Toledo Cacao Festival and Cotton Tree Lodge Package

The third annual Toledo Cacao Festival is set for May 22 through 24 in Punta Gorda and the Toledo District of southern Belize. Events include an opening wine and chocolate evening, a chocolate tent at the Taste of Toledo Fair, daylong activities for children, and a Miss Cacao Fest.

A one-week vacation package designed for serious chocolate lovers who want to attend the festival is offered by Cotton Tree Lodge. Participants will spend the week gaining practical knowledge of all things chocolate, with visits to cacao farms, hands-on workshops in the Cotton Tree Chocolate factory, and lectures on the history and politics of chocolate.

Itinerary includes

• Entrance to the Toledo Cacao Festival

• A welcome dinner and chocolate tasting

• Visits to local cacao farms, where guests can pick and taste the cacao fruit and participate in the drying and fermenting processes

• A chocolate making workshop in a local Maya home, using traditional methods

• A chance to plant and tag a cacao tree on the Cotton Tree Lodge plantation

• Access to the Cotton Tree Chocolate factory, where modern methods of roasting, milling, winnowing, liquefying, tempering, and molding will be demonstrated

• A trip to the Punta Gorda farmers market, where cacao, local produce, and native crafts are sold

• A meeting with the Toledo Cacao Growers Association to learn about issues of fair trade

• Free time to participate in popular Cotton Tree Lodge trips, including Blue Creek Cave, Lubaantun Mayan Ruins, or Nim Li Punit

• The opportunity to complete and take home personal bars of chocolate

Visit www.toledochocolate.com and www.cottontreelodge.com.

Edited by Patricia D. Sherman

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