Eusebio Sánchez has worked at the Canopy Tower for 18 years. At a very young age, his dad taught him how to bake bread, and baking is one of the reasons he now works at the Canopy Tower. He grew up in the Colón province located on the Caribbean coast of Panama, where coconut is one of the most important ingredients of the local cuisine. His wife Eira already worked at the Canopy Tower, and Eusebio used to sell his homemade bread. One day Eusebio sent some coconut bread to our Canopy Family lead guide Carlos Bethancourt. Carlos loved it, and since then, Eusebio was hired at the Tower.
During all these years, among other important tasks, Eusebio would bake delicious coconut bread buns for the Canopy Tower dinners, and just randomly he baked bread in other shapes. The first shapes he perfected were the small alligators, which are now a Canopy Tower classic. However, during the pandemic, he had more free time and started looking for tips online to make other figures with his handmade bread. He experimented and learned by himself, and now, visitors at the Canopy Tower receive a different shaped bread at almost every dinner. He has made butterflies, fish, agoutis, a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, baby pigs, frogs, snakes, bears, and many more. Eusebio seeks inspiration from what is observed during the tours. For example, one day a group with our Canopy Family guide Jorge Pineda watched a scorpion eating a small snake, so for dinner, Eusebio surprised our guests by transforming this observation into delicious bread. He also takes into account what our visitors like the most, like the time he made baby porcupines for some guests who loved mammals, or when he makes butterflies for our visitors on butterfly tours.
What has been the most challenging design? A toucan! Eusebio has been practicing this shape and hopes to perfect it soon. Because his bread is made with coconut milk, it is lactose-intolerant friendly, and he is working on making gluten-free bread for the future!
