Chocolate y un canasta!

Today might have been my favourite day here in Cozumel, this year so far. I went to a (very small) chocolate factory,  and finally got a basket for my bicycle!!

At the chocolate factory, our tour guide was Ruby.  She started by telling us the history of chocolate, while in the small museum.  Of course, chocolate was discovered by accident.  The Maya or Aztecs ate the fruit around the beans, but not the cocoa beans because they tasted bad.  When raw. They disposed of the beans in a "garbage" fire. When they smelled the burning/roasting beans, they hauled them outta there!  They soon learned how to roast, crush, and mix the beans with spices and water for beverages. Eventually the Spaniards mixed them with sugar and milk to make the chocolate we love.

Turns out, white chocolate is made with cocoa butter.  So it is actually a cocoa product! And cocoa powder has no fat because it's the stuff that's left after you press out the cocoa butter.

Then, in a kitchen / lab space, Ruby showed us how to grind roasted beans and add sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla to make a paste we could eat there or bring home to make hot chocolate.  Yum! and Fun!  Then we got to taste all the different types of chocolate they make.  More Yum!

On my way home, I saw another bicycle shop.  I asked the nice repairman if he could install a basket (canasta in Spanish) on my bike.  Unlike all the others, he said yes!  My bike is an old Czechoslovakian bike, standard parts don't seem to fit.  He worked pretty hard to install the basket, but he did it, and I love it! And he fixed my breaks.  A good thing too.

Pictures
1-roasted and partially crushed cocoa beans
2 -the grinder we used and the paste we made.
3 - the man who wraps all the chocolates by hand!!
4- my wonderful bike shop and guy.  yes, is a little rudimentary and chaotic.  but he seemed very competent and got the job done!