The McKinney Family Journey in the Ulpan Valley: Kid's perspective-- issue 3

written by Little Man:

You guys know bananas are yellow, right? Well here, bananas are yellow too, but they are also pink!!!! That's right, I said pink bananas!!!

And you guys have had pizza! I'm sure you have. Well, guess what topping they put on their pizza.... PEAS & CARROTS!!

Did you know that when coffee beans are ripe, they are red? And you have to squeeze the bean to get the actual coffee bean out. The actual coffee bean is green... it turns black when it gets roasted.

Did you know the Spaniards (people from Spain) brought an instrument to the Mayan people that is like a flute, but it sounds just like a saxophone? I heard someone play one today.

Did you know that chocolate is actually made out of cacau (pronounced Ka-Cow) beans? I got to make chocolate out of the beans. It took a long time. Here's a little of the instructions about how you make the chocolate, like the chocolate bar we eat. First, you have to roast the beans and remove the cascara (peel or shell). Then you have to grind up the beans and make a paste. Next you add some milk and heat it up. Then you pour it into a mold and add whatever you want-- like raisins, nuts, coconut, sea salt (my mom likes that). Then you stick it in the refridgerator, come back in 1 1/2 hours and they are ready to eat.

Did you know you can actually drink chocolate? It's not like our hot chocolate. It has spices, honey and the ancient Mayans even would cut themselves and put a little bit of their blood in the drink to say thank you to the Mayan god for telling people the secret of that cacau tree. We made it, but we didn't cut ourselves, we just put in a red spice to "fool the gods". My dad really liked that drink. They also used the cascara to make a hot tea drink. My mom and dad both liked that drink.

Here's a picture of us at the Chocolate Museum in front of a cacau tree. It's not real, just in the museum. The yellow and red things are ripe cacau pods ready to be picked and start the process of making chocolate! They grow right from the trunk of the tree. That's pretty crazy! Mom is going to put in a few other pictures.