Lima the Gray Octopus, Peru

Blood and Chocolate

Yes, that’s what I said, blood and chocolate. They make a fine combo. Ask the Aztecs. The blood adds “stickiness” to the crushed cacao bean. Gawd. Aztec warriors drank it before the battle. We went to this place to make our own chocolate and had a brush with bloodletting. Bloodletting I say! It was a close call. If it had been me, he would’ve gone through with it. But, because Donavin is a kid, no blood was shed that day.

What am I talking about? Go here and see for yourself.

Xocolatl

Peru is famous for chocolate. In fact, they say that chocolate is indigenous to the Andes Mountains. I’ve also read it comes from southern Mexico/Central America. The word “chocolate” is from the Aztec “Xocolatl”. There is a store in Lima that not only sells chocolate, but you can make your own chocolate bonbons there. By the way, I guess I am a lousy travel blogger because I don’t note the name of the establishments that we visit, and that includes this store. The chocolate-making “class” is two hours. First, we made two kinds of cacao drinks: the Mayan and the Conquistador.

We had to grind the beans with a mortar and pestle. Moe said it was the hardest part. Then, we cooked the ground chocolate in this vessel.

In the background, they are making chocolate treats.

After toasting ourselves with Mayans and Conquistadors, we moved on to chocolate bars. He let us choose our own ingredients. Maureen chose quinoa and some other stuff. Donavin chose gummy bears and I chose cocaine leaves. It’s shocking, I know. They even sell coca leaf tea in Peru. A Florida man returned home from a trip to Peru and the sniffer dogs detected the drug in the tea he was carrying. He (instead of the tea) got into some hot water there. And it wasn’t me…really.