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24th August 2015
Cocoa Loco, Saint Lucia
Doesn’t “Chocolate Heritage Month” sound like all your birthdays have come at once?
Well, Saint Lucia are celebrating their finest export every day of August. Celebrations are in full swing, and their tourism board thought I might like to get involved.
Um, does The Pope have a balcony?
Of course I wanted to!
Caribtours took care of the flights and before we knew it, Milly and I were winging our way to the jungle coated, chocolate dipped, music filled, crystal water surrounded, Caribbean island.
We took off from London at breakfast time, and by tea time we were checked into our hotel.
Hotel Chocolat, nestled deep amongst the trees.
We took a spin around our rooms, both open to the rainforest and accompanying rain.
Keen to shed that “long haul” feeling, we slipped into a couple of robes and headed to the pool.
Floated around the glorious infinity pool and looked out onto the misty Pitons.
With the warm rain clouds rolling in and away like waves, we relaxed into our new home.
I meant to get a better snap of this swimsuit ^ as it’s a real flatterer, a bit of a bargain and comes in a fair few colours.
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We spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring the plantation and watching the sun set, with a few glasses of the famous rum punch.
Set off perfectly, by this view!
Now, sleeping in the jungle does take a little getting used to.
The tree frogs, birds and crickets really come into their own after sundown. Shrieking to each other throughout the night, they’re not all that bothered about you catching your Zzz’s.
But all those murderous-midnight thoughts soon melt away come morning.
The sky turns to pink candyfloss and the birds sooth their voices…
We lay on the balcony listening the dawn chorus and breathing in the thick, tropical air.
Until our stomachs drowned out the birds, and we made a beeline for breakfast.
Looking out to The Pitons, and down to the inky jungle pool below.
Breakfast starts with a fruit platter and a couple of smoothies.
Keen to get stuck into the “Cocoaloco” vibe, I plumped for a cacao tea.
A local speciality, it’s not quite hot chocolate as it’s not creamy or sweet, but more grown-up version.
Said to improve blood pressure, be good for the heart and aid digestion, we gave it a good go…
… before switching to Earl Grey.
You can take the girl outta London!
We slurped on virgin banana daiquiris and tucked into a hearty breakfast.
Home-made cocoa granola for Mils.
Cheesy omelette for me.
Left overs for our new-found friends.
Fuelled up and ready to go, we signed up for a “Tree to Bar Experience”.
Which was not quite what Milly imagined (some sort of rope swing allowing her to get to a tree top bar), but a lesson in how cacao pods are transformed into our favourite treats.
I dressed in my finest camouflage.
Tropical print dress // Gold sandals // Black aviators
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We toured the plantation, and our guide pointed out the different cacao trees, coconut palms, avocado trees and herb gardens, all used to supply the hotel.
A truly immersive and tactile experience, we were encouraged to get up close and personal with the jungle.
This tree ^ for example, known as The Handkerchief Tree, has petals that feel like cashmere handkerchiefs.
If you ever spot one, give it a rub!
Off property, I fell utterly in love with the local houses, and colours.
But we didn’t have far to go to find more of the Hotel Chocolat estate.
We were shown where all of the chocolate comes from for Hotel Chocolat’s stores around the world.
We were expecting a pretty huge place, with massive, glistening machines, so were delighted to find a much more rustic experience.
We were told that they even still use the classic, chocolate extraction methods and tools.
We learned to graft our own trees, and they were taken away to be planted on the slopes of the plantation.
Before knuckling down to some real work; grinding the beans!
With a warm pestle and mortar, we beat the hell out of our cacao beans.
35°C heat, hot stone, and crazy humidity?
This is not easy work!
We pummelled away until we were left with a paste.
Beat in some cocoa butter.
And mashed until we were left with a glossy liquid.
Popped in a dusting of sugar.
And poured into moulds.
While we left our bars to chill, we headed to the spa to do the same.
Led through into a chocolate box of a room, with dappled light streaming through the walls, we were asked to choose our scented chocolate oil.
We both chose cinnamon and spent much of the afternoon being smoothed, rubbed and rolled in the stuff.
We emerged as the sun was beginning to set.
Propped ourselves up with a couple of those killer banana daiquiris, and watched the show.
Before heading down to another chocolate feast, for supper.
This time we fell asleep listening to the sounds of the jungle, and slept right through ’til morning.
Ready for a new day of island adventures.
More on those tomorrow!
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