December 7, 2022 • 36 mins
As Volker continues his quest for the perfect bean, police stage a stake out on his property to snare local cacao thieves. Want some of this god-level chocolate? Kaleidoscope has joined forces with Luisa Abram and Stettler Chocolate to make a special box to go along with this very podcast. Just visit: www.stettler-chocolate.com to order your wild chocolate today. Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, it's Monday morning, the day of the Big Oaker,
(00:15):
a police sting operation on the trunky dodcalfeeves. So I'm
gonna walk out to stretch of roadside where the bikes
stand to park, and we'll see what's happening, if there
are any cacalfee is operating today, and if the police
(00:36):
are doing anything more soon. So funny story, it's and
I'm in Bolivia at try and Kila Dad Volker Lehman's
Wild Cows Day in the Jungle, Good morning. I have
(01:01):
not slept that deeply in years, I think, did you?
It's crazy dreams, crazy dreams, crazy dreams. Yes, Vulcar's back.
He burned out on cocao and left the country bankrupt
and bitter, but he couldn't stand to stay away any longer.
(01:26):
The game had changed and for the better. The new
wave of craft chocolate makers was willing to pay more
than ever before for really great beans. The bean too
bar movement. It's more than chocolate making, it's really exploring
new horizons. So he came back to Bolivia with a
new plan. Restore Try and Kilodad, transform it into a
(01:48):
state of the art demonstration center for wild cacao and
concentrate on quality instead of volume. That sounded great to me,
But there's just one catch. Actually there's a lot of
cats is, but this is the most present. The situation
started developing a few days ago. Each day, people who
live near try and kill a DoD ride their motorbikes
(02:10):
into the coca dres and spend the day picking and
opening pots. I try my hand at the harvest to
in the afternoon, the pickers ride out and drop off
the beans. Volker weighs the beans on an ancient scale
and hands them cash. Then he and his team sort
through the slurpy beans, kicking out it's gunk, and begin
the long process of fermenting and drying. Have you done
(02:33):
for pod? No perquilo herquila? Yeah? Beans? No, but you
have to present me a bag with the beans, and
then I can tell you how we weigh them and
how much do I get pequila? Um, the quilo will
be almost one dollar? All right? I think I earned
(02:54):
about a dollar. To oh, I got a dollar. I
timed my visit to coincide with peak Hartist. But after
several days of picking, Bulker isn't liking what he's seeing.
It is scratch will be cloned down. It's not so
easy animal. He's getting about two kilos of beans per day,
and he'd like to be getting twice that. On a
(03:16):
good year, Tranquila Dad can produce about five tons of cacao,
and this year is looking super light, even though conditions
have been good. So each day as the light harvest
comes in, Bulker gets increasingly quiet, and after a particularly
light day, he says, let's go for a ride. So
we hop in his antique truck, Dodge power Wagon, classic
(03:41):
and indestructible. Back before this part of Olivia had rhods,
this was how Vulker got his cock out to market,
tooling over the grasslands during the dry season in his
power wagon, sacks of cocao in back. Now we take
it down the red dirt road a couple of miles
to the other side of tran kilodat far from the
(04:02):
entrance game. I wasn't sure why Bulker brought me on
this field trip, but now I understand. Motorbikes are stashed
in the weeds all along the barbed wire fence that
marks the property line. The fence is bent open in
multiple spots, and from each a well established trail heads
into the forest intruders. But are these guys also getting
(04:24):
her kickclfeves they're sneaking into tryan kilodat each day, picking
Vulker's cow and carning it off to a competitor. Vulgar says,
it's happened before and he tamped it down, but the
problem has flared up again. So basically, if you if
you retaliated and along too or three fours. Yeah, if
(04:45):
I retendiate, they suddenly intenpiating and they are in majority
five six. He hops out of the truck and starts
now think photos of the bikes, So I hop out
to I just want to keep uh these show. Yeah.
(05:07):
We briefly float the idea of waiting for the thieves
to emerge with the woods red handed, and we quickly rejected.
I cannot come front five young young, young guys getting
angry at hell because I I go through the system,
I go through the police and ask him please do
something till Stephen monca what you're gonna do? And if
(05:31):
you think that is going to be straightforward, well then
you haven't been paying attention from Kaleidoscope and i Heeart podcasts.
This is obsessions wild chocolate. I'm Roman Jacobinson, Chapter seven,
The Art of the Deal. Wow. I had like Bedlock
(06:20):
for at least twelve years. You don't know. You know,
there's a there's a blues. You know. If they weren't Bedlock,
I wouldn't have luck at all. I don't know. It's
(06:41):
morning in Tranquila. Dad and Vulker and I are supposed
to be out in the coal forest, but once again
it's boring, So we're hanging in his screenhouse while he
tells me why he came back to take one last
shot at his masterpiece and maybe even save his favorite place.
I always kept my self contilda. I always kept it
(07:03):
out of you know. I never mingled it too much
into to all of this why right, because it was
mine and I wanted to protect it. When the bankruptcy
lawyers were circling like vultures, Try and Kilo DoD was
the one thing we managed to keep out of their talents.
Were you worried what it was gonna look like when
(07:23):
you got back? When I came back, I was crying.
I was like, oh, it's I have to start all
over again. When I came here was a paper and
and garbage all over the place, and I always terrible.
I was close to sixty a long time for me.
(07:43):
Five years is a long time being sixty, and not
because I thought, a yeah, maybe in two years I
will retire. Um. Then I realized that I have to
start again. And did that seem daunting? Oh? Yeah, that
was um And and then it creeped into my mind.
(08:05):
And if that fails again, then what what? And did
I achieved? Now the emotional turmoil and financial misery, there
had been some bright spots. He'd put a brand new
idea into the world. The chocolate had been recognized as
(08:26):
some of the best of all time, and the chocolates Halle's.
The wild cow forests were now permanently protected. Bulker actually
helped write the regulations most important of all. By proving
the greatness of wild chocolate, he'd helped to spur a
global treasure hunt. The US was now full of bean
to bar chocolate makers eager to get their hands on
great beans with unique flavors and prices and sword so
(08:50):
he had a new plan. Instead of chasing forty five
tons of beans across half of Bolivia each year like
he used to do, he could just make a few
times of the most deliciou just pcao imaginable, and that
would be enough to keep trying to kill it out
a flood. Last year, I um, I got some money
out of savings and I put put it all on
(09:14):
Zero's so this better work. He went for it, spending
every sn he had to build a new solar powered
fermentation center and to use it to produce the world's
most perfectly fermented beans. So he spun the wheel and
prayed Zero would come home. So there was my last coin.
