Manzanillo Mexico Rum & Chocolate.

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Manzanillo, Mexico. Manzanillo was our next port of call. It is the busiest port in Mexico handling most of the Pacific cargo. They hold fishing competitions in the port. There are also some beautiful beaches around the town. The port looked very interesting but we were on a tour to discover Rum & chocolate. What we were not aware of was the time it took to get to the distillery over 2 hours & that was via the motor way. Our first stop was the rum distillery which was in the middle of the sugar cane fields in view of a cone volcano. There was snow on its summit despite the heat at ground level. We tried several types of rum from clear rums liquor Rums to dark & spicy rums. We went into a room where we all made our very own Mojito which was lovely & refreshing. We then went to visit the chocolate producer which was a little cottage industry. The chocolate is made in exceptionally clean kitchens. The father had planted several trees in his garden around his cottage which produced an ample supply of cocoa pods. They were picked when ripe & then processed. We tried different types of chocolate ranging in very sweet chocolate to quite bitter chocolate. We tried fermented chocolate drink which was slightly alcoholic but not enough to make you tipsy. All the products we could try we were able to buy. The strongest chocolate was roughly 90% chocolate which was sold in 1kg blocks. You cut a little off & add it to hot milk stir it till dissolved & you have a delicious cup of hot chocolate. Our next stop was to a farmstead which was an old sugar processing factory. Two families set up the building & lived in a huge courtyard which surrounded a beautiful square where they served us lunch which was not to my taste. We had around an hour to look around the old defunct machinery before heading back to the port. Unfortunately there had been a huge motorway pile up so we were stuck for a bit. The driver turned off at the next available exit & drove us through little villages & through the mountains. We were very late back to the ship which delayed departure by a couple of hours. We were the last people to get back on board & they pulled the gang plank up & we were off to our next destination. Los Angeles.