Angie

Republica del Cacao Chocolate Tasting – An Ecuadorian Treat

A Chocolate Tasting fit for a King

For those who know me, you should know that I love chocolate.

My addiction has little to no limits and when I visit a country known for its chocolate, I’ll go all out. In knowing this, it should be no surprise that our recent trip to Ecuador ended up with us trying over 20 chocolate bars during our exploration of the country.

After trying some of the country’s best, we also purchased another 50 to send home for later consumption.

Out of all of the brands that we tried, there was one that we knew we were not giving a fair shake: Republica del Cacao. We could only try a few bars from this particular company as, by Ecuadorian standards (and even some American standards for premium chocolate), they are a bit pricey at upwards of $6 per bar.

Well, it turns out that Republica del Cacao read our review, and asked if we would be interested in trying some more bars to give their chocolate a second chance. Being a chocolate addict, it was hard to say no.

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Nepal Momo Recipe Straight from Nepal

Momos: fun to say, and even more fun to eat. While we’ve tried our share of dumpling-like foods around the world, Nepalese momos are definitely one of our favorites.

The filling can range from spiced meat to cheese to vegetables, and they can be steamed, fried, or steamed and then pan fried. The dipping sauces they’re served with are equally varied- I don’t think we had the same sauce twice!

These snacks were pure comfort food for us at tea houses on the trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp, so we knew we had to pay them homage when we returned home.  

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How to Bring a Dog into the USA From Mexico

We never expected to bring home a pet from our 465-day trip around the world. But when we saw Tamale’s big brown eyes staring up at us and heard the story of how she was found on the streets of Valladolid, Mexico, cowering under a car, our hearts melted. At first, we thought the logistics of bringing a dog into the US would be too complicated, but after researching the requirements, everything fell into place.

This is the story of two weary world travelers, one adorable dog, and our journey together from near the ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico to Dayton, Ohio.

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Spanish Lessons in South America – Lost in Translation

Woman in handicraft market in the Sacred Valley, PeruWhen the plane landed I was pumped. We had finally made it to the region of our trip that I was most excited for: South America!

I studied Spanish in high school and remembered quite a bit of it, plus I had been brushing up using the language learning app Duolingo and other Kindle books.

I was ready to breeze through this continent with my awesome Spanish skills.

Well, it didn’t take me long to realize that things are a bit more complicated than that. Instead of friendly Spanish conversations I was met with blank stares. When reading menus, I resorted to the tactic of pointing at something and hoping for the best.

Basically, I had learned Castilian Spanish (what they speak in parts of Spain) and there are surprisingly a lot of differences between that and Latin American Spanish. I’m sure that tour operators are probably a huge resource when it comes to languages and the differences so next time I do a big trip I might go through someone like that.

Combine that with slang and dialects that are wildly different from country to country just within South America, and you’ve got a much more complicated language than I had anticipated.

What are some of the things that we learned that can help you communicate more effectively when you visit South America? We let you in on them in this post.

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