(09:36):
So I put my last con on it and you
and it hit. Zero explained that yeah, last year I
could make ten tons and has sold it for the
best price ever. That set him up for great The
fermentation center was paid for. If he could just make
another ten tons this year and sell them at top dollar,
(09:59):
he be golden. Now, normally Volker could do ten tons
of cocaw and his sleep, And that's kind of what
I thought. I was showing up for a victory lab
of sorts. To finish my foura into wild chocolate. We
picked a cow, cracks and beers, maybe fry another crocodile. Instead,
things have gone haywire on multiple fronts, which is why
(10:22):
instead of a victory lab. I'm going to spend a
lot of this episode sucking dust on Bolivia's horrendous back roads,
chasing new supplies for starters. There's the cocao that's disappearing
out the back of Try and Kilodat. Volker was counting
on Try and Kilodat for four or five tons, and
now it looks like he'll be likely to make two.
Normally that wouldn't be a problem either. Wolker used to
(10:44):
source fifteen tons a year from the other chocolate Talis
and Bowres. But what I suggest that we just go
hit up his old contacts, He says, Actually it's complicated.
The town council and Bowres just passed a new law
banning anyone ouse side of the town from buying fresh
bow raised beams. And Try and Kiloda is just across
(11:05):
the river in the town of Wakaraje, so he's been
cut off. At first, that didn't make any sense to me.
Why would they cut off their number one buyer? And
when I prod Vulcar, he kind of hems and haws.
But then as we're driving to Wakarraje, he confesses I
(11:26):
am actually the the person who triggered it because I
was in this chat group in What's Up. It was
a technical group of Bolivian cocau professionals, and if you've
ever been a part of a chat group, you know
there's always somebody who asked to stare at the pot.
And in this group you can probably guess who that
(11:48):
somebody was. I posted photos all almost green pots, and
I I wrote, um, you know, this is how it
is when there is no control. Basically, he had new
competitors that were buying cacao that wasn't even ripe yet,
(12:09):
and so the KO was getting harvested too early, which
was screwing things up for people who were waiting to
buy until it was ripe. People like him now. And
I made a comment, you know, fifteen years of you
now working with mngos and everything and nothing, you know,
no control nor no organization about it. They got this,
(12:32):
he bet they did. He just publicly flamed the proudest
cacao town o Bolivia for having terrible quality control and
in apt management. Sometimes Hebrew spites back. And then a
lady said in the in the chet group, I will
make sure that this guy will not get any means
(12:55):
out of bowders. Yeah, So in a matter of days
his two main sources of cacao have evaporated and the
season is moving along fast. So instead of peacefully picking
to cow pods in the forest, I find myself riding
shotgun in Vulgar's land cruiser as we rack up the
(13:16):
miles tunneling back into a cow underground and his own paths.
I mean. The first buyer we visit in Wakaraya used
to sell the vulcar years ago, but he says he
doesn't think there's a bunch of cacao out there this year.
The season is a bit of a dud. Yikes. But
(13:39):
our next stop, a guy named Ideal who lives out
in the sticks, says, no, there's a coo out there.
You just have to know the right people, and Vulkan
and I have a strong sense that Ideal is the
right people. And surprise, surprise, After a lot of chip chat,
Adil says, well, maybe I can set some for you.
(14:01):
It turns out that way way up the Rio Blanco,
which is the river that runs past rank kilodad Adeal
knows of a village, Little Carmen. He has relatives there,
and he said we can arrange what bean transport where
he would do basically the work running up and down
(14:24):
the river and bringing the beans with his relatives. You
don't have an idea of what the quantity could be
up there, but all probably all you need for your purposes.
I have no idea. This is why we want the
golf and see it ourselves. After striking out at a
few more spots, we passed another kacao agent named Maria,
(14:46):
and Volker says it needs beans, and Maria says, yeah,
you should talk to my cousin Chino up in a
town called bay Vista, Babies the borders this huge forest reserve,
and Chino is a park ranger there, and he knows
some guys who've been camping out in the forest and
picking cacap. Back in his heyday, Polker actually had a
buying station in Baya Vista, so he knows there's a
lot of cocao in those forests. So we get Gino's number,
(15:09):
and so after a couple of days of mostly dead ends,
Bulker has rustled up two leads, Gino the park ranger
in Bay of Vista, and Elk Carman the mystery village
in the middle of nowhere. Frankly, both sound pretty iffy
to me, but the future of Tranquilo dot is on
the line, so we're going to both. The first, we
(15:30):
need to go to the law and nip this cacao
fevery in the bud. That's after the break. I want
(15:51):
to taste of some real wild chocolate, delicious, nutritious and
free of preservatives or moral conundrums. We got you covered.
Call i escope is joined forces with Louisa Abram and
Statler Chocolate to make a special box to go along
with this very podcast. Now you too can sample flavors
from the banks of the Amazon without having to fight
off jaguars at the Antakontas. Just visit www dot Stetler
(16:15):
dash Chocolate dot com to order your wild chocolate today
link in the show notes. And how do you want
to play this? You want? Who do you want to say?
I am to the Philice, No, I'm triving you are
(16:37):
I'm here doing a story about kau and Bolivia Inbowras.
All right? That sounds good. Honestly, it sounds a little
lame to me. And I can already see my Pulitzer
prize slipping away. But there's no time to bargain. We've
already pulled up to the Wakarige police station, which isn't
exactly bustling with activity. The doors closed and the only
thing going on in Wakaraye is a guy on the
(16:59):
sidewalk pounding coca leaves on a stump with a mallet
beepsh it's easier to have to chew and holdenda. Police
cars off at the other end of the street, so
they might be over there. Do I see if they're
(17:22):
in the car afterre so we cruise up to the
other side of the plaza. The police car is empty,
but then we spot the policeman around the corner drinking
coffee with a friend just hanging you. The conversation looks cordial,
and when Volker gets back in the car, he seems pleased.
(17:47):
Any word, Yeah, he's the inn and he told mean too,
he's coming over and we should just wait, which we
do and wait and wait some more to kill the time.
