Wax Palms, Hot Chocolate and Cheese

Jeff and I went to the Valle de Cocora. This is a Natural Park famous for the wax palm.

The wax palm is an endangered plant that only grows here and northern Peru. The trees grow up to 145 -200 feet l. They truly are amazing. The valley was beautiful and then with these giant palms it was amazing.

They had this hand statue which was really popular. I was afraid of falling off the hand, so only Jeff went on it.

The wing seat was a better choice for me.

After the hike we went out to lunch with our driver and tour guide. She ordered a regional specialty, trout soup.

If you’ve never tried Colombian cream of trout soup, don’t. Remember as a kid when your mom cooked fish and the entire house smelled? Imagine that in soup form.

But at this same lunch I learned something incredible. Colombians mix two of my favorite things, chocolate and cheese.

This is how my hot chocolate and cheese was served. The side cheese was mild, delicious and salty. I asked our driver if I was really supposed to put it in my hot chocolate. She said yes, but I thought she was joking.

Later the chef came out and explained that yes you add the cheese when the hot chocolate is really hot and let it melt for three minutes. I can’t wait to try toss tomorrow. After some Googling I learned they also put cheese in their coffee. While I love both things, I draw the line at cheese in my coffee.