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<\/a><\/p>\nAfter breakfast, we drove to Chocal, a local chocolate factory run by a women\u2019s cooperative. Just like the ladies at RePapel yesterday, this group was cheerful and friendly but made sure we did our work.<\/p>\n
We started with a tour of the factory. They make five varieties of chocolate bars and several different types of bonbons. After our tour and a brief overview of the different work stations, it was time for us to make our contribution.<\/p>\n
Since the ship sailed at noon today, each of the impact activities offered was a shorter version of the one offered during the \u201cfull days\u201d in port. So today, for example, we missed visiting their nursery. There, had we stopped by, we would have planted some seedlings that would later produce the cacao used in making the chocolate. So while we didn\u2019t actually plant any trees today, others on our ship did on Wednesday and Thursday and those seedlings, once mature in a couple of years, will provide cacao for 60-80 years.<\/p>\n
The first station we actually worked was the next step in the process \u2013 checking the beans. We checked each bean by hand, removing deformed, cracked or otherwise \u201cbad seeds\u201d from the mix.<\/p>\n Next, it was time to work with the ground up beans. By sifting these, we were able to remove any extra shell casings or partial shells left in the mix. Shaking the sifter made the larger pieces rise to the surface so they were easier to spot and remove.<\/p>\n Our next stop was where we worked with the finished product \u2013 the chocolate itself. Today, we helped put the melted product into molds for the bonbons. Our group made several molds of chocolate, which were then put into a freezer to harden them.<\/p>\n Once removed from the freezer and cooled, it was time to wrap and label them, a process also done lovingly by hand. Part of our group wrapped bonbons in individual portions while the rest of the group assembled the bar versions and boxed them into display-ready boxes for stores.<\/p>\n Our last stop was the gift shop, where many of us purchased bonbons, bars of chocolate and even some \u201cchocolate wine\u201d that they make at the factory.<\/p>\n The Adonia sailed shorly after our arrival back onboard and we will arrive in Miami early Sunday morning.<\/p>\n Tonight we treated ourselves to a wonderful dinner in The Ocean Grill, the ship\u2019s specialty restaurant. At $25 per person, it\u2019s quite a bargain. You can see the full menu and photos of all the dishes on our Facebook Adonia photo album page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tomorrow is our last full day onboard. We\u2019ll participate in some more impact activities, including a wrap-up session with our Impact Guide, Paige. During that meeting, we\u2019ll hear a recap of our work on the ground and some statistics that will show us just how much of a difference this trip has made.<\/p>\n Now, after three and a half days of tough but rewarding work, it\u2019s time to let the ship rock us all to sleep<\/p>\n All of our updates (including these blogs) are available in one place:<\/p>\n www.premiercustomtravel.com\/fathom<\/a><\/p>\n You can learn more about our bloggers here: http:\/\/www.premiercustomtravel.com\/blog1\/?p=3523<\/a><\/p>\n![\"IMG_8074\"](\"http:\/\/www.premiercustomtravel.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/IMG_8074-300x225.jpg\")
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