I asked Vulcan when the trouble started at Tranquila Dot,
and he says, right from the beginning, because the previous
(18:07):
owner was never around, so everyone got used to thinking
of the land as a common larder and they were
happy you know, to a hunt and get the cocou
get the wood they wanted. Yeah, so you think you
think there was some resentment in the community. Um when
you put up the fence, yeah, Um, you know, everything
was easy, you know, and all of a sudden somebody said, no, no,
(18:28):
it stops. Um, the guy is not coming. I'm I'm
really I'm really getting no tired it it bothers made
the police in come. It really what about? Oh no, no, no,
(18:54):
I think I see right as is added. But I'm
gonna remain open to all possibilities. Well, we agreed tomorrow afternoon.
He's busy, he's busy chatting with me, So we have
to wait till tomorrow for an official audience with the cops.
(19:16):
But in the meantime, we're off to Bay A Vista
to track down this gino dude, Maria's gas. It's four
bone rattling hours and Vulgar's land cruiser and the only
breaks are a couple of tiny settlements we passed through.
At each we turn off the quote unquote main road
and cruise the back streets, peering into yards looking for
hanging bags of beans or tarp spread out with drawing
(19:37):
ones to be it smacks of desperation. The vulgar says,
it's all about laying the groundwork. I buy a call
from this area every year a little bit. All of
a sudden, somebody pops up and says, I got some call.
What you'd like to buy for me? It's pretty much
a drive through. But if you see sometimes you'll seek
a cow. Then I would stop and ask, and the
(20:00):
um make a chat and asking questions, and sometimes it's
it's like, oh, yeah, I have a cousin and he
has already need some bags. When don't I see the
color and the smell right away? It tells me if
it's interesting enough to dig keeper and make a cutting
(20:22):
test and chew on it or you know, and then yeah,
little by little I might be interested. Don't buy or
not or straight poker doesn't see anything he likes. And
in a couple of brutally bumpy hours we hit Bay
of Vista and wow. True to its name, Bay of
(20:42):
Vista is up on a ridge overlooking the confluence of
two rivers, and it's stunning. A huge sweep of velopty water,
double decker riverboats, kids playing in the shallows, a graceful church.
There's a fiesta under way and everyone is partying. That's
really beautiful, like a piece of arya. Po Bulker peels
off to work as connections while I explore the river
(21:04):
and swim with the kids. We meet up at sunset
at a bandstand looking over the river. There's an actual
band playing a Hallmark sky and I'm ready to move
to Da Vista. Did you manage to hook up with
your contact? Yeah, tomorrow, I'm we're going to have a
look at his place at ten about ah. His name
(21:26):
is Chino, that's his nickname, of course, hopey. He wants
the opportunity, opportunity and see what comes. So I take
the risk giving him some money and see first why
what he's doing with all giving a shop? Yeah, focus shrugs,
(21:49):
looks at the sunset and cracks of here. He doesn't
look enthusiastic. Um, yeah, I mean if there's a lot
of a cow here and no one's doing it, this
could be people, potentially a lot, like a significant amount
coming out of here. I know the potential here because
I worked here over ten years and I know what
(22:18):
what is possible. But that isn't that has to be
dicked out again, basically coming starting again. You know, like
like years before they have. Vista had been really good
for Bulker for a few years, but then it collapsed
and the culprit was the same old nemesis he's been
(22:38):
battling in one way or another for thirty years. It's
a hot spot for cocaine smoke. This is an acocle
spoilt You know why why here? Yeah, because it's from here.
It's pretty close to the Brazilian border, so they fly
in the stuff and then they ship it down the
river to Brazil. I know that many people here got
(23:02):
involved and got money. And that's easy money for a
young kids just working very a couple of weeks with
these guys getting maybe a thousand dollars. Yeah, that's a
lot of money, Easier than brazil nuts. Definitely. I'm getting
(23:23):
deep ye at last, I'm starting to understand the weird
dance between coca and coca. The drug trade is like
an Amazonian river, always shifting, jumping its banks and finding
a new path. And when that path flows through a
town like Baya Vista, everything else suffers. No one wants
(23:46):
to harvest coca or rubber for small change. But then
after a few years, the smuggling ships somewhere else, and
the cacao is still there. Bulker has to hope that
the cocaine trade in Baya Vista has dried up long
enough to give cacao new life. And when we ring
Gina the next morning, it sounds good. We're on. Yeah,
(24:08):
he's coming, he's coming, he's coming coming here and with
his multi party. So then and then we followed him
to see his plays, his plays. All right, it sounds
like it's all coming together. Maybe no, yeah, you're never worried. No, no,
(24:33):
not too much. Already, I've done it so many times.
It's like rehearsal the same plane and no Shakespeare Macbeth, no,
five times on. Yeah, but this performance turns out to
be Les Macbeth and more waiting for good. Oh, but
(24:53):
the guy doesn't show up. So but I'm leaving. We're
just leaving, that's it. So but in the nicktime, Gino calls,
(25:15):
so now he's coming, Now he's after. Finally Gino rolls
up on his bike. He's a young guy, blurry eyed
but eager, and he leads us through Bay of Vista
to his place near the river. Gina lives with his parents,
(25:37):
his grandparents, his siblings, his wife and his newborn who's
lying on the floor and gawking, and everyone we all
play with the baby while China and Vulgar get down
to brass tacks. Volcus got his fedora pulled down low
over his eyes and his arms crossed, and he's giving
off skeptical vibes as he quizzes Gino on his plants.
How does he for mean? Cacaw? Where is he gonna
(25:57):
do it? Gino shows Vulcar a paved garage base, and
Vulcan nods and approval. At least it's out of the weather.
Nino's father points across the street to an empty house
on a promontory over the river, and Vulkan nod some more. Afterward,
Bulker walks me over there, and once we're alone, his
skepticism melts a by this what this place? Ye? I'm
(26:20):
going I'm going to apply this, yeah, to be your
sales entry like warehouse? Are what? This will be? Six
thousand dollars? Right? And will you make it a house
or you'll make it? Now he's in his own and
(26:41):
he's justing a woman who's drying a cow on a
tart beside his new warehouse, and he forgets all about me.
He's cutting deals on the spot, and by the time
we leave, he's even whittled Chino's father down to five
thousand dollars for the house. This will be my new
Harvard Center then for this area. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's
always good to show you know that you were here.
