“Yes, I’ve heard.” It was becoming easier to speak in a lower tone. My voice had never been as high as other women’s. My assistant at the chocolate shop, La Cordobesa, would never have been able to pull this off since she was so fond of screeching.

Paco didn’t look at me once, which told me my disguise had fooled him. This fact was confirmed when he scratched his crotch enthusiastically.

From what the two of them explained, we were to navigate from river to river until we reached the Río Vinces. The Guayas River was the longest, they said. Brown and vast, it was surrounded by abundant vegetation. I thought of the yellow plains and olive trees in my native Andalucía. How different these two landscapes were. Here, the trees along the river stretched out from the earth as if yawning. They carried luscious leaves that spread indiscriminately.

“Once we reach Vinces,” Aquilino said, “we’ll meet Don Armand’s administrator. He’ll take us to the plantation.”

Paco pointed at a tree filled with yellow oval-sized fruits hanging around its thick trunk.

“That’s it!” he said. “Our Pepa de Oro.”

I’d never seen what a cacao pod looked like before. It was hard to believe that the dark, rich chocolate I prepared every day came from this strange-looking fruit, this so-called golden seed, as Paco had called it. He smiled with pride. I was just now realizing how important cacao was for Ecuadorians. I couldn’t believe I was here—I’d dreamt about it for so long. If only my father had brought me instead of having to arrive under these bizarre circumstances.

Little else was said as we navigated from one river to the other. The heat had rendered us mute. It was so stifling that I wondered how wise it had been to dress like a man. I couldn’t exactly remove my jacket like Aquilino did. Or undo my shirt, as Paco had done a long time ago. The only thing I could do was dry the sweat building over my forehead and neck with a handkerchief displaying Cristóbal’s initials.

* * *

Nobody was waiting for us at the port. Aquilino suggested we walk to the plaza to see if we could find the administrator. I offered Paco a handful of coins to watch my luggage on the deck—I couldn’t possibly haul the trunk around town as if it were a purse.