocou try is born. No bulker paid a visit to 0:26:25.640 --> 0:26:29.960 the chocolates hall that was for sale. It was huge, magical. 0:26:30.760 --> 0:26:34.240 He followed footpaths through the woods where generations of people 0:26:34.240 --> 0:26:38.280 had picked cocao. He opened a pod and tasted the juice. 0:26:39.280 --> 0:26:42.440 Monkeys chattered at him from the trees. The ground was 0:26:42.520 --> 0:26:46.040 nice and high, unlikely to flood. He knew if he 0:26:46.080 --> 0:26:49.439 didn't buy it, the next buyer would probably clear the forest. 0:26:50.160 --> 0:26:54.359 And something tugged at him. So he came up with 0:26:54.359 --> 0:26:57.960 ten thousand dollars and bought it on the spot. And 0:26:58.000 --> 0:27:00.239 then it was time to test his theory of these 0:27:00.280 --> 0:27:04.040 beans really make great chocolate. He picks some pods for 0:27:04.119 --> 0:27:06.080