My son, Haven, lives with his family in Lima, Peru. When we were down visiting, Haven took us on a surprise trip to Tarapoto because his full-blooded Incan wife, Mirian, wanted to visit there. Turns out that she'd never been to Machu Picchu, even though she was born in Cusco, the closest city, and she spoke Quechua, the Incan language, because they leave that to the Gringos. Native Incans go to Tarapoto and Kuelap, and Mirian wanted her son to go there first.
There's certainly a lot to see in Tarapoto, and we had a great time. Of particular interest were the mountainside plantations, which all used to be coca fields, from whence comes cocaine. In fact, in the high mountains of Peru, coca leaf is more prevalent in hostels and dormitories than coffee; however they are trying to diversity away from coca into cocoa trees, from whence comes chocolate, and tobacco. We visited a chocolate factory first, which was particularly delightful for my wife, Gwynne, who loves chocolate, and tasted all of it.
Cigar-making is also very interesting, at least when facile young people roll fragrant tobacco leaves by hand. Our guide warned us the air would be rife with volatiles used to prepare the tobacco leaves which could make you dizzy or ill, so we did not take in the baby, and it’s a good thing we didn’t; my eyes watered and I was getting high. Haven covered his nose with a mask, and Gwynne said we had to get out of there. That didn't stop us from seeing everything though, and we sampled cigars in the gift shop. Of course, I bought a bunch as gifts, mostly for the tubes they came in rather than knowing anybody who actually smokes cigars.
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