There is a free Chocolate Museum in Cusco, which explains the process of making chocolate, then lets you try quite a few products. Only about two percent of the world’s chocolate comes from Peru, with the large majority coming from Western Africa. In Peru, the chocolate has very different tastes based upon what other fruit trees share the same soil as the cocoa trees. During the tasting, we tried chocolate bits from all the different regions, had amazing chocolate coco, tasted different Nutella-like products (but real), and even had different flavors of chocolate Pisco. That is what I call the true “Chocolate wasted.”
After a celebratory final dinner at Cusco’s number one restaurant, we said goodbye to a city we spent eight nights, with another four nights camping in the surrounding region. In the morning, we flew back to Lima, which is not nearly as exciting as the town amongst the clouds.
Our last days in Lima consisted of visiting a mall built on the side of a cliff overlooking the water and going on a walking tour of Barranco. This is the smallest district of Lima, and in my opinion much nicer than the downtown. Filled with beautiful street art, Barranco is a manageable place to walk around, visit the beach, and enjoy a cold beer.
Peruvian Fact of the Day:
The Pisco Sour is the national drink of Peru. I would describe Pisco as a tequila-like liquor that is generally mixed with lemon juice, an egg white, and syrup. The drink is quite tasty, but I did not enjoy straight Pisco.