(27:03):
This investment would be like ten tho dollars in total,
and and ten tho dollar for a very prominent house
at the Barranco with view to the river. It's a
no brainer. It is a no brainer. And by the
time we roll out of Bay of Vista, he's feeling
(27:24):
the old magic. Perhaps his karma has turned after twelve
years of bad luck. At least it certainly seems like
it when we swing past the Wakara police station on
our way back. So we agreed to catch catch the
guys in fla granted in the forest. How's that going
(27:47):
to happen? And yeah, he said he would need help. Yeah,
somebody else coming over and helping out. And then we
do an operation and we can good people. I love
it a steak out after the break, I'll admit I've
(28:33):
never been on a steak out before, and I'm kind
of excited. The plan is that the police will come
on Monday morning and meet us on the dirt road
where the thieves are hiding their motorbikes. Then as the
scoundrels come out of the woods with their bags, Pacao,
we nail them. They haven't advised me they can't do it. Actually,
he said that he will tell me that we will
(28:57):
let me know if so. If they don't do anything today,
then I would say them that's it. And then Vulcan's
stuns me by saying he's not even going to be there.
He says he has to head up to Baya Vista
the same morning to meet with Gino. He told me
the I want to see it, and I'm I'm going
(29:20):
to tell him, you know, this is this is what
we want and this is what we don't want. Yeah.
I do a little training with him throughout on the spot. Well, fine, whatever,
but I'm not missing the steak out, so I make
my way there on foot. I have no idea what
(29:42):
people will think of this unsupported gringo talking into his
tape recorder like Agent Cooper on Twin Peaks. But I
just hope they're not armed. I walked throughout and here
we got We've got bike number one, blue moped and
no filth signs of police. It's pretty quiet, Um, I
(30:03):
don't know, it's only what it's like ten thirty. Maybe
they're still working on their second cup of coffee while
they wait for the colonel to show up before they
launched the big sting. Anyway, I'm gonna get a photo
of the spike and keep going. See what we see.
It's really quiet out there. I'm trying to wrap my
head around this whole thing. Did the police ever intend
to come? Did Boker always know they wouldn't, or are
(30:26):
they just late. I'm just about to head home when oh,
we got some action. There's somebody just parked and sneaking
under the fence. It's a woman and she's got dogs
with her and she's carrying buckets. Got a photo. Oh
(30:49):
there's two people here. Fun cook out, cook out, Hi mucho,
And yeah, that's how it goes. The people are unfazed
(31:10):
by my presence and the police never show. I hang
out for about an hour and finally I give up
and trudge. Hum. Well, that was all very interesting, but
I don't know what to make of it. They definitely
didn't look freaked out that I was seeing them. They're
laughing in the woods, dogs are barking. It's definitely not
(31:32):
a secret operation. These bikes are right on the road.
They certainly don't seem to feel that they're in any
Jeffordy at all, and maybe they're not. Vulker comes back
(31:53):
from daya vista baby. She knows forest friends are delivering
more cacao than he toped. And when I show Vulgar
my photos the day, he just drugs it off. At first,
I can't figure out why, but I think I can
piece it together. For one thing, he's just received notice
that one of the chocolate makers in the States that
uses his beans has just received a big award for
(32:14):
the bar and they proudly splashed the word try and
kill it Dad across the front of their labels like
you would for a great wine estate. After twenty years
of struggle, Bolker's little patch of paradise is achieving landmarks
status at last. And I don't know if that was
directly responsible, but now he's got a new idea for
his endgame, his swan song in chocolate. It sounds romantic,
(32:38):
but maybe maybe some of some other people take it
over and make something similar. I asked what he means,
and he hesitates. It's clear he hasn't tried out these
ideas on anyone yet. But eventually he speaks, maybe in
the future, if it's more and more known, the maybe
(33:00):
uh Environmental trust um buys me out and put some
money to it to to bring other people in here
to continue. Yeah, that will be great, you know, because
it's not for me, not only for me, it's also
for all the families here to know who are now involved.
(33:21):
As soon as he says it, it makes total sense
to me try and kill it as a destination where
people come to learn the craft, to meet the bare people,
and to understand the tradition of making wild chocolate. A
kind of center to push the art of chocolate to
new heights. That would make explicit something he's been circling
around for years that you can't really be an owner
of these trees, just a caretaker. They were here long
(33:45):
before he'd arrived, and with any luck, they'd be here
long after he was gone. But there's another piece to
this puzzle, one I know nothing about at the time.
It's that old Amazonian promise of adventure, and helps explain
why Bulker wasn't going to fret over a couple of
tons of beans from Tranquilodat, remember El Carmen, the mystery
village way up the Rio Blanca. Shortly after I leave Bolivia,
(34:08):
the first test batch of beans comes down river to
Vulgar and with it information The pickers have been kipping
out for weeks way up river where no one ever goes,
and what they found was CaCO forests like none they'd
ever seen, beautiful pods, countless trees, all growing out of
(34:28):
raised forest islands, just like the ones that Tranquilodat, another
overgrown human made landscape stretching all the way to the
Paraguay border, an area unknown to anyone except for a
few drug smugglers. Focus says, right now he has no
time to take on such an expedition, but he could
be convinced, because I can tell he's curious, and so
(34:52):
am I. The whole new lost city of z a
brand new x on the Treasure Man, just dripping cacw
and waiting for someone crazy enough or obsessed and enough
to try to get there first. Annie Daker's Wild Chocolate
(35:21):
is a Kaleidoscope production with I Heart Podcasts, hosted and
reported by me Rohan Jacobson and produced by Shane McKeon
at Nice Marmatt Media. Edited by Kate Osbourne and mangesh
Out of Kudor. Sound design and mixing by Soundboard. Original
music composition by Spencer Stevenson, a k a Botany production
help from Baheni Shorty from My Heart. Our executive producers
(35:43):
are Katrina Norvell and Nicky Eator. Special thanks to Laura Mayor, Costas,
lnos Ozwalash and Aaron Kaffman, Will Pearson, codel Burn, Bob Pittman,
Daria Daniel and the team at Stetler who are helping
us make a very special chocolate of our own. That's right,
We're working with Louisa and others to protect the rainforest
and make delicious Amazonian chocolate. Visit www dot Stetler dash
(36:07):
Chocolate dot com to taste it for yourself. That's www
Dot Stetler dash Chocolate dot com. And if you want
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Okay, it's Monday morning, the day of the Big Oaker,
(00:15):
a police sting operation on the trunky dodcalfeeves. So I'm
gonna walk out to stretch of roadside where the bikes
stand to park, and we'll see what's happening, if there
are any cacalfee is operating today, and if the police
(00:36):
are doing anything more soon. So funny story, it's and
I'm in Bolivia at try and Kila Dad Volker Lehman's
Wild Cows Day in the Jungle, Good morning. I have
(01:01):
not slept that deeply in years, I think, did you?
