Starting the day after finally getting some sleep, we all felt energized to go around the city. Our plan involved a lot of touring, so we had some breakfast around 8:30am and left for the city center around 9:30am.
Starting our day off, we met Ian and his wife. His wife owned Cocoa & Spices, a sustainable and carefully sourced chocolate and spice store. Their store focused on supporting cocoa farmers by providing above the regular trade price set for chocolate, where around 20 cents per dollar spent on a chocolate bar goes to the farmer. This value is far below a livable income, and therefore isn’t actually supportive to the life quality of the farmers. Therefore, Cocoa & Spices specifically focused on providing and supporting chocolate companies that pay cocoa producers almost four times this price. Through this, the ended up having natural, biodiverse, and clean cocoa derived chocolate that had some of the most distinct and complex flavors I’d ever had in a chocolate bar. This store showcased how economic and environmental sustainability can play a role in food supply, and how it can improve the quality of the products and producers.
After the chocolate, we went on a city tour with Ian, who truly engaged us. Ian provided us with funny, historic, and interesting details of the city center, specific buildings, and Dutch culture. In my opinion, some of the most interesting details he gave us where he showcased local buildings with interesting stories. One of the interesting cultural details was that some bars had specific liquors that could be reserved in memory of someone that passed away, but only if you can tell a good story about your time with them. If they like your story, they will put a picture and details about them over a specific bottle, and lock the bottle for only when you are there. This seemed really interesting and a truly different way to honor the memory of someone, and it was surprising but also sweet.
Finally, we did a quick canal tour which showcased the city and canal systems, while also giving historical details of some buildings. Overall, it was a really interesting combination of tours, and I found some really interesting insights and tasty experiences.