Santa Elena Weekend

Cacao ritual · for two

• 40-50 g cacao (half a bar), chopped fine
• 400 ml water, 1 cinnamon stick, panela to taste
• Optional: ginger slices, pinch of chili or salt

Heat water with cinnamon until steaming, never boiling. Whisk in cacao off the heat until frothy. Sweeten lightly.

1. Make it together, phones in another room
2. Sit by the fire, one candle lit
3. Each: one thing you're setting down, one thing you want to feel by Sunday
4. Drink slowly. Silence is fine
5. Close with one appreciation of each other

Friday evening to open, Sunday morning to close.

Wood stove · quick card

Before lighting: damper fully open · thin ash bed only · draft test (smoke from a blown-out match must pull UP the flue; if not, burn 2-3 paper balls to warm it) · crack a window 10 min.

Top-down light: big splits on bottom, smaller crosswise, kindling + starter cube on TOP. Light the top. Door ajar 5 min, then latch. Damper open 15-20 min, then halfway.

Never burn: wet/green wood, painted or treated wood, plywood, plastics, glossy paper, trash, charcoal briquettes.

Overnight bank: burn to coals ~10pm, mound coals at back, 1-2 dense logs on top, damper to quarter open (never fully closed). Morning: open damper, rake coals, add kindling.

Smoke in the room: damper full open, window + door open, wait for draft before adding wood.