It's crazy dreams, crazy dreams, crazy dreams. Yes, Vulcar's back.
He burned out on cocao and left the country bankrupt
and bitter, but he couldn't stand to stay away any longer.
(01:26):
The game had changed and for the better. The new
wave of craft chocolate makers was willing to pay more
than ever before for really great beans. The bean too
bar movement. It's more than chocolate making, it's really exploring
new horizons. So he came back to Bolivia with a
new plan. Restore Try and Kilodad, transform it into a
(01:48):
state of the art demonstration center for wild cacao and
concentrate on quality instead of volume. That sounded great to me,
But there's just one catch. Actually there's a lot of
cats is, but this is the most present. The situation
started developing a few days ago. Each day, people who
live near try and kill a DoD ride their motorbikes
(02:10):
into the coca dres and spend the day picking and
opening pots. I try my hand at the harvest to
in the afternoon, the pickers ride out and drop off
the beans. Volker weighs the beans on an ancient scale
and hands them cash. Then he and his team sort
through the slurpy beans, kicking out it's gunk, and begin
the long process of fermenting and drying. Have you done
(02:33):
for pod? No perquilo herquila? Yeah? Beans? No, but you
have to present me a bag with the beans, and
then I can tell you how we weigh them and
how much do I get pequila? Um, the quilo will
be almost one dollar? All right? I think I earned
(02:54):
about a dollar. To oh, I got a dollar. I
timed my visit to coincide with peak Hartist. But after
several days of picking, Bulker isn't liking what he's seeing.
It is scratch will be cloned down. It's not so
easy animal. He's getting about two kilos of beans per day,
and he'd like to be getting twice that. On a
(03:16):
good year, Tranquila Dad can produce about five tons of cacao,
and this year is looking super light, even though conditions
have been good. So each day as the light harvest
comes in, Bulker gets increasingly quiet, and after a particularly
light day, he says, let's go for a ride. So
we hop in his antique truck, Dodge power Wagon, classic
(03:41):
and indestructible. Back before this part of Olivia had rhods,
this was how Vulker got his cock out to market,
tooling over the grasslands during the dry season in his
power wagon, sacks of cocao in back. Now we take
it down the red dirt road a couple of miles
to the other side of tran kilodat far from the
(04:02):
entrance game. I wasn't sure why Bulker brought me on
this field trip, but now I understand. Motorbikes are stashed
in the weeds all along the barbed wire fence that
marks the property line. The fence is bent open in
multiple spots, and from each a well established trail heads
into the forest intruders. But are these guys also getting
(04:24):
her kickclfeves they're sneaking into tryan kilodat each day, picking
Vulker's cow and carning it off to a competitor. Vulgar says,
it's happened before and he tamped it down, but the
problem has flared up again. So basically, if you if
you retaliated and along too or three fours. Yeah, if
(04:45):
I retendiate, they suddenly intenpiating and they are in majority
five six. He hops out of the truck and starts
now think photos of the bikes, So I hop out
to I just want to keep uh these show. Yeah.
(05:07):
We briefly float the idea of waiting for the thieves
to emerge with the woods red handed, and we quickly rejected.
I cannot come front five young young, young guys getting
angry at hell because I I go through the system,
I go through the police and ask him please do
something till Stephen monca what you're gonna do? And if
(05:31):
you think that is going to be straightforward, well then
you haven't been paying attention from Kaleidoscope and i Heeart podcasts.
This is obsessions wild chocolate. I'm Roman Jacobinson, Chapter seven,
The Art of the Deal. Wow. I had like Bedlock
(06:20):
for at least twelve years. You don't know. You know,
there's a there's a blues. You know. If they weren't Bedlock,
I wouldn't have luck at all. I don't know. It's
(06:41):
morning in Tranquila. Dad and Vulker and I are supposed
to be out in the coal forest, but once again
it's boring, So we're hanging in his screenhouse while he
tells me why he came back to take one last
shot at his masterpiece and maybe even save his favorite place.
I always kept my self contilda. I always kept it
(07:03):
out of you know. I never mingled it too much
into to all of this why right, because it was
mine and I wanted to protect it. When the bankruptcy
lawyers were circling like vultures, Try and Kilo DoD was
the one thing we managed to keep out of their talents.
Were you worried what it was gonna look like when
(07:23):
you got back? When I came back, I was crying.
I was like, oh, it's I have to start all
over again. When I came here was a paper and
and garbage all over the place, and I always terrible.
I was close to sixty a long time for me.
(07:43):
Five years is a long time being sixty, and not
because I thought, a yeah, maybe in two years I
will retire. Um. Then I realized that I have to
start again. And did that seem daunting? Oh? Yeah, that
was um And and then it creeped into my mind.
(08:05):
And if that fails again, then what what? And did
I achieved? Now the emotional turmoil and financial misery, there
had been some bright spots. He'd put a brand new
idea into the world. The chocolate had been recognized as
(08:26):
some of the best of all time, and the chocolates Halle's.
The wild cow forests were now permanently protected. Bulker actually
helped write the regulations most important of all. By proving
the greatness of wild chocolate, he'd helped to spur a
global treasure hunt. The US was now full of bean
to bar chocolate makers eager to get their hands on
great beans with unique flavors and prices and sword so
(08:50):
he had a new plan. Instead of chasing forty five
tons of beans across half of Bolivia each year like
he used to do, he could just make a few
times of the most deliciou just pcao imaginable, and that
would be enough to keep trying to kill it out
a flood. Last year, I um, I got some money
out of savings and I put put it all on
(09:14):
Zero's so this better work. He went for it, spending
every sn he had to build a new solar powered
fermentation center and to use it to produce the world's
most perfectly fermented beans. So he spun the wheel and
prayed Zero would come home. So there was my last coin.
