Aventura 33: La Ruta de Chocolate

That first cup of chocolate caliente way back when was the first the first domino of a whole ROUTE of chocolate that I followed with my friend Belén through Barcelona.  We travelled from café to granja to café, taste-testing all the best chocolate caliente we could find.  Although the chocolate changed - bitter, sweet, chocolate chunks, totally smooth, thick, thin - the laughs, comfort, and friendship only strengthened and la ruta chocolate quickly became something more than just a taste-testing exhibition.  It became a moment that I looked forward to every week where I got to pasar el tiempo with my wonderful friend, speaking Spanish while she spoke English, and laughing at everything.  We wanted to turn our route into a chocolate blog.  And not sure if it will come to fruition, but here is  my first entry about that first place that we visited together:

"You know when a memory is so good and wonderful that you can only remember it as if it were a dream? As a hazy image filled with brightly colored smoke and happiness?

Well, this is what happened to my memory of visiting el Public, a café outside of Barcelona that was our first stop on our Route of Chocolate.  This memory is filled with the green of the bright walls; the smell of coffee, chocolate, and flowers centered on the tables; and the happiness of sitting on the comfiest couch that you could only find in those tranquil cafés of the movies or of your dreams.

Yet I think the think that most added to this DreaMemory is the taste, smell, color and happiness of the hot chocolate.  My first time trying chocolate caliente in Spain and I have to say, it was incredible: so hot that you could warm up not only your hands but your whole body when you held onto the mug...a taste of chocolate so rich that you could only smile and sigh in reverence of the drink...so thick that you are drinking it for an hour...a hour full of laughter, interesting conversation, and great company.

This afternoon was when I first discovered the magic of Cataluña’s hot chocolate.  This drink can transform a simple moment of sitting in a café to a moment filled with conversation, happiness, laughter, warmth, comfort, and friendship.  It can transform a simple memory into a memory so great that it can only possibly be a dream.  But no, it’s not a dream - it’s real life.  It’s reality with the taste of chocolate caliente.

For this magic, we decided to create this blog, Colored Chocolate.  We want to share our adventures on our colored chocolate route so that everyone can share in this magic and the dream-like feeling that a simple mug of chocolate caliente gives us."

But even if this doesn't turn into a blog, the memories will still always be with me - along with the warmth of the mug and the taste of chocolate on my tongue.