Lauren's Blog

This morning we had quite the breakfast adventure. We ended up going to three different spots before we found somewhere that wasn't full or out of food. Its the first day of the Chocolate Festival so Punta Gorda is packed full of people. After breakfast we headed out to San Fillipe which is a farming road thirty minutes outside of PG. Once we arrived we got to head out and see Cyrilia's organic cacao farm owned by one of the locals. We went on a tour of the farm and got to pick some chocolate plants. For lunch we went to the home of the chocolate farmers and they fed us a delicious lunch of beans, rice and chocolate chicken! After lunch we got to crack, grind and mold cacao beans. Making chocolate was tons of fun but I think my favorite part of being in San Fillipe was all the animals, there were pigs, sheep, cows, kitties and a whole heard of puppies. Once we got back to PG we got to go shopping down at the market. Everyone was on the hunt for hammocks. Sadly none of us are very good at bartering with the locals. After shopping we all came back to the hotel for a rest before we headed out for dinner and to the Wine and Chocolate openning of the Cacao Festival. The event was wonderful, there was amazing food, wine and of course CHOCOLATE! The live band serenaded us while we sat with our feet in the pool and we got to mingle and chat with the locals. Tomorrow we go zip lining and I can't wait!!!

Lauren Ings-Robertson
NSCC Tourism Management Student
Akerley Campus