(09:36):
So I put my last con on it and you
and it hit. Zero explained that yeah, last year I
could make ten tons and has sold it for the
best price ever. That set him up for great The
fermentation center was paid for. If he could just make
another ten tons this year and sell them at top dollar,
(09:59):
he be golden. Now, normally Volker could do ten tons
of cocaw and his sleep, And that's kind of what
I thought. I was showing up for a victory lab
of sorts. To finish my foura into wild chocolate. We
picked a cow, cracks and beers, maybe fry another crocodile. Instead,
things have gone haywire on multiple fronts, which is why
(10:22):
instead of a victory lab. I'm going to spend a
lot of this episode sucking dust on Bolivia's horrendous back roads,
chasing new supplies for starters. There's the cocao that's disappearing
out the back of Try and Kilodat. Volker was counting
on Try and Kilodat for four or five tons, and
now it looks like he'll be likely to make two.
Normally that wouldn't be a problem either. Wolker used to
(10:44):
source fifteen tons a year from the other chocolate Talis
and Bowres. But what I suggest that we just go
hit up his old contacts, He says, Actually it's complicated.
The town council and Bowres just passed a new law
banning anyone ouse side of the town from buying fresh
bow raised beams. And Try and Kiloda is just across
(11:05):
the river in the town of Wakaraje, so he's been
cut off. At first, that didn't make any sense to me.
Why would they cut off their number one buyer? And
when I prod Vulcar, he kind of hems and haws.
But then as we're driving to Wakarraje, he confesses I
(11:26):
am actually the the person who triggered it because I
was in this chat group in What's Up. It was
a technical group of Bolivian cocau professionals, and if you've
ever been a part of a chat group, you know
there's always somebody who asked to stare at the pot.
And in this group you can probably guess who that
(11:48):
somebody was. I posted photos all almost green pots, and
I I wrote, um, you know, this is how it
is when there is no control. Basically, he had new
competitors that were buying cacao that wasn't even ripe yet,
(12:09):
and so the KO was getting harvested too early, which
was screwing things up for people who were waiting to
buy until it was ripe. People like him now. And
I made a comment, you know, fifteen years of you
now working with mngos and everything and nothing, you know,
no control nor no organization about it. They got this,
(12:32):
he bet they did. He just publicly flamed the proudest
cacao town o Bolivia for having terrible quality control and
in apt management. Sometimes Hebrew spites back. And then a
lady said in the in the chet group, I will
make sure that this guy will not get any means
(12:55):
out of bowders. Yeah, So in a matter of days
his two main sources of cacao have evaporated and the
season is moving along fast. So instead of peacefully picking
to cow pods in the forest, I find myself riding
shotgun in Vulgar's land cruiser as we rack up the
(13:16):
miles tunneling back into a cow underground and his own paths.
I mean. The first buyer we visit in Wakaraya used
to sell the vulcar years ago, but he says he
doesn't think there's a bunch of cacao out there this year.
The season is a bit of a dud. Yikes. But
(13:39):
our next stop, a guy named Ideal who lives out
in the sticks, says, no, there's a coo out there.
You just have to know the right people, and Vulkan
and I have a strong sense that Ideal is the
right people. And surprise, surprise, After a lot of chip chat,
Adil says, well, maybe I can set some for you.
(14:01):
It turns out that way way up the Rio Blanco,
which is the river that runs past rank kilodad Adeal
knows of a village, Little Carmen. He has relatives there,
and he said we can arrange what bean transport where
he would do basically the work running up and down
(14:24):
the river and bringing the beans with his relatives. You
don't have an idea of what the quantity could be
up there, but all probably all you need for your purposes.
I have no idea. This is why we want the
golf and see it ourselves. After striking out at a
few more spots, we passed another kacao agent named Maria,
(14:46):
and Volker says it needs beans, and Maria says, yeah,
you should talk to my cousin Chino up in a
town called bay Vista, Babies the borders this huge forest reserve,
and Chino is a park ranger there, and he knows
some guys who've been camping out in the forest and
picking cacap. Back in his heyday, Polker actually had a
buying station in Baya Vista, so he knows there's a
lot of cocao in those forests. So we get Gino's number,
(15:09):
and so after a couple of days of mostly dead ends,
Bulker has rustled up two leads, Gino the park ranger
in Bay of Vista, and Elk Carman the mystery village
in the middle of nowhere. Frankly, both sound pretty iffy
to me, but the future of Tranquilo dot is on
the line, so we're going to both. The first, we
(15:30):
need to go to the law and nip this cacao
fevery in the bud. That's after the break. I want
(15:51):
to taste of some real wild chocolate, delicious, nutritious and
free of preservatives or moral conundrums. We got you covered.
Call i escope is joined forces with Louisa Abram and
Statler Chocolate to make a special box to go along
with this very podcast. Now you too can sample flavors
from the banks of the Amazon without having to fight
off jaguars at the Antakontas. Just visit www dot Stetler
(16:15):
dash Chocolate dot com to order your wild chocolate today
link in the show notes. And how do you want
to play this? You want? Who do you want to say?
I am to the Philice, No, I'm triving you are
(16:37):
I'm here doing a story about kau and Bolivia Inbowras.
All right? That sounds good. Honestly, it sounds a little
lame to me. And I can already see my Pulitzer
prize slipping away. But there's no time to bargain. We've
already pulled up to the Wakarige police station, which isn't
exactly bustling with activity. The doors closed and the only
thing going on in Wakaraye is a guy on the
(16:59):
sidewalk pounding coca leaves on a stump with a mallet
beepsh it's easier to have to chew and holdenda. Police
cars off at the other end of the street, so
they might be over there. Do I see if they're
(17:22):
in the car afterre so we cruise up to the
other side of the plaza. The police car is empty,
but then we spot the policeman around the corner drinking
coffee with a friend just hanging you. The conversation looks cordial,
and when Volker gets back in the car, he seems pleased.
(17:47):
Any word, Yeah, he's the inn and he told mean too,
he's coming over and we should just wait, which we
do and wait and wait some more to kill the time.
