Viaje a la Isla Negra
Have you ever tried a chocolate with chili pepper? Or maybe oregano? How about cheese? Would you expect them to be good?
They are!
L'Atelier del Cioccolato di Félix Brunatto. Or heaven.
Owned and operated by Félix Brunatto. A very very sweet elderly gentleman. Who has the presence of mind to add no preservatives to his chocolate, nor sugar nor butter. Beautiful, natural, unadulterated cacao. He also possess the kindness to allow thirty gringos to invade his shop, talk to them, and best of all...
let us try them. A lot of them. Albahaca (sweet basil), ají (chili pepper), orégano, limón, queso (cheese), queso a la canela (cheese and cinnamon), and something called pazzo pazzo ("crazy crazy", or manjar (resembles caramel) and bleu cheese). Count them seven chocolates. I'm glad i didn't eat a big breakfast.
Señor Brunatto also has the social conscience to employ twenty-some workers in Caracaví where his factory/store is located, a pueblo of a few hundred, rather than somewhere with better access to consumers, say Santiago. Local artisans hand-craft the boxes he sells them in. However, he does have a location in New York City. Look for it if you're ever there. I'm sure they're ridiculously expensive there, but god it's worth it. I won't ever want an M&M again.
This is Kayla and a giant empanada, weighing in at a full kilo, chicken bone included. At our stop in Pomaire. The town specializes in pottery a la greda. Lots of kitchen utensils, vases, and...
well, i'm not really sure where you put that in a home.
Wearing a straw hat!
We moved on to one of Pablo Neruda's homes at la Isla Negra. An interesting, ecclectic, eccentric sort of man. Pity i couldn't take photos indoors.
This, however, is the entrance.
Regresé de mis viajes. Navegué construyendo la alegría.
"I returned from my travels. I sailed constructing happiness."
Sorry, translating poetry is for someone who dominates both English and Spanish better than i.
Fish sculpture in the garden. And a few gringas locas making fish-faces back.
He and his third wife are buried in the back yard. Romantic, no?
Has to be with a view like that.
They are!
L'Atelier del Cioccolato di Félix Brunatto. Or heaven.
Owned and operated by Félix Brunatto. A very very sweet elderly gentleman. Who has the presence of mind to add no preservatives to his chocolate, nor sugar nor butter. Beautiful, natural, unadulterated cacao. He also possess the kindness to allow thirty gringos to invade his shop, talk to them, and best of all...
let us try them. A lot of them. Albahaca (sweet basil), ají (chili pepper), orégano, limón, queso (cheese), queso a la canela (cheese and cinnamon), and something called pazzo pazzo ("crazy crazy", or manjar (resembles caramel) and bleu cheese). Count them seven chocolates. I'm glad i didn't eat a big breakfast.
Señor Brunatto also has the social conscience to employ twenty-some workers in Caracaví where his factory/store is located, a pueblo of a few hundred, rather than somewhere with better access to consumers, say Santiago. Local artisans hand-craft the boxes he sells them in. However, he does have a location in New York City. Look for it if you're ever there. I'm sure they're ridiculously expensive there, but god it's worth it. I won't ever want an M&M again.
This is Kayla and a giant empanada, weighing in at a full kilo, chicken bone included. At our stop in Pomaire. The town specializes in pottery a la greda. Lots of kitchen utensils, vases, and...
well, i'm not really sure where you put that in a home.
Wearing a straw hat!
We moved on to one of Pablo Neruda's homes at la Isla Negra. An interesting, ecclectic, eccentric sort of man. Pity i couldn't take photos indoors.
This, however, is the entrance.
Regresé de mis viajes. Navegué construyendo la alegría.
"I returned from my travels. I sailed constructing happiness."
Sorry, translating poetry is for someone who dominates both English and Spanish better than i.
Fish sculpture in the garden. And a few gringas locas making fish-faces back.
He and his third wife are buried in the back yard. Romantic, no?
Has to be with a view like that.