Like sherry, coca has a terroir – bitter and brittle in the south, sweet and chewable in the Yungas. Local production is booming with the backing of indigenous president (and former coca union boss) Evo Morales. If you’re wondering, it tastes like green tea, and no, no buzz.
The problem with coca, American narco-agencies aside, is that plantations are eating ever deeper into the Yungas cloud forest.
Farmers of traditional annual fruits – avocados, grapefruit, mandarins, lemons, limes – are becoming cocaleros instead. Coca yields four harvests a year and a strong union provides health and education for farmers’ families. In their sandals who wouldn’t do the same?
Like much in Bolivia, things are not straightforward. The dainty birdboxes I’m shown turn out to be hives for miniature bees. They produce a clear, light honey that costs $100 (£81) a kilo and cures cataracts in a fortnight. Near Coroico, a soulful hilltown above a jungly river, a worker in boutique plantation Munaipata explains coffee production. I’ll never begrudge the expense of a cup again.
Source link : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/south-america/bolivia/articles/glamping-arrived-in-bolivia-mountains-wildlife-luxury/
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Publish date : 2019-10-11 03:00:00
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