I asked Vulcan when the trouble started at Tranquila Dot,
and he says, right from the beginning, because the previous
(18:07):
owner was never around, so everyone got used to thinking
of the land as a common larder and they were
happy you know, to a hunt and get the cocou
get the wood they wanted. Yeah, so you think you
think there was some resentment in the community. Um when
you put up the fence, yeah, Um, you know, everything
was easy, you know, and all of a sudden somebody said, no, no,
(18:28):
it stops. Um, the guy is not coming. I'm I'm
really I'm really getting no tired it it bothers made
the police in come. It really what about? Oh no, no, no,
(18:54):
I think I see right as is added. But I'm
gonna remain open to all possibilities. Well, we agreed tomorrow afternoon.
He's busy, he's busy chatting with me, So we have
to wait till tomorrow for an official audience with the cops.
(19:16):
But in the meantime, we're off to Bay A Vista
to track down this gino dude, Maria's gas. It's four
bone rattling hours and Vulgar's land cruiser and the only
breaks are a couple of tiny settlements we passed through.
At each we turn off the quote unquote main road
and cruise the back streets, peering into yards looking for
hanging bags of beans or tarp spread out with drawing
(19:37):
ones to be it smacks of desperation. The vulgar says,
it's all about laying the groundwork. I buy a call
from this area every year a little bit. All of
a sudden, somebody pops up and says, I got some call.
What you'd like to buy for me? It's pretty much
a drive through. But if you see sometimes you'll seek
a cow. Then I would stop and ask, and the
(20:00):
um make a chat and asking questions, and sometimes it's
it's like, oh, yeah, I have a cousin and he
has already need some bags. When don't I see the
color and the smell right away? It tells me if
it's interesting enough to dig keeper and make a cutting
(20:22):
test and chew on it or you know, and then yeah,
little by little I might be interested. Don't buy or
not or straight poker doesn't see anything he likes. And
in a couple of brutally bumpy hours we hit Bay
of Vista and wow. True to its name, Bay of
(20:42):
Vista is up on a ridge overlooking the confluence of
two rivers, and it's stunning. A huge sweep of velopty water,
double decker riverboats, kids playing in the shallows, a graceful church.
There's a fiesta under way and everyone is partying. That's
really beautiful, like a piece of arya. Po Bulker peels
off to work as connections while I explore the river
(21:04):
and swim with the kids. We meet up at sunset
at a bandstand looking over the river. There's an actual
band playing a Hallmark sky and I'm ready to move
to Da Vista. Did you manage to hook up with
your contact? Yeah, tomorrow, I'm we're going to have a
look at his place at ten about ah. His name
(21:26):
is Chino, that's his nickname, of course, hopey. He wants
the opportunity, opportunity and see what comes. So I take
the risk giving him some money and see first why
what he's doing with all giving a shop? Yeah, focus shrugs,
(21:49):
looks at the sunset and cracks of here. He doesn't
look enthusiastic. Um, yeah, I mean if there's a lot
of a cow here and no one's doing it, this
could be people, potentially a lot, like a significant amount
coming out of here. I know the potential here because
I worked here over ten years and I know what
(22:18):
what is possible. But that isn't that has to be
dicked out again, basically coming starting again. You know, like
like years before they have. Vista had been really good
for Bulker for a few years, but then it collapsed
and the culprit was the same old nemesis he's been
(22:38):
battling in one way or another for thirty years. It's
a hot spot for cocaine smoke. This is an acocle
spoilt You know why why here? Yeah, because it's from here.
It's pretty close to the Brazilian border, so they fly
in the stuff and then they ship it down the
river to Brazil. I know that many people here got
(23:02):
involved and got money. And that's easy money for a
young kids just working very a couple of weeks with
these guys getting maybe a thousand dollars. Yeah, that's a
lot of money, Easier than brazil nuts. Definitely. I'm getting
(23:23):
deep ye at last, I'm starting to understand the weird
dance between coca and coca. The drug trade is like
an Amazonian river, always shifting, jumping its banks and finding
a new path. And when that path flows through a
town like Baya Vista, everything else suffers. No one wants
(23:46):
to harvest coca or rubber for small change. But then
after a few years, the smuggling ships somewhere else, and
the cacao is still there. Bulker has to hope that
the cocaine trade in Baya Vista has dried up long
enough to give cacao new life. And when we ring
Gina the next morning, it sounds good. We're on. Yeah,
(24:08):
he's coming, he's coming, he's coming coming here and with
his multi party. So then and then we followed him
to see his plays, his plays. All right, it sounds
like it's all coming together. Maybe no, yeah, you're never worried. No, no,
(24:33):
not too much. Already, I've done it so many times.
It's like rehearsal the same plane and no Shakespeare Macbeth, no,
five times on. Yeah, but this performance turns out to
be Les Macbeth and more waiting for good. Oh, but
(24:53):
the guy doesn't show up. So but I'm leaving. We're
just leaving, that's it. So but in the nicktime, Gino calls,
(25:15):
so now he's coming, Now he's after. Finally Gino rolls
up on his bike. He's a young guy, blurry eyed
but eager, and he leads us through Bay of Vista
to his place near the river. Gina lives with his parents,
(25:37):
his grandparents, his siblings, his wife and his newborn who's
lying on the floor and gawking, and everyone we all
play with the baby while China and Vulgar get down
to brass tacks. Volcus got his fedora pulled down low
over his eyes and his arms crossed, and he's giving
off skeptical vibes as he quizzes Gino on his plants.
How does he for mean? Cacaw? Where is he gonna
(25:57):
do it? Gino shows Vulcar a paved garage base, and
Vulcan nods and approval. At least it's out of the weather.
Nino's father points across the street to an empty house
on a promontory over the river, and Vulkan nod some more. Afterward,
Bulker walks me over there, and once we're alone, his
skepticism melts a by this what this place? Ye? I'm
(26:20):
going I'm going to apply this, yeah, to be your
sales entry like warehouse? Are what? This will be? Six
thousand dollars? Right? And will you make it a house
or you'll make it? Now he's in his own and
(26:41):
he's justing a woman who's drying a cow on a
tart beside his new warehouse, and he forgets all about me.
He's cutting deals on the spot, and by the time
we leave, he's even whittled Chino's father down to five
thousand dollars for the house. This will be my new
Harvard Center then for this area. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's
always good to show you know that you were here.
