Chocolate Traveler

“When your feet feel like they’re made of stones, / And your bones are full of lead, / And your muscles feel like they’re galvanized, / And the concrete’s in your head; / When your blood flows like molasses, / And you can’t add two and two, / When the top looks like the bottom, / And orange looks like blue. / When you feel like you’re hung over, / But you didn’t drink last night, / And your eyes are like a road map, / And your underwear feels tight; / Gravity seems to multiply, / And your organs are on strike, / You’re in sudden-death overtime, / And the wheels are off your bike. / You need some chocolate, / Soft creamy chocolate, / Some chocolate ice cream, / And chocolate mousse…mousse…mousse… / Some chocolate cheesecake, / Bavarian chocolate, Bring on the chocolate, / We need a boost! / We need a boost!” (The Chocolate Song, Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers)

Allowing myself today to be guided by the words stating that “Chocolate doesn’t make the world go ‘round, but it sure does make the trip worthwhile!” I decided to embark upon a travel meant to trace and conquer the delicious taste of chocolate. Because much like Counselor Deanna Troi stated it in Star Trek: The next Generation, “Chocolate is a serious thing!” I’d add to this that it may get to achieve an even greater and certainly enriched taste when being savored in different spots around the world.

It may take 80 or more days to just grab the taste of chocolate as this one may happen to have a different savor depending on the place where you have either accidentally or willingly been thrown. We all love it for its sweet almost unforgivable taste. It has often been considered by many women better than sex and even better than kissing; can you even guess what I am talking about? It gives you more energy and at the same time life may look prettier to you and the future brighter than before. Shall I continue? It all starts with some pods being harvested and then undergoing a careful long process meant to bring the sweetness on your lips. It has a brownish, mahogany color…Undeniably I am referring to chocolate.

Much like James Wadsworth said in “A History of the Nature and quality of Chocolate”, the expected effect of this sweet substance is to be summarized the following way “Twill make Old Women Young and Fresh; / Create New Motions of the Flesh. / And cause them long for you know what, / If they but taste of chocolate.” And just to make sure that chocolate does have the expected result we should start looking for the finest existing one out there in this vast/small world of ours.

Did you ever notice that when deciding to embark upon a new journey, each time one reaching towards a different destination, we do it having in our mind a whole different purpose? I admit that at times, according to the way in which we happen to be built we may have a constant reason to accompany us and determine the destinations to be included in our future travel plans. Yet, more often than seldom we end up being driven in our escapes around the world by distinct pursuits. Among these different pursuits one may enumerate such things as the wish to simply spend some more time in nature and while doing this grasp its beauty in a sack probably hidden in our retina, or we may equally well find ourselves pushed into the adventure of discovering new corners of this world and sometimes even new tastes…including here the taste of chocolate. Admit it or not, in each and every of us there lies a craving for the sweet substance melting on one’s lips. And since this gets to be true for me and even for you, as long as staying in shape does bring in the word round in discussion, round too being a shape, chocolate traveling may not be such a bad thing to do. Once you decided that chocolate should not remain outside your next travel destinations, you’ll most probably also get to discover that this world of ours possesses some really great chocolate destinations. It is these destinations that incorporate in them the secret of newer and newer chocolate varieties, depending on the country where tasted.

As far as chocolate gets to be concerned things certainly do not happen to be that simple, mainly because there needs to be one taste for each type of person. As such if you happen to be a snob in matters of chocolate you may happen to prefer only exquisite, luxurious chocolates. Yet if you happen to prefer adventure to luxury then perhaps the equally exquisite mixture of such tastes as that of chilli pepper and chocolate is all you have been looking for or better said all you could ever wish or crave for. Watched either as an aphrodisiac, or considered by many women to rival with sex and even with kisses, chocolate has certainly left its traces in the countries traveled by it in its turn.

So I guess when bringing chocolate in our vacations and all the more making it the pursuit of our vacations we should perhaps start it all with some fine chocolate, if not really the finest chocolate. And where else can the choco-tourist do this if not in Belgium? This happens to be a country simply washed by entire chocolate rivers. Though not thriving in a friendly welcoming climate for the main ingredient being used in the making of chocolate, namely the cacao bean, Belgium knew how to settle things in such a way as to develop a strategy for its own, a strategy that is meant to not only make this country well known for the sweet taste of chocolate but all the more according to the Belgian Chocolate website intending to do things in such a manner as to allow chocolate to “retain much of its aroma”. It is perhaps this little secret that allows it to stay on the lips of those visiting Belgium even after leaving this country. It must be this secret together with the whole army of chocolate factories and chocolate museums and chocolate stores that are to be encountered in almost any city that make Belgium compete with other countries in what can be considered to be a duel of chocolate.
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