Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Trip to the Grenada Chocolate Company! (samples included!)

I've been filling my days with Grenada! Today was a day trip to the Grenada Chocolate Company and the Rum Factory. Funnily enough I had things to take pictures of before we even left campus! There was a little herd of goats running through campus. SGU is just like any other school until a herd of something scampers through to remind you you're in Grenada! (the fantastic ocean views also help). ~.^ During the drive we saw a Mona Monkey (not native to Grenada, brought over from Africa way back when and now roam Grand Etang): After an hour or so drive through various towns (I just can't bring myself to call them 'cities') and jungles we arrived at the Chocolate Factory (no willie wonka in sight people, just guys with machetes). To start off the chocolate story, here is the tree where coca beans come from:
Here is a cracked open pod with cocoa beans inside:The place is actually called the Bellmont Estate and is a 17th century plantation. In essence, a functional historical site. The grounds were stunning. They apparently hold weddings there. This bell was run to call in workers from the fields at the end of a day. Here are racks of drying cocoa beans.After taking us through a tour of the factory (shelling, fermentation ,drying, polishing - all done by hand or foot!) they gave us tasty samples of dark chocolate and cocoa tea (which isn't really hot chocolate but is more of a wonderfully delicious hot chocolate with a blend of spices and a really rich flavor). There were a whole bunch of bats flittering around the eves of the fermentation building (don't worry, there were covers for the beans and the bats are totally harmless). It was pretty amusing since I was the only one to noticed them and the guide was trying to reassure me they weren't harmful when I was just trying to figure out their particular species (he didn't know). Naturally I had to stalk them to take pictures (the bats, not the guide).They also had a small museum of things from the early days of the plantation: We took a brief respite from our tourism to eat lunch at a nice little restaurant with a view:More tomorrow (if I have time around packing) on our next stop - the rum factory! Which, while academically fascinating since they run entirely on water power, made me happy that I don't drink rum!

Listening to: Dragoste din tei / 少女S

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