(27:03):
This investment would be like ten tho dollars in total,
and and ten tho dollar for a very prominent house
at the Barranco with view to the river. It's a
no brainer. It is a no brainer. And by the
time we roll out of Bay of Vista, he's feeling
(27:24):
the old magic. Perhaps his karma has turned after twelve
years of bad luck. At least it certainly seems like
it when we swing past the Wakara police station on
our way back. So we agreed to catch catch the
guys in fla granted in the forest. How's that going
(27:47):
to happen? And yeah, he said he would need help. Yeah,
somebody else coming over and helping out. And then we
do an operation and we can good people. I love
it a steak out after the break, I'll admit I've
(28:33):
never been on a steak out before, and I'm kind
of excited. The plan is that the police will come
on Monday morning and meet us on the dirt road
where the thieves are hiding their motorbikes. Then as the
scoundrels come out of the woods with their bags, Pacao,
we nail them. They haven't advised me they can't do it. Actually,
he said that he will tell me that we will
(28:57):
let me know if so. If they don't do anything today,
then I would say them that's it. And then Vulcan's
stuns me by saying he's not even going to be there.
He says he has to head up to Baya Vista
the same morning to meet with Gino. He told me
the I want to see it, and I'm I'm going
(29:20):
to tell him, you know, this is this is what
we want and this is what we don't want. Yeah.
I do a little training with him throughout on the spot. Well, fine, whatever,
but I'm not missing the steak out, so I make
my way there on foot. I have no idea what
(29:42):
people will think of this unsupported gringo talking into his
tape recorder like Agent Cooper on Twin Peaks. But I
just hope they're not armed. I walked throughout and here
we got We've got bike number one, blue moped and
no filth signs of police. It's pretty quiet, Um, I
(30:03):
don't know, it's only what it's like ten thirty. Maybe
they're still working on their second cup of coffee while
they wait for the colonel to show up before they
launched the big sting. Anyway, I'm gonna get a photo
of the spike and keep going. See what we see.
It's really quiet out there. I'm trying to wrap my
head around this whole thing. Did the police ever intend
to come? Did Boker always know they wouldn't, or are
(30:26):
they just late. I'm just about to head home when oh,
we got some action. There's somebody just parked and sneaking
under the fence. It's a woman and she's got dogs
with her and she's carrying buckets. Got a photo. Oh
(30:49):
there's two people here. Fun cook out, cook out, Hi mucho,
And yeah, that's how it goes. The people are unfazed
(31:10):
by my presence and the police never show. I hang
out for about an hour and finally I give up
and trudge. Hum. Well, that was all very interesting, but
I don't know what to make of it. They definitely
didn't look freaked out that I was seeing them. They're
laughing in the woods, dogs are barking. It's definitely not
(31:32):
a secret operation. These bikes are right on the road.
They certainly don't seem to feel that they're in any
Jeffordy at all, and maybe they're not. Vulker comes back
(31:53):
from daya vista baby. She knows forest friends are delivering
more cacao than he toped. And when I show Vulgar
my photos the day, he just drugs it off. At first,
I can't figure out why, but I think I can
piece it together. For one thing, he's just received notice
that one of the chocolate makers in the States that
uses his beans has just received a big award for
(32:14):
the bar and they proudly splashed the word try and
kill it Dad across the front of their labels like
you would for a great wine estate. After twenty years
of struggle, Bolker's little patch of paradise is achieving landmarks
status at last. And I don't know if that was
directly responsible, but now he's got a new idea for
his endgame, his swan song in chocolate. It sounds romantic,
(32:38):
but maybe maybe some of some other people take it
over and make something similar. I asked what he means,
and he hesitates. It's clear he hasn't tried out these
ideas on anyone yet. But eventually he speaks, maybe in
the future, if it's more and more known, the maybe
(33:00):
uh Environmental trust um buys me out and put some
money to it to to bring other people in here
to continue. Yeah, that will be great, you know, because
it's not for me, not only for me, it's also
for all the families here to know who are now involved.
(33:21):
As soon as he says it, it makes total sense
to me try and kill it as a destination where
people come to learn the craft, to meet the bare people,
and to understand the tradition of making wild chocolate. A
kind of center to push the art of chocolate to
new heights. That would make explicit something he's been circling
around for years that you can't really be an owner
of these trees, just a caretaker. They were here long
(33:45):
before he'd arrived, and with any luck, they'd be here
long after he was gone. But there's another piece to
this puzzle, one I know nothing about at the time.
It's that old Amazonian promise of adventure, and helps explain
why Bulker wasn't going to fret over a couple of
tons of beans from Tranquilodat, remember El Carmen, the mystery
village way up the Rio Blanca. Shortly after I leave Bolivia,
(34:08):
the first test batch of beans comes down river to
Vulgar and with it information The pickers have been kipping
out for weeks way up river where no one ever goes,
and what they found was CaCO forests like none they'd
ever seen, beautiful pods, countless trees, all growing out of
(34:28):
raised forest islands, just like the ones that Tranquilodat, another
overgrown human made landscape stretching all the way to the
Paraguay border, an area unknown to anyone except for a
few drug smugglers. Focus says, right now he has no
time to take on such an expedition, but he could
be convinced, because I can tell he's curious, and so
(34:52):
am I. The whole new lost city of z a
brand new x on the Treasure Man, just dripping cacw
and waiting for someone crazy enough or obsessed and enough
to try to get there first. Annie Daker's Wild Chocolate
(35:21):
is a Kaleidoscope production with I Heart Podcasts, hosted and
reported by me Rohan Jacobson and produced by Shane McKeon
at Nice Marmatt Media. Edited by Kate Osbourne and mangesh
Out of Kudor. Sound design and mixing by Soundboard. Original
music composition by Spencer Stevenson, a k a Botany production
help from Baheni Shorty from My Heart. Our executive producers
(35:43):
are Katrina Norvell and Nicky Eator. Special thanks to Laura Mayor, Costas,
lnos Ozwalash and Aaron Kaffman, Will Pearson, codel Burn, Bob Pittman,
Daria Daniel and the team at Stetler who are helping
us make a very special chocolate of our own. That's right,
We're working with Louisa and others to protect the rainforest
and make delicious Amazonian chocolate. Visit www dot Stetler dash
(36:07):
Chocolate dot com to taste it for yourself. That's www
Dot Stetler dash Chocolate dot com. And if you want
to hear more of this type of content. Nothing is
more important to the creators here at Kaleidoscope than subscribers, ratings,
and reviews. Please spread the love wherever you listen
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