This… was today’s afternoon snack. Grub worms found in the empty space that exists in the Hearts of Palm plant after its center has been harvested.

We did cook them first though, so they tasted much like bacon. The heads were especially crunchy!

OK, I think that’s enough gross stuff for the day, though we did do a fair bit of eating and cooking in the afternoon, including making some delicious chocolate cooked from fresh cacao beans (pictured below). It was definitely a lot more bitter than traditional chocolate in the States (which is normally 15-20% cacao if it’s milk chocolate), but with a pinch of sugar, the rich, warm taste definitely made me a fan.

The morning was spent slightly different, though. We went looking for a prehistoric bird that has survived in the rainforest in very small numbers. It has the nick-name the “stinky turkey” and “flying cow” for its emission of methane gas (much like a cow) which has a very bad odor.